This is Kjersti Long. She began her musical career at a young age. Her first single, “Rollercoaster,” was written when she was nine years old, and it was about her personal problems with anxiety. A year after headlining The Bitter End in New York City, Kjersti released her first album, “Stronger Than You Think I Am.”
The charismatic singer has also performed at a number of legendary venues in the United States, including The Apollo Theater, The Velour, House of Blues, The Delancy, and The Stone Pony. It would take years for anyone to headline such world-famous venues, but she did it.
With the support of her family, friends, and fans, Kjersti will go very far in this industry. Her passion really shines through her music and her great personality. Kjersti Long also has hobbies outside of music such as horseback riding and reading books. As time goes by, Kjersti will have plenty of stories to tell through her music and social media.
In this exclusive interview, Kjersti Long talks about her new single “Eleanor Rigby.”
The Knockturnal: Last time we spoke, you mentioned that you had a few projects that you were working on that you could not say yet. Was the cover of The Beatles “Eleanor Rigby” one of them?
Kjersti Long: I sometimes have the memory of a goldfish, but I’m almost positive it was. To be honest I have a number of new songs I have recently written, recorded, and are ready to go. I’m excited to get more music out. Right now I’m really pumped that my version of Eleanor Rigby is getting so much press. The music video is ready to be released and that is something I am very much looking forward to.
The Knockturnal: “Eleanor Rigby” is one of the songs that transitioned the group from a mainly rock and roll band to a pop band that appealed to a wider audience. How much of the inspiration of the original song did you have in your mind when it came to covering the song yourself?
Kjersti Long: I actually had never heard the song before. I had heard small snippets of it from the movie, Yesterday but I hadn’t actually listened to the full song. Only after deciding on what I wanted it to sound like did I go back and listen to the actual song.
The Knockturnal: “The song also addresses loneliness and I am sure that you must have heard it thousands of times. How did you get the mindset of doing your own version of the song knowing the tone and nature of it?”
Kjersti Long: With Covid and everything it was easy to tap into all my lonely feelings. Covid has been rough for everyone and this song definitely describes what we all are feeling.
The Knockturnal: When you performed “Eleanor Rigby” live, did you also shape how it would also sound when it is recorded?
Kjersti Long: The first time I played Eleanor Rigby live it was a little raw. There weren’t a lot of the strings and deeper bass line that goes on throughout the song but it definitely shaped the way we recorded it. It gave us a sort of outline for what we wanted the recording to sound like. We, of course, added a lot of stuff like the string instruments. We also let the band go a little wild with cool new guitar riffs and drum beats but for the most part the live version did shape it.
The Knockturnal: How did you discover The Beatles and are there other hits or songs from the group that you would like to cover?
Kjersti Long: I had heard and listened to a lot of Beatles songs before. But I never really appreciated their music until I watched the movie, Yesterday. It was really late at night and I was falling asleep so the movie was kind of blurry in my mind but when my dad asked me what I thought of the movie afterward all I could really remember was that Ed Sheeran was a really good actor and also some of the lyrics to the song, Eleanor Rigby. So the next day I looked up the lyrics and the piano chords and went to work. I love all The Beatles music but there aren’t any songs that stand out to me quite like Eleanor Rigby.
The Knockturnal: Were there any challenges that occurred when it came to mixing the instrumental and the sound placement?
Kjersti Long: No, the producer I work with in Nashville is amazing and was able to do an incredible job mixing. But I know what you mean with the arrangement, that could be tricky. There was a bit of a problem with recording the vocals, though. Funny story…three days before I had to fly out to Nashville to record I got strep throat. I was treated with antibiotics so I wasn’t contagious and I was feeling fine. So we went out to Nashville to record anyway. The vocals came out perfectly because by some sort of miracle instead of constraining my voice and making it hard to sing, the soreness of my recovering throat actually made it a whole lot easier to hit some of the lower notes.
The Knockturnal: If you had to choose between this one and your last single, which one would you say that you had more time developing?
Kjersti Long: I think that it took my first single, Not Your Princess, forever to come out; it definitely took the longest time. But I also think that even though the creative process for Eleanor Rigby happened quicker, being we had a shorter developing time, it came out better than my first single.
