Daphne Willis looking to stand on its own
It doesn't seem fair to write off Daphne Willis as a female Jack Johnson, even if that's what mainstream-radio comparisons might push us to do. For one, I'm pretty sure "bubble toes" isn't in her lyrically introspect 21-year-old vocabulary. Secondly, she sounds way more like early Norah Jones.
It's not that Willis, who hails from Palatine but lives in Chicago when she's not battling the Midwestern tour scene, doesn't appreciate big-name comparisons such as these -- especially when those similarities hit on her own personal idols. It's just that in a business as saturated as the singer/songwriter/acoustic-guitarist market happens to be, she aims to stand out on her own. Luckily, less than a year into the fold and with a near-firm SXSW date already scheduled in March, she and her band -- formally known as Daphne Willis & Co. -- have done a bang-up job.
Since beginning their first several-month tour near the end of summer, the quartet has gone from a gang of disassociated musicians courtesy of Chicago's open-mic scene to an anticipated college act that's garnered enough accolades to regionally put them on the map. College towns love them, bar flies welcome them and age-diverse crowds stop what they're doing to pay attention to this inconspicuously airy folk rock led by effortlessly beautiful vocals that frankly sound a lot like a female Jack Johnson if you're hearing them for the first time.
"After the EP came out, the support was really coming in from other people and people I didn't know, Willis tells me over the phone just before heading into the studio for the first day of recording. "I feel very lucky and fortunate that people want to hear what I have to sing."
She's talking about "Matter of Time," the EP that made Willis drop out of school. Well, it didn't make her do anything. But once the floodgates of opportunity unleashed a bevy of shows thanks to this album, which was recorded only back in April, it was hard to ignore the knock of a job well done. She plans to return to DePaul someday and resume the bachelor's degree in secondary education that she still feels excited about (though not as passionately as she does about her music), but for now, she's giving it some time. She's giving it a year, to be exact. One year to give it all to the band -- uninterrupted touring, songwriting and as of last week, another major recording session.
"I can always go back to school; that's always an option that's on the table," she says. In talking about it to her parents -- with whom she's very close -- even they thought it was a logical choice. Not that it's a surprise, coming from parents with a musical background, who gigged around the University of Texas together back in the day as a singer/songwriter duo, one of which (her dad) is still involved in the business as an employee of Sony BMG. Willis freely acknowledges, by the way, that while her dad's high-profile music job has gotten her EP passed into a few big-wig hands, he's been all hands-off with SXSW applications and show promotions that have been handled by the band's affable band manager.
It also should be noted that her year off could have a flexible deadline, depending on what happens with the band. After all, a lot can happen in 12 months, or even in an academic school term. As such, Willis' goals are pretty loose. No expectations; just work as hard as possible and hope that money from shows pays the bills. Ditto from her band mates, who comprise an equally dedicated trio of jazz, rock and blues artists and are far more proactive than the Co. portion of the brand implies. Guitarist John Cicora and drummer Josh Fox have decided to leave Columbia College in Chicago for the band as well, Willis tells me, with mere months left of school. And bassist Ryan Kolberg, who graduated from Berkley College of Music in Boston, is here to stay. She met most of these guys and her manager on the open-mic circuit, which she still plays now and again with a few friends. And while they've only played as a cohesive unit for several months, they're as close as a band can be.
"None of us are trying to make ridiculous amounts of money; we just want to play," Willis says. "Right now, it's not about making money; it's about gaining support."
With four SXSW dates secured (final venue locations and co-acts are still being scheduled), the support they want could be awaiting them via the yellow-brick road to rock buzz in Austin this spring. Willis is beyond excited for the chance and notes that even if the dream falls through (March is still several months away, after all), Daphne Willis & Co. shall be paving their way no matter what.
"It's so far in advance," she says. "If nothing else, we're going to go down there and play on a street corner."
They should have plenty of material by then. Their studio sessions with Chicago producer Stephen Shirk (Illinois, Cracklin Moth, Ha Ha Tonka) are scheduled to give way to an action-packed EP divided among six full-band songs, an acoustic tune featuring Willis and two or three live songs recorded at their Nov. 24 show at Flatlanders in Lincolnshire. As a follow-up to her mostly acoustic "Matter of Time," Willis anticipates the new release to showcase the diverse talents of Cicora, Fox and Kolberg, who collectively add tints of jam-band rock and jazzy twists that Willis admits she couldn't create on their own. They expect to release the new disc early next year.
"We have a blast," she says. "Being on the road, in sometimes a tight situation, you'd think we'd be trying to kill each other."
"We tell each other that we hate each other every day to keep it light," she laughs.
Daphne Willis & Co. When: 10 p.m., Dec. 21
Where: Durty Nellie's, 180 N. Smith St., Palatine
Cost: $4
Web: durtynellies.com