Emerging from a bayou as in a Louisianafied rendering of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, Tiffany Pollack graces the cover of her debut solo album titled Bayou Liberty. Fishing for inspiration from the swampy waters of Bayou Liberty near her home in Slidell, Pollack explores independence, freedom, and self-realization with a bluesy backdrop on this twelve-track record to be released July 16.
“I had a very traditional southern girl upbringing where I was always told to be nice and be sweet and be accommodating. And that was always something that I struggled with,” Pollack said. “This album had a lot to do with me coming into my own and finding my strength, my voice, and being unafraid and unapologetic.” Far from repentant, the album’s lead single, “Living for Me,” is an ode to self-determination and confidence. “I’m not living for you / I’m not living for them / I’m just living for me,” Pollack proclaims in the song’s chorus.
Though Bayou Liberty isn’t Pollack’s first full-length album—that honor belongs to the award-winning Blues in My Blood with cousin Eric Johanson—it represents a deep-dive into the artist’s hero’s journey coming into her own as a musician and a “boss bitch”—as well as discovering her unexpected musical heritage. Whereas most folks hope to uncover far-flung nationalities or shared traits while digging through their family histories, Pollack counts her blessings for locating the “blues in her blood.”
A little over a decade ago, at age 25, Pollack, who had been adopted at a young age, reconnected with her biological family, validating the siren song she’d been hearing from music since her childhood. In them, she found Eric, a blues-playing cousin, a jazz-singer mother, and virtuosic uncle, Charles Ward, to whose memory the album is dedicated. “I went from being the black sheep to being the good sheep,” Pollack jokes. This disconnect between her reality and her adopted family’s expectations serves as primary source material for her upcoming album.
Despite her musical heritage, making it hasn’t been easy. Like many artists, Pollack was beset by the age-old struggle between music and money and financial obligations pulled her away from performing. She ditched her dead-end job and headed back to school. Because she wasn’t “chatty enough to be a beautician,” Pollack took the logical leap toward mortuary services after being incensed that an aunt who “wore blue eye shadow all the way up to her eyebrows” was made up completely out of character for her funeral.
However, the birth of Pollack’s third child forced her to reconsider so strenuous a career. Though she knew her art may not be the “smart path to take,” she let the rhythm in her veins lead her back to the stage where she’d run the gamut of musical genres until she settled upon the classic, soulful sound that dominates Bayou Liberty.
Eschewing digital recording techniques for the recording, Bayou Liberty’s process was just as vintage as Pollack’s taste in music. “We recorded everything on tape…like the legends of times gone by. There’s no pitch correction. Almost every single song, with the exception of one or two, is a complete live performance from beginning to end,” she said. “It was a very new and challenging recording experience because I had to be cool with some imperfection…We relinquished some control which was difficult for me.”
While the road to Bayou Liberty has been rambling and a little bumpy, Pollack maintains that that the album—and music-making as a whole—has been worth the extra trouble. “It’s been magical and and like a dream come true for me like what I’ve always wanted to do.”
To preorder Bayou Liberty and keep up with the artist, visit Tiffany Pollack’s website. To purchase tickets for the album’s release party on July 24 at Cafe Istanbul from 10 pm to midnight, check out the venue’s website.
