Also with her twelfth studio album "Fire On The Floor" Beth Hart lives up to her reputation as the high priestess of white blues. The 44-year-old US-American is simply an emotional elemental force, a never extinguishing volcano. She howls, moans and screams as if every song is about her life, which seems to consist solely of pain, unbridled lust and longing. The Hart has a powerful, irresistible voice, in the tradition of a Bessie Smith or Janis Joplin. With this she pulls the listener unprotected and suddenly into her spell. In the conversation, the Californian also takes no account of anything or anyone. Least of all yourself.
eclipsed: The term "home" plays a central role in many of your songs. How do you define your home?
Beth Hart: Without a home, a place where I feel completely at home, I am nothing. I was homeless for a while in my worst phase of addiction in the nineties. I never want to see anything like it again! It was the most horrible situation I've ever been in. And believe me, I've been through some crap. Today I am still mentally a bit unstable, but I have friends who pull me out of the vale of tears when I need it. My work is respected by more and more people. And I have a wonderful husband who loves me and catches me when I threaten to sink into the deep valley of depression. Otherwise, for me at home means, for example, working in the garden of our house. Something great to cook. Very stuffy! (laughs) But on stage and on tour I usually feel just as safe and secure in a different way.
eclipsed: You called your new record and a song on it "Fire On The Floor". What fire are you talking about?
Hart: This is an extremely sexually charged song! Because besides my psychic contacts to angels and spirits I am at the same time a human being in whose existence eroticism plays a decisive role. I was self-destructive about this for a long time. Meanwhile, I enjoy my offensive sexuality. That's what "Fire On The Floor" is about. It's a positive, bold piece.
