How to Talk to a Hunter

Hello! I’m writing to you from LAX. Later tonight, I will be boarding a red eye to Boston and then on to Nantucket where I will be doing week long artists residency (more on that the next time you hear from me).

I know it’s quite twee and manic pixie dream girl of me to say this but… I love airports. Sue me!

I particularly love them when I’m by myself, as I am tonight. I’ve always liked them, but for the last two years I have been paying an exorbitant yearly fee to have a credit card that gets me in to airport lounges, and I have to say, this has greatly enhanced the airport experience. I am in an airport sometimes 8 times in a single month, so I tell myself I’m actually saving money this way because I can’t get in and out of an airport without spending at least $40 (water that is weirdly $9, snacks for the plane that are always like $30, a breakfast sandwich that is somehow $24), and everything in the lounge is free, so… you do the math.

So here I sit, having the time of my life actually. I have a glass of red wine, some sparkling water, I just finished a nice dinner, and I’m writing to you. Life is good!

Yesterday, I had a two hour phone call with a brilliant writer, a friend of mine, who is writing the bio for my new album. I won’t say who just yet, but the conversation was wonderful. It was a gift for me to be able to speak so in depth about this record. I went song by song with her and told her the detailed story of each track. It was basically therapy. And together, we began crafting what will be the larger narrative, the story, of this record.

One thing that she indulged me on was my request to read aloud a short story to her at the top of our conversation because I feel it has deeply influenced the album in ways I have not yet been able to fully articulate.

And that’s what I want to talk about tonight.

In my High School English class, we read from of this big thick book called the Norton Anthology of English Literature. I think that this was a common thing in lots of schools.

One day in class, I decided to peek around at some of the other stories that weren’t assigned reading, and I stumbled upon the short story How to Talk to a Hunter by Pam Houston. I quietly read it sitting at my desk, while we were supposed to be reading something else as a group. I was floored by this story, and it’s stuck with me ever since.

For one, it’s told in the second person which is wild. That means the narrator tells the story as if it is in fact you living the story. Here’s an example:

“You will spend every night in this man’s bed without asking yourself why he listens to top-forty country. Why he donated money to the Republican Party. Why he won’t play back his messages while you are in the room. You are there so often the messages pile up. Once you noticed the bright green counter reading as high as fifteen.”

Here is a link to the whole thing, if you’d like to read it.

When I came across this short story, I felt like I had stumbled upon a secret about what it’s like to be an adult in a romantic relationship. In my limited experience, it seemed that this was the truest representation. I loved it.

This story was lost to the clouds of my memory for many years until I finally found it again a decade or so ago. I learned it is part of a collection of short stories that make up Pam Houston’s wonderful book Cowboys Are My Weakness, and I immediately ordered a copy. It’s incredible and I highly recommend.

I don’t know if this short story will end up at all as part of the conversation around my new album. Maybe this is one of those things that is just part of the subconscious soup that went in to the writing and it’s not super relevant to anyone else who hears the album. But for me, it’s quite important, so I wanted to at least give it a little moment here.

There is one particular song on the new record that this one directly inspired, and behind the paywall we are spilling the tea, with a video.