In Tumultuous Times, Paula Cole Brings Music to Lift Up and Inspire

Singer-songwriter Paula Cole has released 13 albums celebrating a rich, creative trajectory of deeply heartfelt songs starting with her 1996 triple Grammy-nominated single “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?”

She won a Grammy Award in 1998 for Best New Artist, and among her earlier megahits was “I Don’t Want to Wait,” the theme song for the television series “Dawson’s Creek.”

Her latest album, “American Quilt” was released last year.

Appearing with Cole this Saturday at the Pleasantville Music Festival will be stellar musicians Rich Hinman on guitar and pedal steel, Ross Gallagher on upright bass and vocals and R.J. Miller on drums.

Cole said she adapts her set lists to personal and social energies.

“I have a lot of songs about women empowerment and songs to help us lift ourselves out of difficult times,” said Cole, who will headline in the Chill Tent at the festival. “I will perform songs to hopefully inspire and galvanize everyone. I also celebrate the LGBTQ+ community who is very supportive of me. I’ll sing and play songs that hopefully spark some joy.”  

Realizing how today’s polemic discourse is so prevalent, Cole said giving her audiences support is essential.

“Women need to be heard since Friday, June 24, a day of infamy when Roe v. Wade was overturned and childbearing women, at the moment of fertilization, have lost all their bodily rights should they live in a red state. This is a barbaric and shocking steal of civil rights.”

The pandemic was difficult for many musicians who are regularly on the road to perform for live audiences. Cole made up for it by performing a live song online via social media every Sunday for more than 18 months.

“I could provide a soothing balm of music during a turbulent time,” she recalled. “It was called ‘Sunday Evening Songs’ and it was an important connection for me and my fans through the fear and sadness. Those performances are still available to view. Just me at my living room piano. I learn a lot from communicating with my fans.”

Time off from touring during the pandemic was also restorative for Cole. The down time propelled her into a phase of introspection, inspiring her to write a spate of new songs.

“I’ve been the most prolific I’ve ever been this past year,” she said. “You’ll be hearing the new music over the next year-and-a-half.”

It was during this time that Cole wrote the gripping song “Steal Away/Hidden in Plain Sight,” a song on the “American Quilt” album. Cole was inspired by the book “Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad,” written by Jacqueline L. Tobin and Raymond G. Dobard. It is a story about the struggles of enslaved women who stitched elaborate and encoded quilts that served as roadmaps to escape via the Underground Railroad.

“The song is a quilt,” Cole explained. “Every verse is a quilt square telling the wisdom of the pattern, which helped people find their tools and directions on a path to freedom to Canada. I’m always looking to grow as a songwriter. I look to other sources constantly; I use art, media and, of course, music.”

Cole has been mentoring students on songwriting at Berklee College of Music for nine years and is currently writing a book on it. 

“I’ve been teaching the finer points of songwriting, and with my experience as an artist and writer, I have something to say about it,” she said. “I believe in trying to be the best person you can be; you will be the best songwriter you can be.”

Post-performance, Cole would usually share a personal hello with her admirers but because of COVID-19 and as a caregiver for her elderly parents, she no longer meets and greets her fans. “

“My fans have enjoyed decades of my hugs after shows, and they’ll just have to remember that and let me off the hook now,” Cole explained. “I’m so happy to be back at performing with my beautiful band and my loyal fans and very thankful to them for bringing me to Pleasantville.”

Abby Luby

Abby is a seasoned journalist who has been covering news and feature stories in the region for decades. Since The Examiner’s launch in 2007, she has reported extensively on a broad range of community issues. Read more from Abby’s editor-author bio here. Read Abbys’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/ab-lub2019/