Josh Groban

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. This episode is also available as video on YouTube. You can visit Nora Jones channel and be sure to subscribe while you're there. Hey, I'm Nora Jones and today I'm playing along with Josh Groban. I'm just playing along with you. I'm just playing along with you. Hey, I'm Nora Jones and welcome to the show. Here we are, me and my Oda, Sarah Oda. Welcome to the show. Hey, co-pilot. We have an amazing episode today with Grammy nominated singer, songwriter, actor, musical theater performer Josh Groban. He spans across generations and genres with his very warm, rich, baritone voice. It's unforgettable. And he moves seamlessly from classical music to Broadway. His voice is just so good. You can do anything. He's incredible. Actually, hearing his voice in the room was very special. Very powerful. Yeah, we had a lot of fun. He's also just a very fun person and sweetheart and just all around great guy. Yeah, yeah. Josh will release his new album Cinematic in early May. And it's a collection of some of the most iconic songs featured in film. The album spans favorites like Can You Feel the Love Tonight from The Lion King and Skyfall, the James Bond theme to timeless classics, including Moon River from Breakfast to Tiffany's as time goes by from Casablanca. And when you wish upon a star from Pinocchio, along with stirring newer addition of Stand By Me. In this episode, you're going to hear about how he sort of found his voice and how he kind of had to learn how to become a frontman. Some of the differences between the acting world versus the singing world and also your shared love of musical theater, which specifically comes Andrew Lloyd Webber specifically. And culminating into these powerful duets, including a Broadway classic. Oh, my God, I got to live my dream. So please enjoy the episode with Josh Groban. Well, thanks for coming today. I am so happy to finally be in this wonderful room with you. Yeah, I'm so happy it worked out. And last time I saw you, we were doing that beautiful benefit. Which thank you for joining us. Yeah, is this your your organization? Yeah, so this was our second year at Jazz and Lincoln Center. You know, I know we're both products of arts education. You posted that picture on Instagram of you and band. Yeah, marching band, which was like so cool that you did that. And yeah, so I am so grateful for the arts teachers that I had, the music teachers that opened up my world when I was younger. So, you know, my fans, like from from early on, showed a real interest in giving back in more ways than just buying the music and stuff. They would always ask me on birthdays and stuff, where can we give? That's really sweet. And it's yeah. And at some point, they actually like they gave me a huge donation at a concert. I was playing the Greek in LA and they stopped the show and they gave me like this jumbo check and they'd auctioned off like all kinds of stuff. And they gave me a check for like twenty five thousand dollars. And they said, one day, if you start a foundation, we want this to be your first donation. Wait, who's they? It was like a group of. Can we get back a second? It was about 10 fans like a fan club kind of thing. Yeah, exactly. Got you. And they kind of galvanized other fans and they raised money and to do something good, just to do something good. And they said, you know, we really want to. And, you know, as you know, when fans kind of stop the show in the front row, like, it's OK, what's this going to be now? But it was never happens to me. It was lovely. Well, it rarely happens to me too. It's a fairly, you know, usually they're pretty calm, but they wanted to stop and they said, no, no, no, give us the mic and one. OK. And it started as just the Josh Groban Foundation because I didn't know what I wanted to make my cause yet. We just wanted to we wanted an umbrella that we could take in money and give it to whoever that wound up just being a little too broad because you know, you can give a little bit to a lot of organizations, but those organizations generally have a lot of money coming their way anyway. Yeah. And then I got, have you ever done arts on the Hill Day in DC? You'd be you'd be amazing doing this where it's basically, you know, Congress gives has one day a year where they allow a lot of conversations to take place about funding the arts in the country. And so the year that I did it, it was me, Winton Marsalis and Linda Ronstadt. Oh, my God, amazing sandwiched between these geniuses. It wasn't a long time ago. She was singing. It was a long time ago. She didn't sing that day. She just spoke about her experiences. But it was it was a chance as I was talking about it, as I was listening to them talk about it, I realized that it was something that was so deep in me that this was a cause that I felt very, very passionate about. I also hadn't died yet, so I didn't want to call it the Josh Groban Foundation. Yeah, there's something like posthumous about that. A couple of things. Yeah, exactly. Totally. Yeah, hadn't died. And also, I just I didn't want like the stock market ebb and flow of how I was doing in the industry to affect like the popularity of whether or not the work of the foundation was doing spectacularly. And so I didn't necessarily want to like make it about me. So we changed the thing that happens. I don't really know. Well, you know, when you names a foundation after a person. Oh, you don't want the growth or the losses. Me as Josh Groban to like have like to be the the whole part of it. I get it. What if I decide to just like live on a ranch and take care of old dogs? You know, I can also imagine it's hard to get money for a foundation without a clear what you're doing. You have to have a clear vision. You have to tell the story. And especially with something like arts and art said where there's already kind of a stigma around it of like, well, why? Why am I hard on money for? What are they doing? Drum circles? Like what is what's going on? And so a lot of our mission is to is to really kind of convince the non-believers why the science behind it is so important that this is not a talent search. This is not just a feel good. It's great that it's a feel good, but that it really is about, you know, what it's doing to a young student's brain, how it's allowing them to express themselves in communities where we have, you know, what we call like these arts deserts where there really is not a lot of art said, you know, giving them the opportunity to express themselves is the first time in their whole lives where they've had the chance to do that even at home. And so we've had the most fun. It's fun to preach to the choir, but the most fun is when you get like the government person or the business he person and they walk out of there like with tears in their eyes and you're just like, you know, actually, now that I think about it, it was that it was that saxophone teacher when I was a young youth in Connecticut. And, you know, and so it does it does eventually melt the coldest of hearts. And and yeah, so we've we've the find it's now the find your light foundation. It's not the JG Foundation's find your light and and you were awesome. And and I know it means a lot to you too. So thank you so much. Yeah, it does mean a lot to me. And I it was really a beautiful night and you worked it. You worked it so hard. It was so hard to work. You were really you were the emcee and you were like auctioning stuff off. You were working hard. And every time I saw you backstage, you were so nice and you were trying to talk to me. And I was like, I don't want to take your energy right now because I knew you were saying to me like, they're really putting you to work. Yeah, this is my one night a year. Where I was like, we'll talk later. Well, I mean, within a foundation, within foundation work, like there are so many. It takes a village. There's so many. There's so many people that are doing the nuts and bolts, sleeves rolled up work every day to reach out to the programs and to do the funding and the grant reviewing and things like that. You know, that part is harder for me. So the one thing I can do is go out there and be missed a missed a host guy. You know, one night a year. It's my time to shine. It was great. But I did my best. I was way less smooth with it when we did it the first time at City Wine right here in New York and all my friends that were there were just like, dude, breathe, just breathe. Are you nervous? I'm like, no, I'm not. I'm good. It's going great, right? It's like, yeah, man, look, everybody's here for you. It's all it's all OK. So funny. Well, I was wondering if you wanted to put our arts education to the test. We should put our education. Yes, we should. That neither of us have done before. Oh, are we going to start with one we haven't done before? I don't know. Yeah, let's do that. You want to try it? Yes. Why not? We both love the Everly Brothers. Yes. And I think it's actually a good theme of a song for the kind of the message too, of what we were talking about. Oh my gosh, you're definitely right about that. Helping young students achieve their dream, dream, dreams. Yeah. Have you really never sung this song? I've never sung it. Not I haven't even like whispered it to myself. I thought to myself, well, if we do this, we'll just kind of like figure it out in the room. And so this is my first time even trying it. Let's see what happens. OK. All right. All right. All right. Give it a whirl. Dream. Dream, dream, dream, dream. Dream, dream, dream. When I want you. In my arms when I want you. And all your charms whenever I want you. All I have to do is dream. Dream, dream, dream. When I feel blue. And the night and I need you. To hold me tight whenever I want you. All I have to do is dream. I can make you mine. Taste your lips of wine. Anytime night or day. Only trouble is she wins. I'm dreaming my life away. I need you so. Then I could die. I love you so. And that is why whenever I want you. All I have to do is dream. Dream, dream, dream, dream. I can make you mine. Taste your lips of wine. Anytime night or day. Only trouble is she wins. I'm dreaming my life away. I need you so. Then I could die. I love you so. And that is why whenever I want you. All I have to do is dream. Dream, dream, dream, dream. Dream, dream, dream, dream. Dream, dream, dream, dream. Lovely. That's so cute. I love that song. Yeah. That was pretty. That was pretty. Oh, goodie. Thanks. That was really fun. Thank you. I'm glad you suggested that song. I love, I just, first of all, I love the Everly Brothers. Yeah. I met them in Garfunkel and Concert once. They did their old friends tour and they brought out the Everly Brothers. Oh, how fun. It's just like, because they were so influenced by them. I'm sure. They brought them out and it was just like, it was so great to see them on stage. And yeah, those harmonies and those melodies just never get old. They're just really, really classic. And they're sweet. They're sweet. It represents just like a, there was no cynicism, you know, it was just, it's just, there's something about them that just makes me smile. I know. It's beautiful. Do you gravitate, you seem like someone from doing that show with you and then just the few minutes we were on stage working out that other song. You seem like you're really into harmonies and you're good at them. I love harmonizing. Is that your thing? Yeah. When I'm in the studio, I'm, I kind of have to stop myself sometimes from like overharmonizing or finding a harmony for everything. I know what you mean. Because I, it's always so tempting to just find that line that's just like, and then I'll always say like, oh, there's definitely a harmony here. I could definitely go in and sometimes it's not necessary. It becomes like a prog rock song. Totally, absolutely. Guitar solo that's harmonized. 100 percent. Why wouldn't you? If you can harmonize on something, do it, but sometimes more is not more. And, but yeah, no, I do. I love a good harmony. Yeah, I'm with you. I've noticed you do a lot of harmonies on this podcast. You're so amazing at adapting when you have an artist come in here and finding that. And so gracious. You always take like when we were out there, it's like, yeah, no, I'll take the, I'll take the other part. I've always find and I like doing that with artists as well. I find there's something like, I think being like the soloist for so long. I really, I love, I miss my choir days. Like I miss, I miss the blend, you know, and I really like, I really like kind of finding that other, the other part. Yeah, it's fun to be in a group vocally that and the energy of the voices also. And it's like this natural bottle. It's a bodily function or I don't know what you would come. It is, you become like one living, breathing being. And, you know, as somebody who kind of got thrown into a very extroverted business, but is very much an introvert myself, there was something very comforting about being in the blend and I came from a blendy world. Like that teacher that I was talking about, that was like a jazz vocal ensemble. I was in like a contemporary jazz vocal ensemble in junior high. And, and I, and then all of a sudden I was like plucked in the solo land and I was just like, ah, this light is so bright. So bright. Why, why? And so whenever I get a chance to work with, you know, a group of singers, it's just the best. So the jazz vocal choir in junior high, that couldn't have been your first singing for a, was it? It was in front of any kind of audience. I mean, there was the bedroom singing. But was that plentiful? Like, did you do a lot of that growing out? I did, you know, sing along to just all kinds of albums and cast recordings and singers that I grew up loving. And, you know, just kind of, I loved singing along with people like Mel Torme and just kind of, you know, other kind of more baritone kind of voices I just, I loved singing along with. But, you know, I was like, I was a late bloomer as far as finding my voice. And, and my voice didn't even change until I was like middle of eighth grade. So I was, I was really, you know, kind of struggling to find any kind of musical vocal identity. And it was that music teacher who was like, hey, there's a quality here. I think there's something there. I'm going to pull you out to the front because nobody else is going to, you know, have you do that. And I can, he could tell that I wasn't going to do that for myself. I was not a... You were like, raise your hand type. I'll get this one, guys. No, I was not a raise my hand type. I was a very shy kid just in general, even academically. And there was all kinds of stuff going on at that time in my life. Like I didn't know that I had ADD. Like there was all this stuff where I was just, I was a back of the class kid because I felt just so much more comfortable just being in my own little world. So that aha moment of a teacher saying, I'm going to give you a solo and it's an assignment. You have to do it. Yeah, it's a test for yourself. It was. And it could have been, I would not, you know, it could have been absolutely dreadful. Embarrassing. It could have been one of those moments where, you know, worst nightmare scenario where I let the nerves get to me and the class was mean. And I would have gone into that. I would be on the farm with the old dogs now, you know, but it was the opposite of that. Like any great teacher, he saw potential and he knew that I wouldn't fall. So strange side note, Jason Schwarzman, the actor, played drums behind me. Really? We went to the same high school and we did George Gershwin's wonderful and with Scott Solo. And well, it's so the first and last time I ever attempted. Did you plan it out? Like, no, I just, he just gave me. You definitely improvised. Yeah, I did. I improvised it. I fully improvised it because my dad is a big jazz person. He played jazz trumpet all through college and high school and came from a very conservative family. And they were like, that's no way to make a living. You got to go into business. And so he did, but he was always like scat singing and whistling throughout the house. And so I kind of said, yeah, I think I've done this before. So yeah, so it's wonderful. Jazz vocal ensemble, the kids were great. I got like a standing O and the bullies came over to me the next day and we're just like, yeah, bro, that was great. Are you serious? Keep doing your thing. I've got the voice of an angel, bro. You know, yeah, I'm like, wow, thanks, Biff. Wow. And if I was like, if I can get that guy. Yeah. All right, maybe I'm on to something. And this is like eighth grade. This was at seventh, eighth grade. Yeah. And then I was signed, you know, right after 11th grade. So the time period between not raising my hand and all of a sudden having to be, as you know, that light is bright and it's sudden. And like that was, I didn't start to like really enjoy it in my own skin until like 10 years into the business. Like because I was always playing catch up. I felt like I was always dominant, like chasing the domino. Yeah, I can relate a little bit. Well, yeah, I mean, just, but you, you, but I was older. I was a little older. Yeah, I was 22 when my first album came out. I was signed at that age, but I was about that age too. When my first album came out, it took a, it took a minute. That was back when they used to sign artists and actually help them develop their sound. That's right. We actually, we had the benefit. I don't think they do that anymore. Of producers that were like, let's just like, we're going to close the door to the world and we're going to come up with something that is ours. And we'll let everybody know when we found it. They see potential in you and they help you figure it out. Totally. And you felt like that was the case. That was the case. David Foster was one of those guys that it was David. Yeah. So he, you know, we both benefited from having mentors at that age that had seen it all, had been through it and, you know, had, David had a very clear idea and he's very type A as a producer. But, you know, but there were, there were growing pains there for the two of us that were really, really important. If I had just gone along entirely with what he wanted to do, I wouldn't still be here. But you didn't. No. You felt strong enough at that age. I was such a people pleaser at first. So the fact that like somebody wanted to hear me sing and he was really very assertive about what he wanted me to sing. And I just wanted to make everybody happy. And it started that way. And I was singing, you know, just all kinds of things trying to find it. Italian art songs and jazz songs and, and he never thought he never thought I'd ever sing in English. So at the time that he signed me, it was like, you know, this kind of crossovery classical world was like so big. And so he's thinking, we're going to take, we're going to take this kid and we're just going to, it's just going to be Italian and French and just it's going to be that only over my dead body. Will it be any English? Is that what you had been doing between jazz choir in eighth grade and learning those languages in my voice lessons? I was singing. You're doing that. I was doing those things. I was singing those songs and I was really enjoying how those vowels felt vocally and I was enjoying singing them. But I never thought that that was something anybody would want to hear. I never thought that that's something. I was a musical theater kid. So for me, I did not have dreams of singing Nessun Dorma or doing that. I love opera. Huge fan of opera. But I was also self-aware enough that my voice wasn't exactly right for that. It always kind of fell somewhere in the middle and I loved, you know, Sondheim and I loved, you know, those songs. And there's no shortage of them. There's no shortage of them. But I had to convince David. I remember specifically there was like a song where I went off. He's like, well, if you want to sing in English, go work with this person and like, you know, bring it back. And then I played it for him. He's like, oh, wow, English. That could be it. You know, I never would have expected that that would then turn into, you know, just kind of it evolved throughout the course of my career, which is very lucky. And how old were you when the first album finally came out? I think I was around 21-22. Yeah. And because it took. What year was that? 2001. Okay. So that, yeah. It was, you know, it was a crazy time for the country. It was a crazy time for the world. It was everybody's hearts were on their sleeve. And I think everybody was turning to music to feel connected and to heal. And, you know, when you release music during a time when the world is just upside down, it's an interesting thing because, you know, you very much feel like it's become a little bit bigger than just the thing that happened. You know, Andre Thiet, the 3000, gave that great speech about great things happen in small rooms, you know, and we were in this tiny room for two years. This little studio in Malibu that he had where it was just me and him and an engineer just in our own tiny little bubble. And then all of a sudden, you know, I'm singing and we're part of something bigger. That music is being listened to not just for just ordinary everyday pleasure, but people are healing through music. And so it became very like of service. And that made me feel the extrovert in me felt better about it in that regard. But yeah, it was a crazy time. Yeah, I mean, my album came out in February 2002. And I think a lot of people were, you know, they would scratch their heads like, why is this so popular? Really? Yeah, there was a lot of analyzing of why it became popular because it wasn't it didn't fit into any boxes. Well, that's true. But that could also be the answer why it became so popular. Maybe. See, to me, like as a fan, I always said to myself, well, yeah, it's so easy to understand why this is so popular because it's zigging when everything else is zagging. But I think people, a lot of people said that it was of comfort to people in a hard time in the country and and they wanted to use that as the reason. I always thought, yeah, I'm sure that was a big part of it. But there's there is, you know, it's it's everything, you know, wrapped into it. And you never really know. It also, though, it was a time period also in music where there were lots of fads happening at one at the same time. I would walk into the record label or I would walk into Billboard or wherever it was. And I would see, you know, in the lobbies, they'd have the TV screens, right? I'd be sitting there with my Diet Coke, like waiting to go take a meeting. And I would see, you know, just endless boy bands, spiky bleach blonde hair, you know, wrap rock, like everything was there were there were big, big fads going on at that time. And I was not. I felt like an outsider for so much of that. Like I didn't feel in the club for any of the things where there was a party happening. I was not in that party. And so you were also really young, but I guess a lot of those people were very young as well. Yeah, we were all young. It wasn't your age. No, it was it was it wasn't my age. It was it was the fact that the music I was singing was like so mature. Yeah. And so it was being my age, but then also singing stuff that was more mature for a more mature audience that made me feel like a little bit like an alien in my own universe there. But I think to that to that point, though, at the end of the day, and it's a lesson that I've tried to keep with me for now 25 years doing this, which is that it's always easy to look at the noise. It's always looking easy to look at what's, you know, the big popular thing. What's the bandwagon? And at the end of the day, whether it's a moment in history that everybody needs to connect or whatever it is, it doesn't even have to be that. People just want to feel authenticity. They want to feel like the human voice has the opportunity to reach people just simply. And I think people lose track of that. I think people don't give audience members enough credit. Right. They don't they can't put it into words always, but they only are going to respond to something authentic. That's total. That's totally right. And I think that is why the magnificent Nora Jones became so popular because it hit a pathos. It did. Your voice is unlike anything else. And David Foster always used to say to me, you know, don't be a perfect singer. Yeah. Be a singer that in a crowded restaurant, somebody could recognize that in five seconds. And I always thought like, oh, that's really good advice. It is really good advice. Because I meet singers all the time that I'm jealous of their range. I'm jealous of their voice. And and yet I could stack it up with 10 other 10 other singers back to back. And I would say, oh, they're all way better singers than me. And I can't tell them apart. Yeah. And so I think that was that was valuable. Well, it's important to have find your own voice. And and also I heard you say something. I listened to your blocks podcast with Neil Brennan. Oh, with Neil. Yeah, I loved it. It was so great. I know you got so deep. It was like a therapy session. But you said a few things that I really loved and you mentioned having stage fright or sometimes going on stage and just not being in it yet and having to focus on certain things to just open yourself to the energy and not worry about your voice hitting the notes or not just for on the lyrics. Right. And that is really what it's all about. Totally. If you're if you're singing to an audience, you have to be genuine about what you're saying. Tell the story. Even if it's not your song. Right. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. So I think that was a really beautiful thing. Well, it was a great advice that I got from a voice coach that I think just helped. It was a way of unwinding my own brain. Yeah. Because, you know, when success happens, perfectionism happens. And as a singer, you know, I'm always jealous that I can't pack it up and go do whatever I can't put it in the case and then have a night. It's in you. Yeah. It's in you. You're feeling all kinds of things buzzing around. You wake up. Your whole self worth is like wrapped up in this thing. That is your job. Biology. That you can't put away. You can't put it away. It's attached by the way to your brain. And your throat. Which is never our friend, you know, unlike, you know, eight days a year, I feel like my brain is doing exactly what it needs to do. For my voice. The rest of the time you are, you have it on a leash and you're saying, here's where we're going today. And, you know, so the fact that that teacher said to me, just focus on the words. Just tell the story. Which teacher was this the same teacher? I still work with her. Her name is Kristen Blodgett. No, she's a voice coach. She's a music director and she works in theater a lot. That's great. And she's and her daughter is my dresser on Broadway. Like it's this wonderful family. And so I think that that was, I had gone through many, many years of voice training, not this teacher in junior high school, but just kind of feeling a little tight. Like here are all the little things you have to think of. And if you go just a little bit this way, it's going to blow apart. And I was already an anxious neurotic kid. And I think I was made more neurotic about singing through that kind of training. And it was just nice to hear someone say, just throw it off the balcony. Just tell the story, connect. That's your salvation. And it was so true. And then I would sing better than ever. Well, the first type of training is athletic, right? And that's maybe important for the way you sing and the kinds of songs you're singing. But the real truth of singing is it's about your soul. 100%. And yeah. And reminding myself of that when it can be so athletic is always my biggest challenge before a show. I can get my voice to where it needs to be to be like impressive in a show. I can do the warm ups. I can get myself a couple of songs and I'm going, okay, I'm in the zone. What I'm always needing to bring myself back into myself is that is okay. Yeah. This is the 75th show of a tour or a hundred or two hundredth show on Broadway or whatever it is. And it's reminding your soul where it needs to be, not necessarily where your voice needs to be. It's also, it's a lot about presence. I play with this drummer, Brian Blade, and he's the most present musician I've ever played with. Right. And I don't know how he got there, but I think he's probably just always been that way. But it's been a real lesson and presence on stage and you're reacting in the moment, no matter how rehearsed something is, it's still in the moment. And that's the beauty of it for the audience. Totally. And they know it. They can feel it. They can tell if you've checked out and you started thinking about what you're going to have after the show to eat. Like I've done that. And by the way, I will just say though, in defense of thinking about what you're going to eat on stage, sometimes that is a great motivator to get to them the last five songs. But then bring yourself back in. Yeah, because they can tell you're spacing out. Usually. An ADD boy over here. Like, you know, sometimes I just like, I'll say, oh, oh, you hang on. You have spent a whole verse on another planet. Yeah. Come back in. They, you know, the audience sometimes won't know why they know, but they know that presence. You have to constantly find yourself, you know, being, being back with them. Yes. That's why I like smaller venues. Or being like, I like to focus sometimes on my drummer too. And so we were kind of like, I'm focused on the band and playing music together and it helps me just sort of stay in the moment. Totally. The band is important. My music director, Tarak's been with me for my whole, like all 25 years. Oh, wow. Really? Yeah. And he is, he's that, he's that connector for me because he is like your drummer so present. He is, there's joy that comes from him every note that he's playing. That's great. And you can tell he's so in it that sometimes, you know, as a lead singer, you know, everybody's behind you. You know, you're always at the front, you're facing out. And, you know, I sometimes just need to like turn around and just check in and just kind of hang back and just be, be there for a bit before I can go back out. That's, that's an interesting place to be. I don't completely relate because I'm always behind a piano. Yeah, right. Which is, yeah. I've tried to go out front and not play at all, but I just feel a little more connected when I have it. I love sitting in a piano. You know what I mean? Yes. Yes. So you play piano. I do. And I did you start with another instrument? No, piano was, well, piano is what I started with before, before voice. Before you say. Yeah. I was always just teaching myself. I didn't take very many lessons. I found them to be really frustrating and I can't read music. So I always just found that by ear, it was always the quickest, easiest, most intuitive way for me to learn something was that I'd listen to it. I'd sit down and I'd figure it out. Yeah. And that was faster for me and more soulful for me than anything that was on the page. Now, of course, now as an adult, I wish to God that I'd learned to sight read and learn about. Can you tell my kids that? Well, yeah, yeah. Can we rewind right now? It's not fun. Everybody show your kids. They'll be happy you did it. Yeah. I, you know, I sit in an orchestra session. We were just in London doing some orchestra sessions and I'm just looking at the score and I'm hearing them play and I'm having to like explain through weird gibberish like what it is that the English horn needs to do differently when I could have just gone like, yeah, we need to test it on here. And then that needs to be an F sharpening. That's a language that I think in my second life, I would love to learn more. Well, you find your strengths with your limitations. You do. That's the best part. But the piano for me was my, you know, exorcism every day after after school after a hard day at school. Just for your own joy. I'd sit and play and my parents to their credit left me alone to do it. They weren't like hovering. It's beautiful. They didn't make it annoying as my kids tell me all the time. You're being annoying. They weren't helicopter parents about the piano. They were just they knew and they could hear it, of course, but they knew that I was just in the zone and they'd let me get that out. And so the singing was something that happened totally different. And then the idea of singing and playing the piano was something that David Foster never thought would happen. I never thought would happen. I thought they were just totally separate worlds. And then as I started writing more and playing more, I thought, oh, this is this is actually kind of an extension of me. And that's very comforting. There's something I like about being, I guess it like triggered the choir thing in me where I'm collaborating now with this voice. And and it's not all about me out there. I can sit here and I can be part of the sound. I think playing and accompanying yourself as well while you're singing is just another way to be present and focus in on the important parts of the song. Yep. 100%. I feel like I always sing better when I'm playing. Yeah. Because I'm not overthinking. I'm not overthinking at all. And I'm also I'm just sort of, you know, getting through the emotion of what I'm saying. I'm also just like not naturally a like solo frontman comfortable in my own body. Like, you know, like work the stage. I've had that. That's a whole thing. I didn't start that way. Now I can work it, but like, Well, you definitely can work a gala. Can I just say? I'm like introvert who? Exactly. Totally. That was the part that I had to like be like put on a new hat. I had that took so many years of figuring out like, what are my movements? Like, how do I work a stage that feels natural and doesn't feel stupid? What is that being on that horse feel like for me? Two tours had to go by before I fully understood what that felt like. And so that that was never a natural thing for me. And that's hard to be pushed out there. Oh, man. You're not feeling in your own body. It's it's yeah. It's always just it's so much easier to have an instrument. Yeah. It is just so much easier. It's easier. And what do you do when there's an instrumental section and you're just standing there? You what are you doing? You know what? I asked I used to ask that question and then I saw Leonard Cohen performed and it suddenly like clicked with me. He every time there was there was an instrumental break. He took off his fedora and he would just stand to the side and put it to his heart. I put it to his heart watch and watch the band. Oh my God. Back on and he'd go back to the microphone and I was just going, oh my God. The reverence and the the energy shift. Yeah. And I was like, that's all that's all that's just that's beautiful. That's so beautiful. Just so yeah, it was that was really lovely to see. That's great. Well, would you mind playing piano for me? I could play some piano. Sure. Would you play some piano? Absolutely. Do you want to just follow me? I was just going to sing harmonies on like maybe maybe after you do the first chorus, I'll come in on some harmony. Sure. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Does that sound good? Absolutely. What a pretty song. This is Neil Diamond song. This is Neil Diamond. And so I start, I didn't grow up admittedly a Neil Diamond fan. I always knew he was brilliant and I always knew that he was, you know, huge and had so many hits, but he wasn't one of those artists that I was like wearing up the records as a kid. And I was working on an album with Rick Rubin and he had me write with an amazing writer named Dan Wilson and I was going to flying to Minneapolis like every month to work with Dan Wilson. And as lyrics are always the hardest part for me and especially with a voice like mine. Rick's thing with me was like, your voice should, don't try to be casual. Sometimes I agreed with it more than other times, but Rick really wanted like my voice to feel like poetic. And so when I was working with Dan Wilson, we would always kind of say to ourselves like, well, who's an artist that isn't afraid to kind of be unabashedly poetic and romantic in their pop music? And we kind of kept going back to Neil. We kind of kind of said, yeah, he's always put his lyrics on that pedestal of just like, I'm going to take it there, you know, and then Music Cares was honoring him. And I got asked to sing this song for him there. And I was just like, oh, I just, this is just such a beautiful way of saying all the things that it says. All right. She was morning and I was nighttime. I one day woke up to find her lying beside my bed. I softly said, come take me. For I've been lonely in need of someone. So I don't know where. I don't know where completely. You are the sun. I am you are the words. I am to play me. Song she sang to me. Song she bring to me words that rang me rhymes that sprang from me. One night and what was right became me. You are the sun. I am the moon. You are the words. I am to play me. You are the sun. And so it was that I came to travel. Upon a road that was thought and there on another place. Another grace would save me. You are the sun. I am the moon. You are the words. I am to play me. You are the sun. I am the moon. You are the words. I am to play me. Oh. Oh. That's so pretty. Lovely. Yay. That was beautiful. That's fun. Great harmonies. Can you hear me? Yeah. Can you hear me okay. I could hear you great. I think you thought. I loved it. That was beautiful. Spontaneous and beautiful. Thank you. little New Orleans licks in there. Oh, you know, I love that. I grew up, you know, cause I taught myself piano is interesting that I was like taking these classical voice lessons, but I was, I was like raised on the church of Hornsby. Like I was, I was, I was writing in France once with this writer and he's like, oh, you have a very California style of playing piano. I was like, oh, that's interesting. Yeah. Bruce Hornsby has come up so many times in this podcast already. It definitely should, should try to get him to come on and show me. Oh my God. Show me the Hornsby waves. You and Bruce together. Have you hung out with him? No, I've never met him. I've never met him, but I think that he is one of just, I mean, he is, I think he's just brilliant, but I think he's, I think he's also a little unsung as far as his genius. He's influenced so many musicians, whether they know it or not. Yes, that's true. And so, and I just, I just love its exploration and him and the Noisemakers, that band is like talking about a connection with a band. Yeah. Really, really great. That's amazing. Do you want to change places again? Should we switch back on that? Okay. The Orange Stool. Well, I was telling you about my piano bench. When I first started doing gigs in the late 90s, I had to ask for a phone book everywhere I went to Sinnoh and because I was too low. And did the gigs have a phone book? Yes. Like readily, they were just like, oh yeah, hey, hey, hey, go into the production room and get us that phone book. We're talking about restaurants. I'm in restaurants, you know, playing for people who are mostly not listening. But yeah, they always had a phone book, but there's gotta be a picture somewhere of me sitting on a phone book. You have to find it. You should make that an album cover at some point. It's me on the phone book. For something, you on the phone book. Yeah. Nora Jones sings the phone book. Yeah. Yeah. That's weird. That's adorable. And you know, boy, those are the days, right? When you can just ask for a phone book and it was right there. Yeah. Yeah. And while you're at it, will you check that pay phone for a quarter? Yeah. Or they'd try to offer me like a digital phone book. I'm like, no, no, no, no. I need to sit on it. What's a digital phone book? I don't know. They were like, well, I can Google whatever number you need. I was like, no. Oh, they didn't know you needed it for your bench. I needed it for my butt. Right. Gosh, yeah. Did you have early gigs before your first album came out where you were performing live in some kind of a place? See, that's the thing that I always feel, I feel so guilty about this because I never, I didn't get to like cut my teeth doing the restaurant gigs, you know? You don't have to feel guilty about that. I do. I feel guilty. It's not. Yeah, but that's why I feel like every artist needs to feel that, but it was kind of a, the reason for that partially was just the genre that I was in. Now I played lots of small things. You did. Okay. David would, I mean, I spent a good two years just singing at every event, every charity, every backyard, every, it was just like private stuff. It was just- But were they mostly people who were listening? Oh no, not always. Okay, so some talkie- A lot of clanking. So I guess I had kind of my restaurant experience. Tade practice there. Oh yeah. Who is this kid? You know, I was always singing during the dessert course of whatever event was going on. And, you know, that was the challenge was always, if how do I get them to put their spoons down? Like that was, if I can get the pin drop in here, then that's a good night, but you can't win them all. No. You know, my biggest nightmare is if I'm singing somewhere and they don't want me there or they don't care, you know? I have to be driving- That's my biggest nightmare in life. Yeah, life. Totally. I'm just like, I'm good. Look, I don't need to be here eat. Like we're good. If you were much rather just talk amongst yourselves, I got a really cozy dressing room. I'm okay. You just got to make it then around you and your band and do your thing. And as if we were in a room like this. And I found that more times than not, I will walk off stage and go, well, that sucked. And, you know, somebody will say to me like, God, that was just awesome. Oh, the audience was so- The perception. The perception too is oftentimes really wacky. It's really weird. And I've learned enough that I gaslight myself up there to the point where if I don't get that feedback, I will have left with an entirely different view how it went than they did. And I have to accept when I'm wrong about those things too. And then there are other times where I'm like crushed it. And then I'll see a review and was like, what? Oh, don't read reviews. Well, you know, even worse, I'll read the comments. Don't read comments. Yeah, well, you know. I sometimes I'll see somebody in the front row like checking their phone or yawning. And I'll just, I used to get so focused on it and annoyed. And then now I just tell myself, oh, that person's on call, they're a doctor. Oh, that person is, has a babysitter at home who's asking, you know, where the medicine is for the kid. And I just like, then I try to let it go. And I just tell myself a story like that. By the way, you might very well be right. Because who among us would be on their phone while you're singing? I feel like people are often. It has to be an emergency. Yeah. And I would like. Or like a husband that's been drugged by his wife and doesn't want to be there. Or is in the Godhouse. Yeah, exactly. And yeah, no, there's always, I always have to remember too, like everybody else has things going on. Yes, exactly. I always have to remind myself that like, there's probably a good reason for that. This business turns all of us, even the sensitive introverts into narcissists at some point. Just, just, no, there's a whole lot of narratives going on out there. There's a lot. It's not, they're not all focused on whether or not you're singing the note right or not. Believe it or not. Believe it or not. It ain't that important. No. But the feeling is important. It is. And it's important, you know, I just want to tell you that I think you're so cool. Oh man. Yeah. That means so much to me. Well, vice versa. And I just, I feel like, you know, from talking to you and from listening to the Blacks podcast especially, I get the feeling that you didn't always feel that way. Still don't feel that way. Yeah. And I just want you to know. I didn't feel it until Nora Jones told me that. You really are. And now I'm going to be intolerable. I just want you to know you've started a real monster. You do. You have like this magical gift. Your voice is, it's just so beautiful. Thank you so much. And like, I feel this awfulness in it. You know, I feel the warms and all the things, but I think when you become successful at a young age, you get really, I know I had a lot of insecurities coming out as well, because I didn't know which room I fit into. Right. And I felt really insecure about being called a jazz artist when I felt like I was kind of singing just songwriter songs at that time, even though I come from that genre. Right. And I just felt like I was just like hitting, you know, like punting balls from all angles. That sounds weird. Right. But like, I didn't even go there with that. I was like, yeah, I totally understand. I totally understand what you're saying. I'm projecting myself now onto you a little bit, but like. Which is fascinating for me. Yeah. Having been a fan for so many years and thinking you're the coolest for the entirety of my career to also know that a fellow artist that I've looked up to has felt that way. You were the person that for those of us that felt like we were writing our own playbook vocally or musically and felt like we didn't quite fit into one of the bins. You've truly been such a huge inspiration for sticking to your own path and letting the audience come to your soul rather than trying to, you know, you've never pandered, you've never been anything other than Nora. And that is a reminder for any artist veteran or young. And so those words from you. I'm gonna cry. You really like, they really mean a lot to me. Thank you. Yeah, I just, I really respect you. And I think you're so funny. You're very funny. It's the demons. Are you, do you have any acting stuff coming up? Cause you're really good at it. I'd love to do, thank you. Yeah. Well, I would love to do more theater. I get asked sometimes to do plays and musicals and stuff. And I just, there is something about the live energy of theater that is an instinct for me that I really, I like better than camera in your face and having to feel natural when you've got a crew of 10 people around you and stuff. There's, that's a little bit less of a, that's always harder for me. When you're left alone on a stage and it's just you and the energy, there's something that feels right. But. Also, I feel like I never realized this until I moved to New York and I went to see shows on Broadway. It's tiny. Yeah. It's so intimate. It truly, you see stuff on. It's really special. You watch, you watch pro shots of shows and it feels like this big event. And then you're in there and you're going, oh, we're all going to share something very special for you. Yeah. No matter what. No matter what. Yeah. Exactly. And even sometimes, especially when things go a little haywire, it feels like you had something that nobody else gets. That's what I love about theater because there are some bad nights but then you get to do it again the next day or even sometimes that same night. Yeah. Oh my God. That's so much. It is a lot. It is a lot. But you've done some acting as well, haven't you? Well, I was just going to say actually, I did a movie, a Wong Kar-Wai movie and it was one of the most special experiences of my life. But it made me realize how lucky I am because none of my time was mine. Right. You're doing like 14 hour shoots and night shoots and you're there for a couple months. That's right. It was amazing and I loved it. I loved every second of it. But it's true. That would be a hard lifestyle to maintain, I think constantly for me. Totally. Because I'm so used to having my own schedule. Right. Well, and sometimes it's nice to have the structure of tell me where to go, tell me what to do. But every time I've then had the privilege of being in one of those scenarios, I do the same thing. I'm always so happy that I get to go back to, I'm gonna write because I feel like it today. Yeah. You know, when you, it's up to you when you slide your art under the door. Yeah. It's, it is, we are very, very lucky. But at the same time when you have time off, do you get antsy? There's a honeymoon period of time off that I feel so happy for the time off. And I'm just like, oh my God, just sweats again today? Like this is the best. There is something about just like the period of that one week, that first week where you do absolutely all. And then, oh, I get, then I get really, and not only do I get antsy, but I start to get like a little depresso too. Yeah. And that's when I start to realize, okay, yeah. Now it's time to do. Now it's time to go, you know, put, I guess put your clothes back on and go be a person. Put a real pants on. Yeah. But thanks for doing this. You wanna do another song? Let's do another song. Sure. Which one do you wanna do? Oh my God. Two challenges. We have two challenges. We started with fairly mellow, you know. Hey, we started with a song we'd never sung. That's true, that's true. We jumped right in. I selfishly wanna do. Let's do All I Ask. Yes. Yeah, because we've talked a lot about theater. Yes. And the secret theater kid in your, maybe not so secret. Have you talked a lot about being? I haven't talked about theater a lot. Yeah, I think so. I wasn't, the funny thing is I was really into musical theater for like a year maybe or two. And my mom had season tickets to the Dallas musical theater season. Oh wow. Right. I think for two years. A lot of great shows tour through there. Oh my God. It's a great artsy town. It was amazing. Yeah. And I had the soundtrack to Cats. I've seen Cats three times. You've gotta be kidding me. Cats is my first musical. Mine too, I was seven. Come on. I was seven. What? You've gotta be kidding me. This is great. My mom took me to New York and we had like a distant relative playing in the pit and got us tickets to Cats. Yeah. I was seven and it was at the Amundsen, maybe Amundsen or Pintages in LA and they had the tunnels and the Cats were like going through the tunnels. Oh yeah. They were coming into the audience and I was just. I remember that. I'm a Cats defender because I understand. Look, I get it. I get it. You can't listen to memory and not cry a little bit. It's the most beautiful song. It's the first song I learned on the piano. And we both. Always really? I was eight, yeah. I was seven and it was the first song I learned to like fully play. That's amazing. I mean, I gotta say, I gotta give it up. Andrew Lloyd Webber. Yeah. The music is special. He's like a Puccini. It's so beautiful. He comes up with these melodies that are just, you know, people sometimes, you know, will say like, anything that's that popular sometimes we'll get a little bit of heat. And it's like, well, you write that melody. Like you put those chords. Like these are some of the greatest. The chords. Greatest melodies songs that have ever been written. Now also the breadth of his work from like Jesus Christ superstar, all the way to phantom to everything else, School of Rock, like he's still doing it. He's so cool, man. Yeah. Andrew Lloyd Webber, I give it up to you. ["School of Rock"] ["School of Rock"] ["School of Rock"] ["School of Rock"] ["School of Rock"] ["School of Rock"] ["School of Rock"] ["School of Rock"] ["School of Rock"] I was my once in a lifetime. That was the best. Time to sing. That was so fun. Andrew Lloyd-Waver. I loved singing everything with you. This one I think will always have a special place in my heart, truly. Thank you for opening yourself up to this. Thank you and thanks for joining me and yes. It's been an absolute pleasure. You're incredible. Thanks for having me. You are as well. Love you back. Thank you. That was fun. That was amazing. Yeah. Gosh, in this room, just like booming resonant voice. Yeah, he's great. What a fun person. Yeah. If you want to know which songs we played in this episode, the first one was All I Have to Do is Dream. This song was written by Felice and Budlow Bryant and it was made famous by the Everly Brothers in 1958. The second song was Play Me by Neil Diamond from the album Moons in 1972. Josh had it on his album in 2013 as a bonus track. It was a deluxe version of the album All That Echoes. The third song we did was a classic by Andrew Lloyd-Waver. The lyrics were by Charles Hart and additional lyrics by Richard Stilgo from Phantom of the Opera, of course. Special thanks to Josh Groban for joining us today and we'll be back next week with Jason Moran. Nora Jones is playing along as a production of I Heart Podcasts. Visit Nora Jones' channel and be sure to subscribe while you're there. I'm your host, Nora Jones, recorded by Matt Maranelli, mixed by Jamie Landry. Audio post-production and mastering by Greg Tobler. Artwork by Eliza Frye. Photography by Shrevelle Lenez. Produced by Nora Jones and Sarah Oda. Executive producers Aaron Wong-Coffman and Jordan Runtog. Marketing lead, Queen Anakie. Thanks for joining us and thanks for listening. We appreciate you. This is an I Heart Podcast. Guaranteed human.