Though the Scene's phone call with Cyndi Lauper was scheduled before Prince died, it turns out there was no better person to talk to mere hours after The Purple One had taken his funky time to another galaxy. Lauper once shared the stage with the transcendent performer, and she sang his song "When You Were Mine" on her landmark 1983 debut She's So Unusual.
And, like Prince, the Grammy-winning vocalist is also constantly reinventing herself. She's the neon-colored '80s pop star who reminded generations of young women that it's OK to have fun; the songwriter for the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Kinky Boots; the founder of the LGBT foundation True Colors Fund; the manager for WWE's 1985 women's champion Wendi Richter; and a former competitor on Donald Trump's The Apprentice. And now she's thrown another curveball: She's releasing a country album, Detour, which is a collection of classic country and rockabilly songs she recorded in Nashville along with guest stars Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill and others.
Our conversation shifted seamlessly from one topic to the next — here's what she had to say about her favorite Prince memories, Detour's initially challenging recording process, yodeling and the rockabilly stars who helped her find her voice.
On why she made an album of rockabilly and country songs: "I cut my teeth as a rockabilly singer, listening to [Wanda Jackson and Patsy Cline]. Because my voice is very raspy, I thought I had a weird balance. I would be singing cover songs in clubs, and I didn't sound like Aerosmith or Robert Plant. These were great singers, and I just felt like, 'Loser!' I couldn't get rid of that sound in my voice. But when I sang rockabilly, that was my happiest time."
On struggling to find her voice while recording Detour: "I think that 'Funnel of Love' and 'The End of the World' were the first songs where I really connected with the band that [producer] Tony Brown put together. The first song I sang [with the band] was 'Begging to You,' and that first number sucked. I sucked! I couldn't connect. Because I thought it was going to be immediately great, like when Johnny Cash sang, or Bob Dylan. In my mind, when I saw the documentary Nashville Cats, I replaced those guys with me. Of course I did, because I'm self-centered! [Laughs] How many singers does it take to screw in a light bulb? Just one, the whole world revolves around her! [Laughs] But I had to figure out what my connection was to those guys."
On the musicians who appear on the album: "I was very blessed to have people like Willie Nelson and Vince Gill on the record. And his Time Jumpers guys, who were pretty extraordinary. I had my longtime friend and colleague William Wittman come and work on it, too — he's another great talent. And Jewel came and yodeled! Come on! Someday I'm gonna be a good yodeler. I'm not sure what I use it for, I might just go out to some mountaintop and yodel away."
On her ties to Nashville: "That is a music town. I used to make records in Nashville. Not in Nashville center, I used to go to Hendersonville to write my dark stuff with Jan Paulson. I was an outsider. I wrote 'Fearless' out there and recorded 'Fearless' with David Schnaufer. David was my dulcimer teacher, and he's since passed away. He bought me my first dulcimer — he was a great teacher."
On one of her more memorable interactions with Prince: "When I saw Prince do the Super Bowl, and how he conducted not just the people but the rain, I thought to myself, 'That's God's child,' and it made me write this song [singing], 'People slippin' in the rain, I watch them get up again,' and it was all about watching him. [Sings again] 'Same ol' fucking story, with your same ol' fucking rules,' and when I told him, and sang 'Same ol' fucking story,' he said, 'Oh my God, you used God's name and a curse word all in one sentence.' And I thought to myself, 'I'm sorry, I just am that way, maybe I'm a demon.' [Laughs] But he was always nice to me, he was always sweet — I listened to everything he did. I always thought he was a great artist. As I talk about him, I don't feel like it really happened. I feel like he's still here."
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