Vanessa Collier: ‘Music industry has double standards -- being a woman you have to be twice as good and cannot have an off day’

If you were at the Mahindra Blues Festival 2024 in February, then you definitely witnessed livewire American singer and saxophonist Vanessa Collier showcasing her best on the Soulstrat Saloon stage on the first day. Belting out her songs like ‘Bloodhound' and ‘Two Parts Sugar, One Part Lime' among others, it was nothing short of a party for 90 minutes. Collier, who loves to bring high-energy and passionate performances full of her saxophone and fluid songwriting and storytelling mesmerised the audience as she owned every minute on the stage. It was visible as they grooved to her music, some being introduced to it earlier, others listening to it for the first time, yet high on her energy and music.

Having previously performed in the US, South America and Europe, it was the first time she was coming to India, but it felt like she connected with the audience almost immediately. In the process, she has now made a fanbase in India forever with her powerful vocals and music. Incidentally, it also happened to be the first-time that the festival had an all-women lineup, as more and more festivals try to adopt the move, this one showcased blues music in India like never before.

In the past, the festival has seen the likes of Buddy Guy and Taj Mahal among others who have taken to the stage. However, this year had a star-studded lineup including India's very own Tipriti Kharbangar and Chicago Hall of Fame singer Sheryl Youngblood, among others. Collier, who loved every part of being on the stage, shared a natural camaraderie with the other women powerhouses on and off the stage.

Finding blues music with a saxophone
So, how does it feel to be a part of an all-women lineup? "I have been performing on my own since 2014 and this is a remarkable thing because it doesn't even happen in the US and hasn't happened since the Lilith Fair. At most festivals, it is just one woman. It is really amazing to come and this whole lineup being women is such a powerful statement for the scene moving forward," shares Collier, who speaks to this writer a day before the festival in Mumbai for an exclusive chat. At the festival, she was joined by Laura Chavez on guitar, Scot Sutherland on bass, Byron Cage on drums and vocal.

While the American has been performing on her own only since the last decade, she has been a saxophonist for longer and close to two decades. Over time, she has seen a lot of change in Blues music and has been instrumental in at least one aspect if not more. She shares, "It is expanding to include more things. There are traditional Blues people who want to keep it the same way it is. I think it is a beautiful thing to protect the lineage and heritage, but the Blues sparked so many other different things. So, I think you have to include all the other people that want to be expanding it a little bit more. I usually play saxophone music, which is not traditionally what you expect in Blues music because it is all about guitar."

Maybe it was meant to be for Collier, who is an absolute ball of energy on stage because she was attracted to the wind instrument after she heard someone play it on a TV show and begged her mother to get her one. "I literally begged my mom for six months," shares Collier, laughing while narrating, "before she finally said, ‘fine, we'll rent one'. I had quit(learning) the piano very quickly and she could have been like, ‘yeah, she'll toss it away' but I am very grateful that she gave it a shot and I love playing the instrument." It paid off because over the years, she has now been nominated for several Blues Music Awards, given by the Blues Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation set up to foster the heritage of blues music; she has won 'Instrumental - Horn' in 2019 and 2020 too. It is only a few of the many accolades that she has won over the years, others include those for her songwriting.

Being a woman in blues music may change this
Now that she has mastered the art and continues to play, beyond having a music festival with an all-women lineup, even the number of women playing and singing blues music has been on the rise, but Collier believes that has been happening since some time now. She traces, "The community has been growing since the likes of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Bonnie Raitt and that lineage and is being passed down. I think more women are willing to be up here with the guys. I do think it is predominantly a male genre but there are definitely more women in it than before."

Sharing the stage with some of the best women in the scene, the American is probably the youngest but believes the stage is equal. "I think everybody can learn from everybody. I am always eager to learn things from whoever I can around me. People who have been on stage for 20-30 years have a certain kind of refinement and it is always great to learn. And us all being women, we have a different but also similar experience of going through the music industry, which can be very sexist," shares Collier, who was seen busy enjoying some laughs with the other performers. Together they looked like a bunch of friends not only celebrating their sisterhood but also music.

However, she highlights that sexism prevails in more ways than one not only in other sub-cultures of music but also the blues. Taking the positive out of it, she says it only motivates female singers and musicians to bring out their best in every show. She shares, "There is this double standard in the music industry that being a woman you have to be twice as good and cannot have an off day, you can't look a mess, you are just given a shorter leash. It pushes us to bring out everything to every show." This, she says, often leads to women being the stand outs on festival lineups. "There are also great things happening to women, and it is kind of time for us to take charge," she adds.

Leading from the front among the younger musicians not only in the music but to talk about sexism in the industry, Collier has had the opportunity to travel the world with some great musicians and perform with them, and India was only the latest pitstop. "I have had many great opportunities. I came out of my last year of college, and I had the opportunity to tour with Joe Lewis Walker and he took me to Turkey for a month and that was one of my first experiences out of the country. I then had the opportunity to go to Europe and nowIndia because I never knew I would get here." Just like learning from musicians around her, the American powerhouse says she likes to soak up the culture of the place she is performing in. She shares, "I realise how many languages I want to learn every time I travel."

Collier has released several albums over the years including Heart Soul & Saxophone (2014), Meeting My Shadow (2017), Honey Up (2018) and Heart on the Line (2020). Even as she tours the world, Collier is currently busy working on songs for a new record. "I am hopefully planning to release it in September. I am still writing it and trying to formulate how it is going to be. People can always accept a lot of storytelling from me and a lot of it is from my personal life and stories of how I grew up and true to the tradition and that is what I am aiming for every time," she concludes.