Hattie Webb has had quite the past few months juggling the lives of little humans with some gigs at some places that may or may not ring a bell; Madison Square Garden and the Hollywood Bowl. Yeah, the English harpist has been living it up as of late, but she did find the time to sit down with us to talk about growing pains, magical forest coffee stops, and more like her 2024 release, ‘Wild Medicine,’ out everywhere now!

Kendra: Growing up I was always attached to my one friend. You couldn’t mention one of us without mentioning the other, but as we got older – we finally started to carve our own paths, and it was hard for me. Did you go through similar growing pains when you started to work on solo material aside from The Webb Sisters? 

Hattie Webb: Thanks Kendra, I appreciate you sharing about dynamics with your friend. I really relate to your feelings, I think it helps to hear that many of us can go through growing pains. I speak for myself that there have been moments of challenges navigating Charley and my work in The Webb Sisters alongside our personal choices in both of our lives. We have been so connected all our lives so I feel it is an ongoing process to figure out. There were chapters on tour with Leonard Cohen that we were away 10 months of the year so there wasn’t as much time for life outside of the tour. In the past 10 years, we have blended both our work together, alongside following our own endeavours and life choices, which I still sometimes find hard. I love to be with Charley and create together! 

I believe despite any feelings regarding each of our own choices, I feel in myself and I recognise in Charley too, a hope to give each other the space and acceptance to thrive in whichever ways we individually choose. Plus a willingness to use language that acknowledges each other. Communication is key I think!

Kendra: Now you’re on your second solo record, ‘Wild Medicine,’ and you just have this Joni Mitchell vibe but a little more ethereal. Like if Joni is performing in Greenwich Village, you’re in the equivalent in a magical forest cafe. With that, if ‘Wild Medicine’ were to get a limited edition drink at your favorite cafe, what flavor profile would you want it to have to match the album’s overall vibe?

Hattie Webb: I love this, being in a magical forest cafe! These are two of my favourite things, being in nature and devouring cafe treats. Since I was little, I made up mixtures of drinks for folks to taste.  I used to ply my Mum with tea mixed with Horlicks mixed with chocolate powder, mixed with mud!  In recent times I have taken out the mud.  Boo hoo.

One of them, I call ‘The Creamy Rose’, a Rose Tulsi tea with a good helping of steamed barista oat milk, a tablespoon of coconut oil, and a sprinkling of stevia or honey, all blended up to make a satisfying brew,  I think I would like to put this one forward as the ‘Wild Medicine’ drink because the tulsi is a bit earthy and spicy, the rose is magical, plus a bit of sweet and creaminess makes the world go round.

Kendra: Perhaps something that goes with heartbreak and moving on like in “Shakespeare’s Shores?” Other than penning a song about it, do you have any other things that you’ve felt help one get past a broken heart?

Hattie Webb: I feel I need to ask you the same question!  It is a real journey and one which at times I still feel I am on.  Travel and new experiences along with having cozy times with family and dear friends have been a great balm.  Therapy has definitely helped me too, plus acceptance that we can’t control all aspects of what happens,  A friend told me the other day that one way to let go of sadness and resentment is to truly believe it was your life’s path to go through it to learn something, that perhaps we even chose it before we came into human form. I hope this is true!

Kendra: Let’s talk about “Golden.” What a lovely track! I felt like it was a perfect song for the beautiful, late summer day I just had. It took me back to when my family first got cable, watching Vh1 and falling in love with singer-songwriters like Sheryl Crow and Alanis. However, singer-songwriters are more common – I feel – than harpists. Did you have a harpist you couldn’t get enough of as a kid?

Hattie Webb: I’m so glad you had a glorious late summer day.  It really does lift the spirits to have those days. My producer Roscoe Beck always calls ‘Golden’ a summer smash!  Rock on 2025! I adore Sheryl Crow and Alanis too. There were so many great female artists that won many people’s hearts in those years.  

I always adored my harp teacher Danielle, Harpo Marx also a classical harpist called Marisa Robles. I didn’t know of any singer-songwriter-harpists in my early days, the soil of inspiration came more from artists Kate Bush, Sinéad O’Connor, The Sundays, Cocteau Twins, Jeff Buckley, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and many more.  I just gravitated to playing harp more and more to write and express myself through sound and song, hoping it blended my love of singer-songwriters and the sonic landscape of the harp.

Kendra: When it comes to touring, you’ve been out with some of the best from Leonard Cohen to Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and you’re continuing with David Gilmour this fall. You’ll be playing iconic places like the Hollywood Bowl and Madison Square Garden. Do you have any sort of tradition you like to do before you play venues like that? Maybe take a picture in a certain spot, something like that?

Hattie Webb: It’s been a blast on these tours and sometimes a juggle with the nerves!  I have learned so much from many of the folks we have toured with that they have a pre-show ritual they have created over the years to support their process.  I have drawn some of those from others, for example, Leonard would meditate pre-show.  I have often followed a guided meditation on a show day and I throw in doing a body self-massage with an Ayurvedic oil called Ashwagandha before the meditation.  It calms and supports one’s nervous system plus gives a lot of grounding.  

Though for the Gilmour tour and traveling with my two little children, there is only the time to rub the oil on briefly and scrap the meditation!  I love to take photos, particularly just before I leave the venue after the show, I do love a bit of nostalgia, on reflection perhaps I am taking a snapshot of the feeling after the connection we all had together, audience, crew, and band, to bring with me.

Kendra: With ‘Wild Medicine’ out now and tour dates already on the books, what can fans expect as we finish out the year and head into 2025?

Hattie Webb: I will be playing a few gigs in Italy over Christmas and the New Year and then hope to play some festivals and solo shows in 2025.  Watch this space and stay in touch via my website also on my Facebook and Instagram ‘Hattie Webb music.’

Kendra: Lastly, every song could be redone a million different ways but if you had the chance to cover a handful and give them a harp makeover, which 5 songs would you pick?

Hattie Webb: You’re so right that songs as a creative format, do have that flex that they can go in many different directions.  I think my 5 would have to be:

“Running Up That Hill”
“What Was I Made For?”
“Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”
“Cruel Summer”
“Last Goodbye”