Why Listen

Why Listen to Faye Webster?

So few artists feel as if they are singing TO the listener, and very few artists manage to feel like a close friend you’d hang out with for hours and hours. Faye Webster accomplishes both of these with a voice like warm honey and lyrics that rival great poets works.

Webster’s 2019 record “Atlanta Millionaires Club” is full of country, jazz, and RnB influences that blend into one of the most inviting sounds of the 21st Century. The album displays Webster as comfortable in her own shoes, comfortable with living, even with difficulties such as breakups and longing for something you once had.

Webster’s lyrics and vibe don’t seek answers or solutions; they exist in the moment as she does, taking things as they come.

I was introduced to Webster with her song “In A Good Way” from her 2021 album titled “I Know I’m Funny haha” and quickly after heard “Half of Me” from the same project. These two songs are quite different from one another, but I easily picked up on the sense of how important her guitar is to her, a staple in almost all of her songs.

Webster’s delivery of lyrics puts them at the forefront of her work, with carefully selected vocal accents, dreamy quavering vocal lines that perfectly deliver emotion, and just downright imaginative writing.

“The day that I met you I started dreaming” (“Kingston”)

After diving deeper into Webster’s music and personality, I discovered my favorite interview of hers, one done by Vice’s “Noisey” show. She is asked about what secrets she has, to which she replied, “I’m secretly having…knowledge. But not book knowledge, random knowledge you want to know, maybe I know it…But only about stuff that I like.”

On top of being charming and extremely chill, Webster’s an incredible yoyo-er and likes Pokémon, Rocket League, and Animal Crossing.

When you hear an artist’s live performances, especially with the capabilities of modern production techniques, people often compare the live performance to the record. Webster is an exceptional live performer and sounds identical to her records, and I would even say I prefer her live performances because of how authentic they feel.

My favorite part of her live performances is how locked in with the band she is, but also how much she engrosses herself in her own music, rarely making eye contact with the audience but rather grooving and enjoying the music she creates. This is typically something people tend to dislike since it creates a more negative stage presence, but Webster’s vibe is so inviting that this doesn’t matter. It’s hard not to be fully immersed in the sound of her band, and the story she tells with her lyrics.

Webster’s influences are clearly heard in her music. She grew up with her father playing the bluegrass guitar, and her mother playing the fiddle. Influences like this shaped her sound, the guitar and the pedal steel guitar played by her bandmate Matt “Pistol” Stoessel.

Her genre influences include jazz, hip-hop, and RnB, which work their ways into her music with simple use of RnB/Soul keys patches, or by collaborating with artists like fellow Atlanta native “Father” on her song “Flowers”.

Webster is also an avid photographer, having her photos of Atlanta local rappers Lil Yachty and Shelley FKA DRAM published by Billboard, Rolling Stone, and Spotify. Rapper Lil Yachty and her were classmates in school, and are still very close friends. While in high-school Webster would often attend shows in the city of Atlanta to take photos of/for the artists.

Webster says she started writing songs at 14 and released her first self-published album at 16, titled “Run and Tell”. Webster gained massive traction in 2019 with her album release, and the song “Kingston” exploded on Tik-Tok and other social media platforms. For me, “Kingston” lives among the best songs ever written.

One of the real selling points of Webster’s music and personality for me is just how personable she is. She speaks to everyone as if they’re a close friend and treats all of her fans as such. In an interview with Office Magazine, she says

…if you relate to the way that I express myself, that makes me happy because I feel like that’s kind of all that I want to get out of it — to just be a relatable person.

Listening to Faye Webster’s music over the years and how she approaches life, both the good and bad, has taught me a lot. It has taught me patience, to live in the moment, and to express myself in my own writing in a way that other may find relatable.

So, why listen to Faye Webster?

Listen to Faye Webster for brilliant lyrics, calming atmospheres, and her authenticity. The unique sound found within her band with the fusion of RnB and Country influences creates music that is easy to listen to and enjoy, while also being versatile, allowing her and her bandmates to explore many different genres effortlessly.

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