SLO LIFE Oct/Nov 2020

IN FULL
BLOOM
BY JOE PAYNE
IMAGES COURTESY OF NATALIE HASKINS
Born and raised in the Nipomo region of San Luis
Obispo County, Natalie Haskins has performed
her own music live across the Central Coast for
more than a decade. But not until now, after
several years of work in multiple studios with
a team of instrumental contributors, has Haskins reached a
serious benchmark for any singer/songwriter—her own full
length album.
Haskins honed her sixteen-track collection of original songs
since 2016, focusing on poetic settings of real-life feelings with
an Americana twang in her May-release titled Puhidua. The
album showcases her songwriting like no other project, with all
but two co-authored tracks featuring entirely her own lyrical
and compositional efforts. “I’ve been writing poetry since I was
a young girl, and I’ve always been interested in music as well.
Like in middle school I played flute—I was one of those kids.
In high school I was in band,” Haskins shares. “So I’ve always
been interested in the arts, and when I started learning guitar at
eighteen, that’s when my poetry started turning into songwriting.”
Growing up in a rural SLO County, Haskins’ family was
steeped in Americana and country music. Her dad, uncles, and
brothers were all into that kind music while she was growing
up, Haskins recalls, and even though genres like R&B held her
attention, her family’s influence shone through once she started
writing music. “As I got older and I started playing, I naturally
just came out sounding that way,” she explains. “I think it is
kind of in my blood as well because my grandfather was a
musician and he was an outlaw country guy. His sound was very
old school country.”
Haskins’ new album exemplifies the kind of Americana that has
risen in popularity during the last decade-and-a-half, which is
fused with country influences but doesn’t shy away from folk,
blues, and even some jazz forms. Pihidua isn’t a nitty gritty,
whiskey-obsessed album often heard from the more male side of
Americana songwriting, but a polished and artful interpretation
of real feelings like heartache and family dynamics.
Part of the success of the album goes to Haskins’ selection of
instrumentalists, who bring everything from ripping electric
guitar solos to haunting pedal steel to sensual saxophone breaks
to her songs. Locals may recognize some of the names on the
album jacket, with contributors like Jon Clarke, Joe Koenig,
and Terry Lawless. “I felt really lucky because I would kind of
hand them the idea, and whatever their skill was, they would
just elevate it to another level,” Haskins reveals. “That was fun
for me to watch, because having a song is kind of like having
a child, you’re really connected to it, you gave birth to it, but
you’re sending it out to the world and hoping someone loves it.
I just feel like the musicians collectively on the album made the
songs so much better than I ever could have envisioned from
the beginning.”
The album includes tributes to her
own progenitors. First, the use of
an heirloom Martin guitar from
her grandfather, which was used to
record multiple tracks. The guitar is
also featured in some of the album
artwork, which Haskins said was an
important part of the project. As a
“90’s kid,” the physical product was
important to her, and connections to
her roots are seen throughout.
Also, the album title, Puhidia, comes
from the Native American language
of the Paiute Tribe, of which her
mother is a member. The word means
“wildflower,” and definitely illustrates
Haskins’ blossoming as a recording
artist and local performer. SLO LIFE
JOE PAYNE is a
journalist, as well as a
lifelong musician and
music teacher, who
writes about the arts on
the Central Coast.
OCT/NOV 2020 | SLO LIFE MAGAZINE | 35