After more than a decade leading Best Coast, Bethany Cosentino went solo this year with Natural Disaster, which was produced by Butch Walker and expanded her sonic palette, finding her honing her pop instincts. “I looked at myself long and hard in the mirror, and I realized that I too had been bringing myself back to that place,” Bethany says. “I kept proclaiming to the world ‘I’ve changed, I’ve evolved!’ but I hadn’t gotten to the place I really wanted to be yet. It became really clear to me that I needed to push myself into a completely different direction. Because the road I was on was just ultimately taking me back to square one.” Listen to the album below.
For more on the album, Bethany told us about 10 musical inspirations that found their way into Natural Disaster, including Linda Ronstadt, The Travelling Wilburys, ’90s festival Lilith Fair, and more. “Something I’m incredibly proud of is the fact that I didn’t consider even for a second if something was ‘cool’ or relevant when it came to the things that influenced this album,” Bethany tells us. You can read her list and commentary below.
BETHANY COSENTINO – 10 INSPIRATIONS BEHIND NATURAL DISASTER
“Nick Of Time” by Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt has been a favorite of mine since I was a little kid. I used to sing “Something To Talk About” at talent shows as a kid. “Nick Of Time” started to speak to me in a different way a few years ago when I started to consider the idea of becoming a mother. I often find myself obsessing with the timeline of when the “right” time is, and this song makes me feel seen in my fear of running out of time. I was inspired by the sentiment and decided to write my own song about these complex feelings, “Outta Time.” I never explicitly talk about the desire to be a mom in the song – but I feel like if you listen closely, you might be able to pick up what I’m putting down. I don’t think this is something that is discussed publicly enough with women around my age – the fear of missing your window, but still feeling unsure about the decision. It can be a really isolating feeling, so I wanted to write something that might make other women feel seen the way “Nick Of Time” provides me some comfort.
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Michelle Branch – The Spirit Room
I’m not sure this album comes up on a lot of inspiration lists for artists in this day and age – but it should! This album is a masterclass in pop songwriting. It’s an incredible album, especially for her debut. Every single song is a sing along with a hook that will be stuck in your head for days. I was 14 when this album came out and it made a lasting impression on me. Seeing a female singer songwriter who wasn’t too much older than me play guitar and sing songs that were catchy and relatable was inspiring to me as a young girl who wanted to be a musician.
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“I’m Alright” by Jo Dee Messina
My parents are both from the Midwest originally, so I spent a lot of my summers as a kid visiting my family in Nebraska. My grandparents on my mom’s side were super into country radio and in the 90s I would spin around in circles listening to whatever country radio station was playing in their barn. This song just has the best energy and it transports me right back to being a kid playing in the barn with chickens and running down dirt roads. I hadn’t heard this song in a million years, but in 2020 during peak Covid, I was taking these really long walks around my neighborhood with my dog and this song came up on a playlist I was listening to and it instantly made me happy. It was definitely my hype jam during some of the harder periods over the last few years.
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The Rolling Stones – Goats Head Soup
I’ve always been a Beatles over Stones type of gal, but I was listening to this album a lot while making my album. Butch Walker, my producer and collaborator, is kind of a classic Rock N Roll kind of guy, and his guitar playing at times really reminds me of Keith Richards. There’s a song on the album called “Calling On Angels” that I really wanted to have a Stones feel, but also fall a little deeper into the country category than the rest of the album. “Dancing With Mr. D” I think specifically inspired the track – at least the energy and the guitar tones.
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“Handle With Care” Traveling Wilburys
I’d be remiss to not mention the inspiration of this supergroup on the album, especially this song. I really can’t think of a better melding of the minds than these five. Individually they are all so fucking incredibly talented, but then you put them together and they just made magic. The melody of this song is one that will live in my brain forever, and just the easy laid-back energy and simplicity of the production and the lyrics – truly perfection.
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Lilith Fair
I didn’t go to Lilith Fair when I was young, but I’ve always been fascinated by the ethos of it and I loved all of the women who were on the bill growing up. I think the world is begging for a revival, I hope it happens, and I hope I get to be part of it. Jessica Hopper wrote an amazing oral history of it for Vanity Fair back in 2019, and I returned to it a lot for inspiration while making the album.
Sheryl Crow – The Globe Sessions
The first three Sheryl Crow albums are absolute perfection – but this one is my favorite. She is one of my favorite songwriters of all time – and was absolutely one of the biggest inspirations behind my album. Something about her laid back, effortlessly cool vibe has always spoken to me, but became particularly impactful on me when I decided to make a solo album. I must have listened to this album a thousand times on my trips to and from Nashville, and during my drives to the studio. I love how confessional the songs on this album are.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PgJp3K1XGg&pp=ygUgU2hlcnlsIENyb3cgLSBUaGUgR2xvYmUgU2Vzc2lvbnM%3D
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Linda Ronstadt: The Sound Of My Voice documentary
Linda Ronstadt is my favorite singer of all time, and was a massive inspiration for my album. I am always listening to Linda and studying her voice. I read her memoir Simple Dreams and watched this incredible documentary so many times while I was working on the album. I love her so much I tattooed her name in a heart on my shoulder. She really means a lot to me.
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“6th Avenue Heartache” by The Wallflowers
I love this album so much, but this song in particular just really fucks me up. It’s SO GOOD. I was nine years old when this album came out, but hearing these songs on the radio even at that age hooked me. I definitely bought this CD from Warehouse music once I started buying albums of my own. Butch actually produced the most recent Wallflowers album called Exit Wounds which is also very good. It felt cool to be linked to Jakob by a producer – I really am a massive fan of his songwriting.
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Sticking to what I liked and loved
One might argue that the inspirations for my album are not “cool” – but something I’m incredibly proud of is the fact that I didn’t consider even for a second if something was “cool” or relevant when it came to the things that influenced this album. I knew exactly what I wanted to make and what I wanted it to sound like – the energy I wanted it to have, and I stuck with it. I wanted to make an album that was inspired by the music I heard on the radio in the 90s and early 00s when I was young, but give it my own modern twist and I think I accomplished that. I was never worried about what people might think, because I was so invested in the creation and the inspiration of the album itself. I’m really proud of what I made and at the end of the day, that is all I can ask for.
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Bethany plays LA’s The Troubadour on September 18 and Littleton, CO’s On Tap With KBCO on September 23 with Shakey Graves and Rayland Baxter.