Video: Corinne Bailey Rae speaks about music, loss and hope

Corinne Bailey Rae did something brave and completely natural after the accidental death of her husband, Jason Rae, in 2008. She kept making music.

The young singer-songwriter was riding a gentle wave of success in the wake of her self-titled 2006 debut, which won critical accolades, sold well and received multiple honors, including three Grammy nominations. She took the time to stretch out on her follow-up, but then catastrophe struck in the form of an accidental overdose Jason ingested on a night out with friends. That event necessarily shifted the tone and focus of "The Sea," the album Rae finally completed and brought to the marketplace in January of this year.

Rae visited Los Angeles in February, and I sat down with her to discuss her new music and where her career might go next. I found her as thoughtful and quick to laugh as I had the first time I interviewed her, in 2007. The video above is a portion of our conversation.

On Tuesday at Vibiana in downtown L.A., Rae will begin her first North American tour since the release of "The Sea" with a benefit concert for KCRW-FM (89.9), the radio station that gave her her first Stateside airplay. She'll return a couple of weeks later to perform at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio.

-- Ann Powers

Comments

[Dee]

I absolutely LOVE & adore Miss Rae and it's so nice to see & hear her comments and thoughts during an interview! Love! Love! Love! Since I've had the fortune to hear her on Letterman, Leno, R&K over the last few months but no interview time (sadly)! However, if I could offer some constructive criticism to Ann Ross (the interviewer) ... it felt a wee bit uncomfortable and robotic as if Miss Ross was an HR Rep interviewing her 50th applicant at the end of a long day. I loved Corinne’s answers though (LOVE) but I cringed each time a question was being asked. It just lacked something crucial that I expect to hear from an interviewer. Enthusiasm perhaps. Huh.

[Kuba Shand-Baptiste]

I have no idea why Corinne isn't bigger here UK. Perhaps they don't like the fact that she strayed slightly from the happy-go-lucky image that made her so huge in the summer of 2006 with "put your records on". Not that the good vibes are to be frowned upon, mind. I don't know, she seems to have been categorized with the wishy-washy one hit wonders that pop up on the British pop scene every once in a while. If only they hadn't been so quick to write her off...she's so much more than that. Ah well. Glad to see she's doing well. And it's not as though her following here is THAT small...Just a bit smaller than expected for someone so talented.