“Yo my sister, yo my brother!
When they ask you, you check ‘other’
You don’t fit in, you’re in between
You push their buttons Boo
You’re just like me

Ahha, This is Womyn’s Music baby
Ahha, It’s a good thing!�

Just in case you didn’t hear Nedra’s “Ahha (It’s a Good Thing)� on Showtime’s “The L word� last season, here are some of her in-your-face lyrics. There’s definitely more where that came from. Nedra’s all about staying true, and her lyrics definitely don’t sway from the truth. From “Prozac (So Fun Living…) to “Any Way You Need Her,� Nedra keeps it socially conscious and butchy sensual.

I caught up with Nedra that morning in April, when it was snowing in NYC. And did some follow-up emails throughout the month. She does freelance web design work when she’s not on the road. And this July…girl is turning 40.

“Just not cracking yet,� she said. Here’s Nedra…

Congratulations on “Ahha� on “The L word.� How did that happen? Did you contact them, or did they contact you?
The Music Producer—Elizabeth from BETTY—she does stuff with the music end [of the show]. I saw her at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival last year and I told her that I needed to get on “The L word.� And she asked me if I had a CD. And I gave it to her. And a couple of months later she emailed me saying that they were interested in it for a particular scene. It’s really faint. They probably could have gotten away without telling me! They told me it was for a really important scene between Max and Kit. I have friends who called me saying that “The L word� is trying to rip you off!

Did you get paid well?
I’m happy with it. I’m sure I didn’t get paid as much as God-Des. (Laughs) It’s a step.

When did you first start singing and playing music?
I’ve always had music around. My father is a musician. And my mother is as well, but she’s not professional. I started playing an instrument in 5th grade—in California.

I was brought up in both California and New York. I went to school in California—my parents split up. I lived in the Bronx for a while. Spent summers with my dad—holidays, vacations. He lived in New York—either in the city, or up in the Woodstock area.

I played saxophone in elementary school, and throughout junior high I played alto and baritone. I started playing bass in 9th grade. And tuba in 10th grade—and played it through high school. I got an electric bass at the end of high school, and played it for many years. Then I started having trouble with my hands—carpal tunnel—so I stopped playing bass for a while. And then when I wanted to start playing again. I played around with a guitar—it has lighter strings and is easier to manipulate. Just sort of exercising.

The last 15 years I’ve been singing out. I always wanted to, but I never had any kind of training. And I never sang in a chorus, or did any singing in church—things like that. I just sang around the house. But it wasn’t probably till I was 25, when I had a band here [in NYC]—The Renegade Lost Girls. I also played with another singer/songwriter. I played bass with her and she started encouraging me to sing.

Did you start writing songs around the same time? Or did you always write songs?
I think I started writing songs or poetry, probably in 9th grade. I guess it was more like poetry then. I wanted to write songs, but I didn’t quite have a real good focus or structure for all that at the time. A lot of the stuff that I liked back then—Sly & the Family Stone, and Paul Simon, who’s a great songwriter—my dad played in his band I think during the One Trick Pony film, and the soundtrack was out, and he was touring. So I was more conscious of him and the record.

I had a lot of great people around me. But I definitely was holding out till I was 25. But I was writing before that.

Your songs are really political. Are you really political, or is it just your essence that makes you think of these lyrics?
Yeah, that’s pretty much how it comes out. I’m conscious about that. I think the way my politics comes out, it often touches upon spirituality. Maybe because religion, or so-called religious folks, would keep a person down because of their sexuality. And some of that I find so much hypocrisy in. So I think it just comes out that way. Like the song “Any Way You Need Her�—I think it’s funny, and I’ve had a reaction to it, but I do mean that. I get the humor part of it. But I also think it’s the human part of it to make people laugh at something. It probably makes sense to them on some level. Don’t you think God could be whatever? I think God knows that I’m not going to listen to some particular kind of person. I’m not going to hear that message from somebody who’s from a Fortune 500 Company. I think anybody can be an angel. I don’t think God has the motivations for that.

When did you come out to your family?
I came out when I was 20. I came out to everybody when I was 20—myself, and anybody who was important to me. Once I came out to my family, I really didn’t care. You either like it or you don’t—I’m out. I certainly think I came out in different levels. I’m much more out now than I was then.

You came out to your immediate family and extended family?
I didn’t call everybody and say, ‘Just to let you know, I’m…’ But I was living with my father at the time, he had friends who were lesbians…One of my dad’s friends, she was older, she said, ‘What do you have to worry about? Give me a break. Just tell him. What’s the worst thing that could happen?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know. Finding out your daughter is gay—it’s a whole different thing. He could be weird towards me.’ And she was like, ‘Well, what’s the worst thing he could say.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know. He could say, well, was it because I was never there.’ And she said, ‘Well, if he says that, then yeah.’ But his reaction was pretty good. I could not have asked for anything better, really. He said, ‘Well, I guess you like women for the same reasons that I do.’

What I felt like at the time was, I live here. I don’t want to be sneaking around the house where I’m living. I didn’t want to meet somebody, and want to hang out with somebody, and then have to be like—‘Don’t act like you’re feelin’ me.’ And then the next day [after I came out to my dad], I started dating somebody.

And your Mom took it OK, too?
Yeah. You know the other thing is that my brother is gay. So he was already out. My mother was like, ‘Yup, I knew.’ I’ve found as I got older, she can be a little odd with my girlfriends. She has this odd idea, especially since I’ve been dating more femme girls—she has some expectation that they should do my laundry. You know, weird expectations like that. That she’s supposed to cook for me…It’s so weird because I never thought she viewed me as being butchy—but she definitely has ideas of roles. That’s what it seems like.

Have you ever faced any hostility or drama because of your lyrics while performing?
For the most part, no. I’ve had strange reactions, not necessarily from a venue or venue owner. Like in my dad’s band—his name is Howard Johnson. He’s mainly a tuba and baritone saxophone player. He plays a penny whistle and bass clarinet and a few other instruments. He’s quite accomplished with all of that. And he has this band called Gravity that has a rhythm section. In the last 10 years while they’re touring, I’ve gone out when one of the guys can’t make it. And we’ve used some of my songs in the band. We’ve used “The World Could Stop Turning.� And I have a song called “Working Hard for the Joneses�—it’s on my first record, we do that. And we also do—“Love is Not Concern.�

The tours have usually been in Europe—Germany, France. We’ve been to lots of places, but mostly Germany. I’ve gotten strong reactions from the crowds in Germany but I don’t think they understand exactly what I’m saying in “The World Could Stop Turning.�

[Here are some of the lyrics:
“The world could stop turning girl
And I would never know
Cause I leave the world outside your door
The mountains could tumble
And the rivers just stop flowing
Without me ever knowing

I put the world down baby
When you pulled me close and said,
‘You better get yourself inside me’]

One time when we went to London, I thought whoa, it would be interesting to see what their reaction is going to be like because I hadn’t ever played that song in my own band. So when we went to London—we were opening up for Lester Bowie’s band, and so a lot of the people there were going to see Lester Bowie—they weren’t really familiar with Gravity. They were so silent! I wasn’t sure if it was prudishness or not—you know London is very proper. But it wasn’t too surprising, because my mom’s Welsh so I have one whole side of the family that’s from England and Wales.

But a couple months later I ran into somebody that I had run into at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival who was like—‘Oh my God, you’re this person from this event, right?’ She said she was there with about 20 other lesbians to see Lester Bowie. She said they were so in shock. They loved it, but they were so in shock that they had no reaction. ‘We were there to go see Lester Bowie and then there’s this lesbian singing all this out stuff.’ They just couldn’t even react, and talked about it later.

Did they clap?
A little. It was just—‘AHH! We don’t know what to do.’ I didn’t fret or anything, or worry too much about it. I mean it’s one thing to hear that from straight folks—but from a bunch of lesbians! I was like OK, I guess if y’all couldn’t react then I can’t expect the straight folks to.

For the most part, I think people experience music in relation with their own sexuality. Just like I can listen to anybody and translate [their lyrics] for my own experience. I think people do the same thing with my and everybody else’s music—they identify with something they can apply to their own lives.

But do you usually try to perform at venues where the clientele is gay, or you don’t care?
I don’t really care. For the most part there’s Pride events that I do. I’m doing Gay Games [this summer]. But as far as venues—there’s not support community-wise. Bars have a hard time staying open themselves, never mind hosting music as well. So pretty much venues are straight clubs.

I’m open, though. I’ve opened for Bo Diddley…I do R&B, but I guess it can fall in Rock n’ Roll. When I performed with Bo Diddley, I didn’t know it was going to be like that. I was a little intimidated. At first, at the booking, I was like who goes to see Bo Diddley? When you go to Blues shows, it’s predominantly white audiences. So this was predominately a white—I don’t want to say—but a frat boy-looking audience. I had no idea how they would react. But they were feelin’ it. They were very positive, and it was the first time I got my record. That day I got it on cassette, it was all I could afford. And they were buying my cassettes.

Did you start Big Mouth Girl Records? Was it hard to pull off?
Yeah. It’s not really a hard thing to do. The hard things are marketing—having a budget for marketing, budget for videos. Now there are video possibilities with LOGO and LGBT stations…You know, if you had a video back in 1984, you probably could get it on MTV because they didn’t have that many videos back then. The independent people have more possibilities with things like that now.

What tips do you have for up & coming artists—young and older—on how to survive in the music business? How to stay true to their music, and to themselves?
Be honest. Be real. If you play an instrument, don’t stop developing your skill. If you are a vocalist, think of yourself as a musician as well as a singer and don’t simply ride the musicianship of your band or accompaniment. Define success on your own terms.

If success for you is dependent on mainstream acceptance, most likely there will be places you have to or at least will be challenged to compromise. Everyone has to make those choices for themselves. That could mean changing your look, your sound, your band, lyrics, hairstyle, whatever…I think it’s probably a good idea to be flexible around the small stuff. But when it comes to whatever is really important to you, that’s where you draw the line. But even with that, it’s good to consult trusted friends for perspective.

How do you maintain romantic and family relationships while on the road?
Email and phone calls. Sometimes it’s hard being on the road. It can get lonely on many different levels. I find that to be true especially in different countries where I don’t speak the language. But I am never usually gone for more than a few weeks at a time. Usually, by the time I am really feeling homesick, it’s time to come back.

Are you working on your third CD?
No, not really. The last couple of days I’ve been having a song running in my head. So, we’ll see what comes of that. I haven’t been writing much lately. I’ve been thinking about it. And that’s what’s part of the process, too. I’ve been thinking that my next CD will be more bare bones—give a better idea of what I do. It’s funny thinking so casually about it—I think I’m going to make a record this summer. I don’t know if I’ll be able to or not. But that’s what’s been on my mind, and part of it is creating a space for it.

How long do you plan to continue doing your music? Do you see a time when you would want to retire?
I can’t see myself retiring. I don’t make music to make money. I make music because I have to…I am called to do what I do. Perhaps if that changes, but I don’t foresee that at all.

To find out where Nedra will be playing next, check out her website at www.nedrajohnson.com.