ENTERTAINMENT: Rockstar Sally

By Buddy Roberts

Faster than an up-tempo bossa nova. Conveying the power of a well-crafted song lyric. Able to leap two octaves in a single bound. Yes, it’s Rockstar Sally, pop songstress, who, disguised as Sally Russell Baio, mild-mannered media director for a Birmingham advertising firm, spent a recent afternoon at the Botanical Gardens, discussing her never-ending search for great songs, good wine, and rare Wookie memorabilia.

Her band: The Hearts, a trio she comprises with Rick Lovelady and Jason Slatton. “People sometimes ask us who we sound like, and we usually say, ‘Ourselves.’ Even when we do covers, we always end up sounding like The Hearts. We have a very Americana sound with a few surprises thrown in. We just can’t rap well. We tried.”

Where you’ll hear them playing: Such local venues as The Oasis and The Garage Café (6-10 p.m. Sunday, May 25, and Sunday, June 22). “We are still filling in June show dates, as well as the rest of the summer, so check listings in the Black and White and Birmingham Weekly for more upcoming shows.”

What you’ll hear them playing: Songs by Lucinda Williams, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, and Steve Earle. “We do some original numbers too. I’m letting Rick and Jason shoulder the weight of writing right now while I make sure I do my part correctly and focus on being a vocalist. I have some notebooks of stuff I’ve written that may get pulled out sometime. I hope so, anyway.”

How the trio formed: “I was playing with The Happy Burnells for a while several years ago, and Rick’s band, The Amazing Live Sea Monkeys, was practicing at The Bombshelter, the same place we did. Rick and David Kilmer and Milton Moats began asking me up on stage to sit in on a couple of songs when they would play out. They even played my wedding reception at Sloss Furnaces. I had been in another band before the wedding that fizzled out shortly thereafter and was missing my own band badly. I remember that one morning I called Rick and said, ‘So when are we gonna start a band together?’ He said, ‘I wondered when you would ask. How about Thursday?’ I’d met Jason several times, Rick thought the three of us would work together well, and that was that.”

Is it important for a band to be entertaining as well as musically talented? “We think so. People sometimes tell us, ‘Even more fun than listening to you play is listening to you banter.’ We laugh and tease and poke at each other in between songs, and it’s great when an audience enjoys our music and our personalities. We just want to make sure that everyone who comes to hear us has the best time possible.”

Common misconceptions about musicians: “First, that we all do it to be famous. Absolutely not. A true musician does it for a more transcendent and personally-purposeful reason. Second, that musicians are slackers. Let me tell you, it ain’t always easy. As for The Hearts, we are full-timers, be it school or work, and we all stay incredibly busy and dedicated to and passionate about that. Music just makes it all a little better, and you can’t wait for the next show or chance to play. But it takes time and practice and a lot of heavy lifting. Keep in mind that all equipment, PAs, monitors, mics, guitars, and small animals that will not be harmed during the show – I’m kidding – have to be loaded up, loaded in, and loaded out before and after a show (and sometimes during a show), and then returned safely somewhere for the next rehearsal or show. Then you rest as much as you can and go to work for 10 hours the next day. Who needs a gym membership?”

Her favorite song to perform: Different Drum, written by former Monkee Michael Nesmith and popularized by Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys. “It was one of the first songs Rick brought to the table to learn. I listened and thought it would be cool, as my mom and I used to listen to Linda Ronstadt on cassette in the car when I was little. Though years beyond the Stone Poneys, I loved her voice and now realize she is probably a huge influence in my desire to sing. Anyway, I tried to do the song when Rick and Jason and I first began playing together. I began to dislike it greatly, frustrated that I would never sound right singing it, and struck it from the list. Then I heard it playing on the overhead speaker at the grocery store – glamorous, right? – and could not get it out of my head. I suggested we bring it back. Now I love it, and in a little way it brought me back around to the reason I called Rick to start The Hearts in the first place. Life is cycles and circles, anyway, the way I see it.”

Is there a difference between rehearsing a song and singing it on stage? “Absolutely. In rehearsal, you are, well…rehearsing, so you can start over, try something different, work something out, make something up. When you’re performing, it’s a one-time deal. You go with it…and still sometimes make things up.”

How she feels onstage: “I guess I feel like me (whatever that is) and in my true element. No stress, no worries, just the true feeling of honest excitement and appreciation to be able to have the opportunity to do it. I don’t think…I just feel. I wish it would never end and am surprised how time flies and suddenly we are at the end of a song or the show altogether. They say that happens when you’re having fun.”

About music: Having studied choir music and classical opera since she was a teenager, “I realized one day that music had become too much of a labor and not a labor of love.” After pursuing other interests for a while, “I had to have it back in my life. No music, no life. So I started playing in bands and found that to be a lot more fun than studying seven languages and practicing pitch. Now that I’m in my 30s, music is a serious business again, but my mantra is that I don’t work music. I play music. And it doesn’t hurt that it makes a little extra shoe money.”

Her day job: Media director for Big Communications, “a hip little ad agency in town.” A specialist in co-op media, she has served as a vice president on the board of the Birmingham Advertising Federation, helping coordinate its annual ADDY awards program and other initiatives. “I know I have made everything out to be that I am some kind of rockstar-type,” she said with a laugh, “but that’s not me all the time.”

On Birmingham: “I grew up here, went away to boarding school in Tennessee and off to college, and then made the rounds of Boston, New York, and New Orleans, but Birmingham is the coolest place I’ve ever been.”

Birmingham’s music scene: “It’s the biggest best-kept secret, and I hope people continue to reveal it. With the mature and developing talent we have here, Birmingham has the potential to be a real hot spot.”

Two things an acquaintance would be surprised to know about her: “Sad (answer): I nearly died of Grave’s Disease when I was in my very early 20s. It changed my life, and I still take meds and keep an eye on it every single little day. Happy (answer): I am a huge Formula 1 racing fan. I love European high-performance cars. If only Rick Bragg and I could talk Porches one day…”

And then there’s her Chewbacca collection…: “I have all the Chewbacca stuff that my brother had as a kid, and the collection grew from there. I’m still collecting – the rarer, the better. I guess my weird fascination with the fuzzy guy stems from going to see Star Wars at a very young age (I always wanted to tag along to anything my big brother did as a child), and it continued on as the movies came out. I’m fascinated with how a character with no actual lines (aside from the incredibly scary and often comforting growls) can have so much personality and be so endearing. Then again, I have been a lifelong fan of The Ramones as well, and they had a lot of shaggy hair, so maybe it’s just a 70s shaggy hair thing.”

Her favorite indulgence: “A glass of red wine and Days of Our Lives on the DVR after work. I wish I could tell you something more intelligent than that, but it’s the 45 minutes of downtime I allow myself pretty much daily. On top of that, my favorite indulgence is the smell of my husband making something wonderful in the kitchen as I catch up on what is going on in Salem (the city where Days takes place). Wash, rinse, repeat.”

Her husband: Phillip Baio, a New Orleans native and noted local chef. “I am extremely proud of his culinary accomplishments, and he is my favorite chef, no doubt. (Not to slight my mama, who is the best soul food cook in the Southeast.) He spent four or five years as the executive chef at the Open Door Café in Crestline, with great success. He left (there) when my brother reinvented his restaurant Bacca into Dexter’s Bar and Bistro.” When Dexter’s closed its doors about a year ago, Baio assumed his current position as sous chef at The Standard Bistro in Mount Laurel.

Her favorite wine: “Probably Domaine Tempier 2005 Bandol Rouge. I also adore Ridge Geyerville and on a more regular basis enjoy Goats Du Roam (Red). I always keep in mind what my brother said when he was in wine retail: ‘Drink what you like.’ Actually, a good metaphor for many things in life.”

If she were stranded on a desert island, the album, book, and meal she’d like to have along: Lucinda Williams Live @ The Fillmore (“All her great stuff on two CDs”), Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer or John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany (“I’ve read it 20 times since high school”), and “being married to a chef, the meal is a harder decision. It would probably be fois gras-related, anything with truffle oil, and something green. And I’d have to have sliced white onion, as any good Southern girl should.”

Rockstar Sally Style: “I am a fan of classic fashion a la Audrey Hepburn. When someone meets me, they usually wonder, ‘Do you always dress that way?’ Yes, I do. I’ve come back to a classic look and red lipstick – everything my mother always wanted me to wear. My poor mother. She raised a debutante and got a rockstar.”

Black-and-white photography by Nikki Snodgrass, Time's Photography, Austin, Texas.