In this warm and lively interview, KGNU’s Meredith Carson chats with legendary pianist, singer, and songwriter Marcia Ball about her decades-long career, upcoming performances in Colorado, and her creative projects. Marcia reflects on her musical influences, including Professor Longhair, and shares stories from the road. She also highlights her community work with HOME (Housing Opportunities for Musicians and Entertainers), supporting older musicians in Austin. The conversation touches on her plans for a new record and a musical she’s co-writing with Pulitzer Prize winner Larry Wright. Marcia’s love for Colorado and its audiences shines through as she looks forward to her upcoming shows, including her performance at Oriental Theatre on June 26th. (Interview: 6/13/25)
Meredith Carson: We are now going to talk to Marcia Ball. Good morning, Marcia.
Marcia Ball: Good morning.
Meredith Carson: Is it morning where you are?
Marcia Ball: It’s afternoon.
Meredith Carson: It’s afternoon. All right.
Marcia Ball: It’s one minute afternoon.
Meredith Carson: When you get to Colorado at the end of the week, you know, we’re probably in a different time zone from now. You know, I’ve never asked anybody this who tours — does the time zone thing make you crazy, all that crossing back and forth?
Marcia Ball: No.
Meredith Carson: No? Well, for someone who’s been on the road…
Marcia Ball: Yeah, I move around, you know? I just like to go where I go.
Meredith Carson: Well, we like it when you go where we are too. We like it very much. You’ve been on the road, what, 50 years or more? Since you were six.
Marcia Ball: Right.
Meredith Carson: And you are coming to see us on Friday, the 26th of June, which is also my sister’s birthday — and she is a CIA Marcia as well.
Marcia Ball: All right.
Meredith Carson: So, yeah.
Marcia Ball: Great.
Meredith Carson: And then you had — oh, go ahead.
Marcia Ball: Go ahead.
Meredith Carson: I was just gonna say, and then you have a date up at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen as well that weekend. So that’ll be fun.
Marcia Ball: Yeah.
Meredith Carson: Drink lots of water! Yes. All right, now that we’ve got the whole touring thing settled, I want to talk to you about this fabulous CD Shine Bright. First of all, in that song — I’ve never heard anyone use Ann Richards and Little Richard in the same sentence before, and I just want you to know it reverberates.
Marcia Ball: Oh! Yeah, well, my governor is one of my favorite people, and so that’s the work of… yeah, so.
Meredith Carson: On the CD, I read on your website that you started writing these songs during COVID, and that was a hard time. Now that we are in this current situation, it is a pretty hard time. All the songs on this album are so uplifting and positive and encouraging to people.
Marcia Ball: Well, thank you. I’ve tried to do that, and I have not made a record since then. But I’ve got a bunch of songs, so I’m thinking I’m gonna make a record.
Meredith Carson: I think that’s a good idea. Is it a good idea to be home and not on the road while you’re making a record? Or are you one of those people that can do it from anywhere?
Marcia Ball: I’m gonna work at home.
Meredith Carson: Let’s see — so you are doing a three-day stand in Las Vegas in September. Is that a first for you, or have you been to Las Vegas a ton of times?
Marcia Ball: No, I’ve only been once. Gordon and I went to Las Vegas years ago, but that’s the only time I’ve been there — except for the Big Blues Bender.
Meredith Carson: Oh yeah.
Marcia Ball: Yeah, and that’s what I’m gonna do again.
Meredith Carson: Is that outside, or is it inside?
Marcia Ball: Got my van going, but then I’m gonna do another tribute or a show. It’s something — I’m maybe doing a panorama.
Meredith Carson: Oh, cool.
Marcia Ball: Yeah.
Meredith Carson: I wanted to talk to you — I read that you come from a long line of piano players in your family, that most of the women knew how to play the piano and learned that as just sort of a required thing. One of your main piano heroes is Professor Longhair. He’s also a hero of mine. Talk to me about when you found out about Professor Longhair. When did you first hear him?
Marcia Ball: I was at Jazz Fest in 1978. I played, and that was my first thing that I did. Then I ran across the fairgrounds — my son Luke was three years old, and I had him with me, and I had my Aunt Faith with me — and I ran across the grounds to the other end, and I saw Professor Longhair.
Meredith Carson: It blew my mind the first time I saw him.
Marcia Ball: When was that?
Meredith Carson: Oh, it was later, and I only saw him once at Jazz Fest — probably 1982.
Marcia Ball: Oh.
Meredith Carson: You and your Aunt Faith and your son Luke were running across the fairgrounds there.
Marcia Ball: Yes, and I got to see him, and I took several pictures of him, but I never saw him again. He came to SoCo Creek Saloon in Austin, which was open in ’73 and probably closed in ’88. He came there a couple of times. They had everybody — Doug Sahm and Willie Nelson — and I played there every week or every month for all those years.
Meredith Carson: That was a good gig.
Marcia Ball: Yeah, it was.
Meredith Carson: You do things a little bit outside the music business as well. I read that you, starting during COVID — and I think you still are — work with an Austin organization called HOME: Housing Opportunities for Musicians and Entertainers. Tell us about that. How did that get going?
Marcia Ball: We started with Lalla White, a singer from — well, she was from Mississippi, but she had moved to Houston and worked with all those people there. She moved back to Louisiana and then came back to Austin. She was broke and didn’t have anything going on. So we created a concert at Antone’s. It was all women except W.C. Clark. Lalla and Lavelle did all Lavelle’s songs, and we raised enough money to put her in an apartment for a couple of years. We kept going, created Housing Opportunities, and now we have 32 clients.
Meredith Carson: That is wonderful. All musicians?
Marcia Ball: Yeah, older musicians — 55 and older. We pay rent and utilities, and we’ve been doing it for 13 or 14 years now.
Meredith Carson: That is just so fabulous and very Austin-like. The community there is so—
Marcia Ball: HOME is the one thing, and SIMS is another. HOME is right there in it.
Meredith Carson: All right, one more question. I’ve got this straight from your website. You are writing a play. Is that still happening?
Marcia Ball: Larry Wright, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and I started writing a musical. He got me going, and he put his son, Gordon Wright — who’s also a great singer and great guitar player, who lives in Chicago, actually — and Larry and I live in Austin. We started in about 2013, but then COVID happened.
Meredith Carson: Right.
Marcia Ball: He started doing a podcast, which expanded the whole thing, and we wrote a bunch more songs. Now he wrote the book about Mr. Texas.
Meredith Carson: We are all hoping to see it at some point.
Marcia Ball: I hope so too.
Meredith Carson: Marcia, it has been wonderful to talk to you. We cannot wait to see you in Denver on June 26th, and then you’ll be up in Aspen. You are such an institution here in Denver, and you have so many fans, so we’re really looking forward to it. Can’t wait to see you then.
Marcia Ball: Thank you. I’ve played there many times — probably once a year for 40 or 50 years.
Meredith Carson: Yeah, absolutely.
Marcia Ball: You’re part of us now.
Meredith Carson: You’re right.
Marcia Ball: I’ve played all over Colorado, and I love it.
Meredith Carson: Well, we love it too, and we will see you then. And meanwhile, I’m gonna play another song from Shine Bright. This is “I Got to Find Somebody” on KGNU. Bye-bye, Marcia. Thank you.
