Jazz singer/songwriter Nellie McKay is bringing her show A Girl Named Bill - The Life and Times of Billy Tipton back to Feinstein’s/54 Below from January 26-28. Her revue focuses on the curious life of bandleader Tipton, who lived as a man, but was discovered to have been born a woman upon his death. With her unique sense of humor, haunting vocals and charming presence McKay has become a music historian of sorts, rescuing the legacy of figures forgotten or underappreciated. We sat down to speak with her about Tipton, her love of performing, and the political climate.
What inspired you to do a full evening of Billy Tipton?
Oh my goodness you could do a lifetime about Billy. How did he pull that off? Five wives, born Dorothy, I guess people were innocent back then in many ways.
How much of a challenge was it to streamline the songs into the story you wanted to tell?
It was very difficult. They don’t feed us beforehand, so we have a spirit imperative.
How has the political climate shaped the way that you want to do your art?
Trump illuminated a lot of things that were already there, particularly in policy, systematically. The incarceration of Black and Hispanic men and women, who sometimes are the sole or primary providers of their families, we have almost 500 thousand people in jail because of the crime bill of the 90s. Half of those people were put there for nonviolent crimes. Things like that usually get less noticed when a Democrat is in power than when a Republican is in power. Seven of the poorest countries in the world were bombed under Obama, but now that Trump is in power his first drone strike was reported by the Associated Press which has never happened before. I hope protests will continue to happen and they will move us towards some sort of compassion society. Obamacare didn’t cover everybody, so now we need to keep up with most of our allies who want Medicare for all systems. Martin Luther King said he felt the lack of health care was the worst injustice for any human being. I hope we can get that. Everybody’s riled up and I think we need that before we can get to be happy.
One of my favorite things last year when I saw you sing “Dear Mr. Gable (You Made Me Love You)” but you dedicated it to Senator Sanders. As an artist how much do you think is it your responsibility to talk about your political beliefs, especially when we’re seeing Republicans complain artists should stick to their craft.
And then they elect a TV star, so I think that’s kind of out the window. I think in a good way he’s lowered the bar for anyone running for office, because no one can feel they don’t have the qualifications now. Would you consider it?
I’m not sure really.
You could become an Independent, there are more Independents than registered Democrats or Republicans now. People vote for so many different reasons, when I was on the road for Bernie I met people from so many different races who were voting for Trump. They said they were fed up. The electorate felt so volatile this time, people wanted to vote against the system. The fact that his first executive order was to vote against the TPP that’s a major progressive victory, sorry it comes from Trump, but it is. The TPP would’ve set up a corporate tribunal that could have gutted legislation and environmental laws. You’re gonna hear a lot of bad things about Trump, but there were enough bad things anyway because the corporations and the military industrial complex have completely seized the levels of power.
In terms of using art as means of solace, have you found yourself drawn to specific music or movies these days?
Billy risked his life everyday, he was in Oklahoma, what a brave person. He was kind of a daredevil, his father used to fly airplanes back when it was very sketchy, and Billy would come wing-walking in the 20s!
Have you thought about turning this into a larger show Off-Broadway or on Broadway?
Of course, but show me the money! (Laughs) We’re ready.
I really love your Doris Day album and I feel that she doesn’t get the credit she ought to. Why would you say people don’t always pay attention to her work?
She made it look too easy, she was effortless. People take it for granted because she seems to take it for granted. Her strength was in ballads, I believe it was her husband who wanted her to do more uptempo stuff, and that was a slight to her talent, because she was more intimate. I’ve seen her on postcards in gay shops, she’s kind of an icon.
What are your favorite of her performances?
I love the movie Young Man with a Horn because it’s black and white, and has this darkness and disillusion to it. Send Me No Flowers is her most fun though.
Her costumes in that are amazing.
She also did the Doris Day Animal League and the Doris Day Animal Foundation, all the things she encouraged like spaying, neutering, adopting and rescuing are things we’re still catching up with. People just follow the money.
Having been in several shows do you prefer being onstage with someone else’s words, or performing your own compositions in a concert setting?
I like following a storyline, it’s so much nicer. I much prefer to be someone else. Wouldn’t you?
I don’t think I’d be any good at being someone else.
Oh really? That’s good. It means you’re not a natural liar.
Another reason why I could never be a politician.
(Laughs) That shouldn’t be true though, you could be like Bernie. You seem like a really good person, we need people with integrity.
In terms of writing your shows, how do you discover the message you want to transmit in the end?
The beauty of an artistic career is that you can be watching TV and you get a eureka moment. Many people think you have to sit at a desk, which is like going back to school and being trained to be drones. It’s often when you empty your mind that a good idea comes.
We’re also seeing how the new administration has threatened to cut funding for the arts. Your parents were artists, so how important do you think it is to have this kind of support from early on?
My mother was the only one who supported me when I dropped out of school, and who supported me not getting a temp job. I wouldn’t have written any songs if I’d had a job. In The Heart is a Lonely Hunter the girl does music all the time, she makes her own instrument, finally she gets a job and she never does music anymore. It’s just one sentence but it says everything. You need to find this space somehow. That’s why kids kill you, so watch out (laughs). Use birth control. This has happened before, in the 30s with the WPA, all of which was beautifully written in Death of the Liberal Class, when they took away government money from theatre, so now it needs to be funded by the rich. It now can cost more to make an Off-Broadway production than to make a movie. I’ve worked on projects over the years where you’re no longer allowed to have a point of view, it’s all done by committees.
Would you be interested in trying out different mediums like films then?
I’d like to be Edgar G. Ulmer, he made these great B movies, he raised a little money and I think we could do things like he did.
For tickets to Nellie McKay's A Girl Named Bill - The Life and Times of Billy Tipton go here.
