Mary Lambert, the Seattle-area songwriter made famous for her feature on Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ song, “Same Love,” is returning to the Emerald City stage Oct. 29th to play a set at the Crocodile Café. For one of music’s best – and most vulnerable – stage performers, coming back home will prove both cathartic and joyous.
After releasing her latest EP, Bold, in May, the performer subsequently dropped a music video for the lead single, “Know Your Name.” The piece is cheeky, thoughtful and playful – and features a drumming performance from Seattle musician, Eva Walker, of The Black Tones, a friend and former co-worker of Lambert’s. “It’s happening,” says the acclaimed singer. “I’m so excited! I haven’t toured for 2-3 years.”
Life for the outspoken artist has been tumultuous, to say the least. When you’re the person so many associate with marriage equality initiatives, body positivity issues and artistic success, there comes a specific set of trials. “I think you have to be really careful if you’re any sort of public figure,” she says. “But I do think that there is an obligation to all people to be a force of good.”
At times, she says, her role as a public figure and performer can often entail the perceived responsibility of therapist. “I talk to people explicitly about mental health, explicitly about sexual abuse, explicitly about body image,” she says. “To be that kind of an artist and then to perform shows in an open, inviting atmosphere, it does entreat a lot of people to share their truth with me.”
And much of the time, that’s a good thing. Lambert provides an opportunity to share space and energy with someone who’s been there through abuse, depression and a myriad of other physically and psychologically violent times. “I think there are so many people that grew up in trauma or grew up in houses of turmoil or with parents that were unkind to them who don’t know how to accept love because that’s what they’re used to and that’s what they’re going to seek out,” she says, “because that’s what feels normal.”
But there are good occasions too, like a recent vacation she was afforded with her partner. “[We] went abroad recently,” says Lambert. “We went to France and Iceland. And we went to this little restaurant in Iceland and it was one of the best meals ever.”
But after such a time thick with both hardship and adoration – her fans helped fund “Bold” through a successful Kickstarter campaign – Lambert is prepared to come home and show her cornucopia of music, light and humor to her welcoming home turf.