Absence makes the fan’s heart grow fonder.
Elea Plotkin, 41, pens music in the vein of Carole King and Billy Joel. But before she wrote her own songs, life forced the piano-playing pop singer to learn the importance of time away from the stage.
Her resulting renaissance is inspiring to artists and non-artists alike.
Q: How did a musician who grew up outside of Seattle and graduated from the University of Washington avoid falling into the grunge scene?
A: I was at the University of Washington as a music student well before I had pop music consciousness. My background is in classical piano. I spent most of my young life doing recitals and competitions. I had aspirations to be a concert pianist or a conductor. I didn’t even start doing pop music until my very late 20s, and by that time I had moved away from Seattle.
Q: Does the term “hand-to-mouth” hold special significance for you?
A: Well, that was my childhood. I had a great childhood but it was one fraught with the difficulties you have when there’s never enough money. I grew up surrounded by agriculture and logging. I worked in my parents’ general store and picked berries every year to pay for school clothes. That’s what all the kids did: You finished school and then you got on the berry bus. … College was a struggle financially but I got financial aid and worked a lot.
Then something developed over a period of time called “an overuse injury.” It was acute tendonitis in my hands. At the time I was working at Cherry Creek High School and trying to get into the University of Denver master’s piano program and teaching about 24 students after work. I was playing piano almost constantly. I had never seen it before and didn’t know what was happening to me, only that my hands became weaker. I had to stop working. I lost my job, and my self-esteem went in the gutter. I was a musician. That was all I knew.
I needed to make music. I just had to figure out how. I had a strong pull toward composition and the idea of songwriting sort of germinated. It was therapeutic because I could sit down at the piano and use one finger to plunk out small melodies. I was persistent. I was never willing to let go of my musicianship. I’m a much more well-rounded musician because of the process I went through.
Q: “To My Core” – is that a song about fruit?
A: That’s a song about my daughter. I wrote it when she was about 5 or 6 years old, at that delightful age when little girls run around the house like fairies, trying on my clothes and doing cartwheels. I was trying to capture that spirit, and sing about how delightful she was.
Elea Plotkin performs at The Hornet, 76 Broadway, on Friday.
Staff writer Elana Ashanti Jefferson can be reached at 303-820-1957 or ejefferson@denverpost.com.
