Fenton, a singer-songwriter who lives in Herndon, spent three years in the New York music scene before returning to the Washington area last summer. She’s working on her fourth EP, scheduled for release in January.
Describe your self-recording process since you play all the instruments yourself.
The process normally starts off with some kind of riff — either on the piano or the guitar — and then I pretty much build everything around that. So I’ll come up with a guitar part, and then I’ll come up with a drum beat and then do each instrument afterwards. It typically starts guitar, then drums, then piano. Vocals always come last because that’s the hardest part for me, the lyrics.
Why did you leave New York to return to Herndon?
Well, the main reason is because my girlfriend got a promotion, which included a transfer … and at that point, having lived there for three years, I pretty much had played the venues that I had wanted to play, kind of experienced the scene to where I felt comfortable enough to leave it. I just wanted to know what it was about, and at that point I felt confident that, ‘All right, I get this. I don’t like it. I’m going to go.’ So it was good timing. Three years was enough.
Who is one of your musical influences?
I’d have to say Sheryl Crow, actually, just for her vocal stylings. I feel I’m closest to that when it comes to my own voice, so it’s kind of like a comfort level.
Do you feel more inspired when you’re in Virginia?
Yes, absolutely. And I think that’s because in New York everyone’s there kind of for themselves. … I didn’t really feel any community in New York. But down here I feel like there’s a lot more support for each other and music as a whole as opposed to competing with each other in New York. – Anna Waugh
