Over the past few years, Call has generated a large fan base thanks to both her music and her online efforts, cultivating more than a 12,000-person following on Twitter and innumerable other fans on social media platforms like Google Plus and Facebook. Call put that online network to work last year, reaching out to fans across the country to help her book a 50-state tour.
With the help of those relationships and an audience that adores her, she crafted a new double album titled "Something Fierce," a personal release that culminates the singer's efforts over the past two and a half years.
This album highlights her strengths as a songwriter, marrying her quirky, deeply honest songwriting with a far higher production value than on her other works. She comes across as a neo-Joni Mitchell, singing soulful songs that feature the folk-funk rhythms and versatile voice that she's become known for.
When she was looking to develop "Something Fierce," she turned to those who knew and loved her best for help with funding.
"I wasn't interested in having a record label fund it, and I didn't have the money myself, obviously," Call said over the phone from Seattle. "I knew it in advance that I needed fan funding to make it happen. So I started fundraising before I even started recording so I could slowly start paying for it as I went."
Thanks to the efforts of her passionate fans and her use of online fundraising tools such as Kickstarter, Call was able to record the album over the course of a year and a half in six cities.
"So far it's had a really great response from fans," Call said, adding that it has been a sales success as well. "I offered 500 albums signed for pre-release, and they all got snatched up long before the release date. We actually had to do a reprint before we even received the original product."
If you look back to the inception of her career -- her first release, "Vanilla," arrived in 2007 -- there is one thing that helped push her more than anything: Alaska.
It has been both a home and a muse to her.
"I don't think I would have started as a musician unless I came to Alaska," she said. She arrived here in 2003 after graduating from Stanford University. "I think Alaska changed who I was and what I wanted to be and what I wanted to do very much."
The second disc on "Something Fierce" highlights that love affair. Titled "From Alaska," this part of the record stems from the inspiration of her move to the Last Frontier and how it changed her as a person and a musician.
"Something about life here gave me what I needed to quit being scared of life and go out and get it," Call said, adding that, "I also heard the first music I was really interested in making once I moved here, the sort of singer-songwriter, fusion, fantastic stuff that people are into up here." Now she is looking to pay back her adopted home with a statewide tour that will highlight her new record and the light and funny persona she brings to live performance. She's rolling out "Something Fierce" with an Alaska tour that starts tonight at the Snow Goose Theater before making stops in Fairbanks, Homer, Palmer, Talkeetna and Juneau.
Call compares her live sets to an unplugged Ani DiFranco or Dave Matthews and Tim Daniels joint effort, bringing a rocking and storytelling presence to the stage.
"People can usually understand all of the lyrics at my shows," Call adds, citing it as the most frequently commented aspect of her show, although it's hard not to note anytime a live performer uses a typewriter as an instrument as she does.
Whether you know her from Twitter or local coffee shops, or even if you don't know her music at all, Alaska's favorite musical (adopted) daughter is not to be missed, regardless of what hat she is wearing at the time.
Marian Call
Anchorage
When: 8 p.m. today
Where: Snow Goose Theater
Tickets: $12-$15 until 5 p.m., $12-$18 at the door (21 and older)
Online: mariancall.com
Other Alaska shows
Juneau: 7 p.m., Nov. 5, the Rookery Cafe, 111 Seward St. ticket prices to be announced.
Fairbanks: 7 p.m., Dec. 10, College Coffeehouse, 3677 College Rd., $5 cover charge.
Dates for Homer, Palmer, Talkeetna and other Alaska venues to be announced.
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