Ella Hooper joins Paul Cashmere for an all-new Noise11 conversation about her new album, Overnight Success, the Nashville sessions behind the record and the journey that brought her to a new chapter in Americana.
The title Overnight Success is deliberately ironic for an artist who has spent more than three decades making music. Ella Hooper talks about still feeling like a beginner, the changing nature of her career and why she remains determined to keep evolving.
Ella Hooper travelled to Nashville across multiple trips to make the album, working with Nashville musicians and embracing the level of musicianship, professionalism and ambition she found there. She explains what Nashville gave her that she could not quite recreate in Australia, and why the experience helped bring two sides of her personality together: the down-home country girl and the ambitious dreamer.
The conversation also explores Ella Hooper’s relationship with Americana, from country and alt-country to rock, folk and zydeco, and her concerns about the genre becoming increasingly mainstream.
Linda Ronstadt is another major part of the conversation. Ella Hooper explains how Ronstadt influenced Overnight Success and how performing the Linda Ronstadt repertoire has expanded her singing, particularly through songs ranging from Eagles material to The Rolling Stones and Ronstadt’s ballads.
Ella Hooper also discusses Cowboy Man, the playful song inspired by the current cowboy and cowgirl fascination, and When The Shit Went Down, a deeply personal song about a period of profound upheaval.
She explains why the title track sits at the end of the album, why she is keeping her solo work separate from Killing Heidi for now, and what audiences can expect from the Overnight Success Australian tour.
Watch the full Ella Hooper interview with Paul Cashmere.
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