lifeblood: songs: backgrounds: subway

2023-02-23 live in the volume studio - lightning 100 - nashville, tennessee (amy ray)

amy ray: subway, i wrote in honor of a woman named rita houston that was a dj up in new york at wfuv, another noncom station community radio, which i really firmly believe in. and um she helped a lot of musicians in the nineties kind of find their, their footing in the world, you know, especially musicians that were gay and queer and just couldn't really figure out how to hold themselves, you know, in that era, because it was very, could be very oppressive. but she was kind of like a music first leaning person. you know, she was all about the music and she never really judged anything else. so her tastes were vast and wide ranging and she was just a, i remember hearing stories where she would try to go to five shows in one night, you know, things like that and, and i just really, i loved her a lot and i'm, and it was a big loss for a lot of people. i mean, everybody really loved her in, in the music world, in the radio world, the non com world especially. so i just, she lives, she lived in new york and i just, it was during covid and i basically was like, writing her a letter in this song about, you know, missing her and thinking about her and what she had done and kind of our lives, both of us as we grew up sort of through the, through the scene and all that.

dj: i know. i'm, i'm really sad to have not met her. i've heard a lot about her and i know a lot of people who work here at lightning 100 with me have met her working with her at, um at bonaroo at the like...

amy ray: yes

dj: ...radio tent there...

amy ray: yes

dj: ...and i've heard only amazing things about her. so, um i think it's beautiful that you wrote this tribute for her. and, uh we would love to hear it.

amy ray: yeah we'll play it. and, yeah, and brandi did sing on this. um, she did a choir of brandi's which jeff is gonna...

jeff fielder: uh yeah...

amy ray: ...jeff is gonna do...

dj: are you gonna, you're gonna be our choir of brandi's this morning?

amy ray: well jeff is from seattle, so he's got some brandi in him...

dj: yeah, that makes sense, yeah that's that's close enough.

amy ray: yeah. all right. you want to count me in?"