AMBER NORGAARD, HEATHER HARDY, AND SABRA FAULK:

HOW THESE MUSICIANS VIEW EACH OTHER

By Judy Jennings Copyright © 2015

Sabra Faulk, Amber Norgaard, and Heather Hardy

Amber Norgaard, Heather Hardy and Sabra Faulk not only drew a standing-room-only crowd for their show on June 13, but according to the good folks over at Monterey Court, they broke the record for the most reservations in the history of the venue.

One of the questions I ask when I interview someone for the story I’m working on about what it takes to make a living as a musician, from a woman’s perspective, is “How would you describe the music scene in Tucson?”  As it turned out, all three women referred to the other two in their responses to that question. 

Here’s what Amber, Heather, and Sabra had to say about each other:

AMBER:  “What I’ve found about the Tucson music scene is that it has always been welcoming.  When I started out, in those first five years or so, I had people who helped me out and took me under their wing.  Sabra helped me in the singer/songwriter setting, and the guys in my band, Doug Floyd and Jay Trapp, they’ve been with me since ’04.  Everybody’s always very welcoming and open.  Tucson’s kind in that way, and I’m grateful I landed here to start my music career.

Sabra and Heather have influenced me. I’m really picky with what I listen to.  I don’t like moody music, it has to keep me in a good mood, and it has to be insightful for me to listen to it.  I mean, there’s a time for moodiness, but I’m kind of beyond that in my life right now, the darkness. 

Who do I listen to?  Sabra and Heather.”

HEATHER: “It’s a very generous thing we gave going on, where we allow each other freedom.  I take great care to know that, until I can pay my musicians’ rent full-time, that they’re going to need to play with other people.  And they’re going to have their own dreams.  And they do that for me, so there’s that feeling in town where we all move around, and have great loyalty for our bands, but nobody’s in prison.  It’s not like, well, now I can’t work with Sabra Faulk because now Sabra and Amber work together, and that’s the end of that.”

SABRA:  “I think there’s a couple of really hard working women in this town--Heather Hardy is one of them, Amber Norgaard is another--people who work super hard and gig a lot.  If you really work hard at it and you market yourself properly, it’s easy to make a great living.  But you have to be on top of it all the time.

Amber has this amazing influence on people and on other musicians, because all of her music has a spiritual purpose, and the way she performs it heals people.

(Heather) is probably one of the most influential musicians in town.  She plays in every band, and everybody wants her on their CD’s.  They want her, they just want her, want her, want her.  Heather Hardy!”