[MUSIC]

Alison Stewart: This is All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. There's a new program at a local library where you're less likely to get shushed and more likely to be encouraged to crank the volume to 11. That's because about a year ago, the Westport Public Library decided that in addition to shelves of books, collections of archival newspapers and community computers, the public should have access to a recording studio. Not just a studio, but a record label too. Earlier this month, Verso Records, as the label is called, dropped its first release called Verso Records, Volume One.

The collection of 12 tracks features musicians from around the Tri-state area. It says it's the first public library to record, produce, and release a vinyl record on its own label. Check out this track from Lulu Lewis.

[MUSIC - Lulu Lewis - All Just Pretending]

I don't know to make changes

I don't want to change things

I just go where it's easy

I just know that I know.

I don't need a pimp at all

Alison Stewart: That was Lulu Lewis All Just Pretending, and then there's this track from Ports of Spain.

[MUSIC - Ports of Spain - All You Can Carry]

That's Ports of Spain, All You Can Carry. The album opens with a track from one of my guests for this conversation, Danielle Capalbo, who leads the group, Daniprobably. It also features established local artists like the indie rock group, The Zambonis, who have been around since the '90s and responsible for a number of NHL-commissioned team theme songs. Joining me now to talk about what a public library can do with a recording studio and a record label, please welcome Travis Bell, who manages Verso Studios as part of the Westport Public Library. He's also engineered the label's debut compilation. Hi, Travis.

Travis Bell: Hi, Alison. How are you doing today?

Alison Stewart: I'm well, thank you. Also joining us is Danielle Capalbo, lead singer and guitarist of Daniprobably whose track Cowboy leads off the album. Hi Dani.

Danielle Capalbo: Hi, Alison. Thanks very much for having me.

Alison Stewart: We heard a rumor that you interned around here once upon a time and answered phones.

Danielle Capalbo: Once upon a time I did. I was an intern on Soundcheck with John Schaefer.

Alison Stewart: Love that. Small world. Travis, what was your first thought when you were approached to help out with getting the Westport Public Library's recording studio off the ground?

Travis Bell: It was a very exciting moment for me when I realized we'd be doing sound checks in a library. [laughter] It felt a little wrong, because you feel like it's a space where you should be quiet, but there's an amazing community here and they're focused on the arts, and I felt fully supported. I felt like they were ready for the music community here to grow and the arts community here to grow. I knew that I had the backing of the library and the community, and it felt like we were full steam ahead on something really incredible.

Alison Stewart: Dani, this isn't your first recording. What was different about this process? Being in the library studio, working with a producer and an engineer in this kind of environment?

Danielle Capalbo: It was very unusual compared to my typical experience making records in recording studios where you'll go into the vocal booth to track your vocals. In this case, we were tracking the song live, the instrumentation live on an auditorium stage in the main room of the library. When it came time, for instance, to track the vocals , instead of being sequestered away comfortably to go into my own little world, I was still on that stage, in this case actually with a camera on me because the Verso Studios communications manager made a little film about it. Everything about it felt bigger, more open, and of course it was really brilliant to be making a song surrounded by books.

Alison Stewart: Travis, for some people I have to imagine this might be their first time recording.

Travis Bell: Sure. We actually had a few folks on the record that maybe just didn't have a traditional recording experience before. Sheneta, who actually closed our record out with just a really beautiful piano vocal piece, she had never recorded in a studio before, anything outside of just garage band in her house. She actually came to us as a community user, just using our studio services. Once we heard her music, we knew, well, simply she had to be on the record. Then it was just a matter of where that track was going to go. She's a perfect example of the scope of the record wasn't just about established artists. It was very much about growing a music community, and Sheneta represented the music community here.

Alison Stewart: What do you see as your job, Travis, as the producer's job to help people who haven't been in this kind of environment before to do their best, to get the best out of their music?

Travis Bell: The technical end can only go so far. You can turn buttons and knobs, and you can point microphones in different places. The console is a flexible piece of instrument in itself, but in reality you have to make someone comfortable to perform, because you're capturing a moment in time. That's how I like to phrase it because this is something that cannot be duplicated. Every one of them is different and unique like a fingerprint. A take in a live recording, there's so many nuances to consider whether or not that is going to be the take that you want to represent this creative piece that you're making. For me, making that decision as a team and from a live recording, that really made this entire project unique and very special.

Alison Stewart: My guest is Travis Bell, audio studio manager and sound engineer at Verso. Verso Studios is part of the Westport Public Library. Also with me is Danielle Capalbo. She's a musician. The band is Daniprobably. She is the lead track on the record. First of all, Dani, how did you first hear about this project at the library?

Danielle Capalbo: I first heard about the project through a New Haven-based musician/filmmaker/DJ, Brendan Toller, who had just joined the studio at the Westport Public Library to help them lead these kinds of community efforts. He was familiar with the band just through the local scene because we were very active at the time, especially. He thought it would be a great fit and I'm very grateful that he came to that conclusion.

Alison Stewart: What were the first steps towards getting your track recorded?

Danielle Capalbo: Well, we had the great pleasure and privilege of working with Travis, as well as a producer named Peter Katis. The preparation we put in was first picking a song. Figuring out what song of ours was going to lend itself best to a live track. In other words, a track where you weren't going in after the fact and adding all kinds of layers that really uplift the melody, but something that you can just play through and it's pretty rocking. Song selection and then meeting with the team, that was going to help us bring it to life just so we were all on the same page. We had a relatively short period of time to pull the recording together and we wanted to make sure that we were ready to rock.

Alison Stewart: Zach, for people who don't know about Peter Katis, this producer, he's worked with Death Cab for Cutie and The National. How did he get involved with Verso Records?

Travis Bell: Peter actually is a local recording engineer. He has a studio here in Bridgeport. We had reached out just as a one studio to another talking about what we can offer the community, what their studio offers, and then really just bridging a relationship. What ended up happening was his willingness to be a part of something that we were doing was really impressive. He said, "I love what you're doing there. How can I be a part of it?" The answer was simple. I said, "Well, we'd love to have you on as a guest producer to do a track." Dani simultaneously came into that timeframe with Brendan Toller, and we heard this track and we knew that this was the right track to pair with Peter. The rest is recording history.

Alison Stewart: All right, Dani, we're going to hear Cowboy. What would you like people to listen for in this track from your band, Daniprobably?

Danielle Capalbo: Well, when folks listen to this song, I really want them to imagine a band playing this song live in the middle of a big auditorium in the library. That's what I think of when I listen to this song, is just that moment in time.

Alison Stewart: All right. Let's take a listen to the lead track from Verso Records, Volume one. This is Daniprobably with Cowboy. [MUSIC - Daniprobably - Cowboy]

Alison Stewart: That's Daniprobably with Cowboy. Dani, you want to shout out the band?

Danielle Capalbo: I would love nothing more than to shout out the band, as a matter of fact. [laughs] On drums in that track is Adam Benson. Shout out Adam. On bass is Jamie Thompson, and I've played music with both of them for a long time.

Alison Stewart: My guests are Danielle Capalbo and Travis Bell. We're talking about Verso Records, Volume One. It's a collection of 12 tracks featuring musicians from around the tri-state area. What makes it unique? It was recorded in the Westport Public Library, which now has a recording studio for people to make records, I should say, a record. It's released a vinyl record on its own label. I want to play another song, Travis. Travis is the studio manager and sound engineer. This is from The Zambonis, the Gretzky Twist. Tell us about this track.

Travis Bell: The Gretzky Twist, the best hockey rock and roll band in history. Then that was just such a fun track because they came to us with, I think it was five vocalists. Two guitar, bass drums, tambourine. There was a lot of moving parts in that track, and they were also willing to do the entire thing on video. There's actually the recording of this entire track on YouTube, on the Westport Library's website. You can actually watch the actual recording of this take, which is a really special thing because you can really see it was a live recording, and that's how we captured that moment. Just a really, really fun track. It's upbeat. It's got a really good narrative to it and a great chorus.

Alison Stewart: Here's The Zambonis, The Gretzky Twist.

[MUSIC - The Zambonis - The Gretzky Twist]

Alison Stewart: [laughs] Oh, hard not to like that track. With that in mind, and we heard Dani's song, Travis, when you were thinking about the types of music and the way they would flow together and go together to create this whole album, what was some of the thinking about what kinds of music, what types of music you wanted on this first record?

Travis Bell: It was really important to me that we made a record that represented the music community right here at home. That music community here at home is incredibly diverse. We have everything that I grew up being a part of. We wanted to make sure that the record wasn't a singular genre. I think we did a really good job at doing that, but also making it feel like a record. I have to give a lot of credit to Brendan Toller who chose the order of the record. I recorded the tracks, but he had the ability to listen to them all and say, "This is the way that they flow together and feel like a record."

That was an example of the teamwork it takes to put something like this out. It was really special when we found that combination because it played like a record should with a side A and a side B, and it felt like it had a nice uplifting moment. Then you really had a nice closure at the end with that piano track from Sheneta.

Alison Stewart: Dani, I've heard Travis mention it and I've heard you mention it, this creative in this music community in the area. How would you describe it?

Danielle Capalbo: I would describe the Connecticut local music scene as rich, really abundant. The reason I had moved to New Haven originally was for the music scene. Even in a state with so much going on, New Haven is pretty unique. You can find every type of sound. People are really doing it themselves, putting the DIY in DIY. Folks are imaginative, they're dynamic, they really have a vision, and they're bringing it to life even though they have day jobs. There's nothing more inspiring to me than that. Folks who are balancing their daily lives, but they just have a fire inside that won't go out. They have to pursue it.

Alison Stewart: The Tom Tom Club and Talking Heads, Chris Frantz is involved with the studio, Travis. He's a well-known musician, but also a local in the area. He is got a monthly radio show on WPKN. He worked with Peter Katis, as we talked about, on a concert series for emerging artists in Fairfield. How is he involved with the work at the library?

Travis Bell: Chris has lent his voice to not only Verso in the library, but his support. Chris, just, he continues to show up. We could have reached out to Chris once and he could have said, "Yes, sure, I'll come up for one program." Chris continues to show up and support the music community and the library here. I can't stress enough what an incredible human being he is and how much music truly means to him. He's truly incredibly dedicated to giving back to the local music community. It's very real, it's very sincere. He is just an incredible person to the library and the musicians here.

Alison Stewart: Let's listen to another track. This is Terri Lynn Hotchkiss, and the song is The Salt Water Sea.

[MUSIC - Terri Lynn Hotchkiss - The Salt Water Sea]

Alison Stewart: That's Terri Lynn Hotchkiss, The Salt Water Sea, off of the album Verso Records, Volume One. Travis, why was it important that this debut release from Verso Records be available on vinyl?

Travis Bell: For me, vinyl's coming back in a very real way. It's not a fad. I feel like people missed having something tangible, something that they can hold in their hands and experience the artwork and care for. I think it's that process of caring for the record that makes you want to have a deeper connection with it. I'm not saying that MP3s and digital media doesn't have its place. Of course, it does. I think we have experienced so much of that for so long that an entirely new generation has come back to appreciate vinyl for the same reasons that my father's generation experience vinyl. I think that seeing the next generation find that on their own time, on their own terms, it's super powerful.

Alison Stewart: Dani, what do you make about this effort? People think about libraries as places for quiet and for study and for reading. We all love that about libraries, but what do you make of this kind of effort? What does it signal to you about the role of libraries and the role they can play in communities?

Danielle Capalbo: Sure. To me, it signals that libraries can stay relevant. They're enduringly relevant for so many reasons. A library, to me, is a symbol of equity in the community. It's a place where you can go to use a computer to search for a job, use a printer, access resources that you may not have at home, but so many of us are turning to audiobooks and maybe forgetting what a powerful community gathering space the library can be as one of the last places standing where you can go and you don't have to spend any money. You can just be a person exploring ideas.

What I really admire about this initiative from the Westport Public Library is that it's playfully and creatively reminding people that a library will surprise you. You shouldn't really think that you've got it all figured out. You might as well go into your local library and see if they've added something new that you weren't expecting.

Alison Stewart: We've been talking about Verso Records, the first record label maybe ever to be based out of a public library. It's in Westport, Connecticut. The album is called Verso Records, Volume One. My guests have been Danielle Capalbo and Travis Bell. Thank you so much for being with us.

Travis Bell: Thank you. This was absolutely incredible. I can't tell you how much we appreciate it.

Danielle Capalbo: Thank you, Alison.

Alison Stewart: We're going to go out on that piano and vocal track from Sheneta Nicole that Travis mentioned that this was her first time in a studio. Let's listen to This is Love Languages.

[MUSIC - Sheneta Nicole - Love Languages]

Alison Stewart: That is All Of It for today. On tomorrow's show, Jason Mraz joins us and performs live in studio. I'm Alison Stewart, I appreciate you listening and I appreciate you. I will meet you back here next time.

[MUSIC - Sheneta Nicole - Love Languages]

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