Grace Cummings’ vocal power is in full effect on ‘Ramona’ : World Cafe Words and Music Podcast

Grace Cummings‘ voice sounds like it was shot across the universe, gathering momentum and absorbing everything it came across in its journey to your ears. It carries a lot of weight.

On her 2022 album, Storm Queen, the Australian singer-songwriter’s vocals are front and center, with instrumentation that accentuates the emotional resonance of her singing. On her new album, Ramona, the arrangements have risen to match the intensity of Cummings’ singing.

It’s a sonically dense album, produced by Jonathan Wilson and recorded in Topanga Canyon, just outside of Los Angeles. In this session, Cummings talks about why she wanted a bigger-sounding record; how Bob Dylan‘s “To Ramona” inspired the title track; and why capturing your emotions in a song is something you either have or you don’t.

Video Credits

• Vocals/guitar: Grace Cummings
• Guitar: Louie King
• Bass: Tom Fraser
• Drums: Tyler Dagliesh
• Recorded at Fight Night Records by Nick Edin (Melbourne, Australia)
• Mixed by Harley Stewart at Semilero Studios (Guadalajara, Mexico)
• Assisted by Shayne Cooke
• Director Of Photography Joe Victory
• Programmed by Delaney Stewart

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Miguel Perez. Our senior producer is Kimberly Junod and our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.