Amelia Eliza
Cluck’s tour takes her to under-the-radar venues. She’s at Art In Sept. 20.
A veteran of New York’s “anti-folk” scene of the early 2000s — which merged punk’s brutal honesty with folk instrumentation — Diane Cluck aims to avoid some of the cliches of traditional folk while singing honest truths about herself and others.
Cluck’s latest release, Boneset, is more composed musically and keys-driven than her earlier, sparser and guitar-focused works. Still, songs like “Draw Me Out” have the same organic and intuitive quality.
This doesn’t mean that Cluck has not changed. She is no longer rebelling against the traditional folk orthodoxy like she once did, when she performed alongside other rebels like Regina Spektor and Beck. She doesn’t even live in New York anymore.
She now lives in Virginia, a move that has, among other things, opened her up to those traditional forms of folk she once rejected. The move has also allowed her to meet a variety of people across generations, where she has been surprised to find much common ground.
“I love that feeling, that we’re more alike than we are different,” Cluck says.
On her latest tour throughout the Midwest, Cluck is doing lots of intimate concerts at small under-the-radar venues, including a Sept. 20 stop at Art In. Like many musicians, Cluck usually stuck to the coasts, with occasional overseas stops, for most of her touring career. Nowadays, she feels compelled to connect with the rest of the country on a face-to-face basis. Next year she is shooting for the Southeast.
The idea for these small concerts is not only for Cluck to get up close and personal with her fans, but for audience members to connect with each other and the healing power of art.
“As a musician, I feel really fortunate to have had a lot of support,” Cluck says. “But now I’m looking to see what I can do that fosters creativity … [and] healing and connection.”
