Why does tori amos play two pianos

Amos would often have to change her tune at a moment's notice. Like her father, who was a reverend, the teachers at Peabody were less than pleased with Amos' bohemian stylings. Amos believes this is part of why, when she auditioned for her sixth year at Peabody, her scholarship was not renewed.

While her teachers may have given up on her, the Reverend Amos' faith never faltered; he pushed his daughter to continue with her music. Henry's of Georgetown," Amos recalled. And so it was the gay community that opened their door to the reverend and his daughter. Roberta Flack had played at the same club years before, so Amos said she would often play "Killing Me Softly" in her honor.

Her mother's records also came in handy for the musical theater sing-alongs that took place at the piano bar. If given the choice, Tori says her ideal sing-along buddy would be Bette Midler, who starred in "The Rose" in and sang the legendary song of the same name.

And, that's the thing about great entertainers. In her teens, Amos became obsessed with another famous Bette -- Bette Davis. Amos tried out acting in high school, and years later edged out an unknown Sarah Jessica Parker in a Kellogg's Just Right cereal commercial. But it was her music career that took off, and seven years later her solo debut "Little Earthquakes" was released to critical acclaim and success.

By the time she released "Under the Pink" in she had become a force in the music world. I have to push myself out of my routine. Your fans are very present in the book. I was struck by how thoughtfully and fully you receive their stories; sometimes their stories gestate and turn into songs. What is that exchange like for you? I get a lot of letters. I began to get into a place of becoming a container.

Not all songwriters are great players. Some of them are competent; some of them are good. But a lot of them just kind of get by. The songwriter is reading, taking in, exploring, and doing the work of documenting a time. That was the trajectory for me, starting at five years old. Those writers were also documenting time, but it was their time. But how do you go about it?

I was up this morning, going through hundreds of hours to find two bars. You find those two bars, and then you realize, O. You write in the book about a moment in your twenties when you hated music, and felt betrayed by the machinations of the recording industry, its treatment of women and people of color—. And I, too, betrayed—I betrayed myself, and my instrument. I whored it out. It was years of buying into the idea that to be successful and pay my bills as a musician, I had to fit into a certain slot, a commercial slot.

After the failure of Y Kant Tori Read, I had to get through the shame and the blame and the embarrassment, just being disgusted with myself for betraying the dream I had, and asking myself, How do you go from prodigy to bimbo? To return to politics for a moment, one thing that struck me while reading these stories was how remarkable of a perspective touring musicians have on the country and the world.

Each country has its own mythology and its own influences. America is not just New York, Chicago, and L. Sometimes Americans are so insular. Touring pushed me to travel, and to see different points of view. I talk a lot in the book about touring during the Iraq War. It was very difficult. The grieving was unbelievable. It was looking for leadership. Which brings us to , and to how the book starts. We have a hard time accepting that our leaders would lie to us.

When I played David Letterman, I was still in a place to pray that we would do the right thing. But the pain was more than palpable.

And the city—it was very different being in the city. People have asked me about this. When I was really little, these muses would just come. It always feels bigger than me as a person. I step into my art form, and I serve. You really have to do that. It also makes me think of your father, who was a pastor. You have to get yourself out of the way. Let the muses take over. I see them. There are eleven of them. I can see them. My husband can show you proof of the muses. I had to learn it later.

It was just kind of coming through. Later on, I was trying to figure out—Jesus, bar 7, bar 5, bar 4, what? I think it sounds easier than it is. Other artists have talked about it—the idea of pulling aside on the freeway. In the book, you describe your songs as children, almost—with their own birthdays and needs and desires. It happens when I finish a record. My husband and I, we have a little glass of something. You realize this. So do you want to take a minute? Some of them want that—others, no.

No, no. I truly have to step back. That moment is always very challenging for me. Can I get my mum and papi? Can I get you, are you there? I need my mom. That must have been a whole new kind of heartbreak. I was in the thick of the book then, and my new record was being rewritten. First, one of my best friends died.

She had A. I understand that particular creature of power. So, cutting my teeth, underscoring these liquid handshakes, as I call them in the book, is a part of my piano-bar-playing DNA. Is that when you first understood songwriting as a way to address social or political issues—as opposed to just a form of personal expression? When I was accepted at the Peabody Conservatory at five, I had a lot of potential. And they had hoped that I would follow a certain path. But I saw the impact—that was , when I was accepted.

So, I began to see around me, because of the older students, the power of music, of the songs being written at that time. Whether it was coming out of Motown, whether it was coming from the British invasion. All the bands, from the Beatles to the Stones to Zeppelin. We can never marginalize Nina Simone and what she brought to the table, revolutionary songwriting.

I began to see the power of the revolution that was happening at the time that was being driven by songwriters. Resistance is all about the role politics plays in creating art. But I wanted to also get your perspective on the politics of consuming art. What responsibility do you think we have as consumers of art? What is to be done about the work of people who we know to be abusers or predators? So, that needs to be said first. When I know something about an artist, can I segregate their actions from their work?

You have to see that, surely. Has that timing changed? Is there any significance to getting that work out before the election? So, yes, the goal is to finish the record and have it out before November, yes. And to tour, yes.