THAO, The Queen of NOW & her Get Down Stay Down  

As folk-inspired music begins to make a triumphant return to the mainstream both at home and abroad, few rising stars of the genre seem to shine brighter than that of Thao Nguyen of Thao & The Get Down Stay Down. Based in San Francisco, Thao and her band have spent much of the last decade touring relentlessly, building a large song book of original material, and garnering critical praise wherever they go. The band has released three LPs and two seven inches with their most recent release, We The Common, earlier this year being especially well received. In addition to Thao’s exquisite musicianship and songwriting, she has recently become known for her work with the California Coalition For Women Prisoners, a grass roots organization which promotes outreach for incarcerated women. Thao’s work with the CCWP as well as the women she met through the group helped to inspire much of the music on We The Common and continues to affect Thao’s music in positive ways.

I’ve read that recently you’ve been doing a lot of outreach work within the prison systems, can you tell us a little bit about that?

Sure! Yeah! I have the great fortune of having good friends who are really amazing social activists and they’ve been doing this work for years, and they’ve been involved with the California Coalition For Women Prisoners for years. Last year I was home, I was off tour, I had taken a break and I was not working on the new record yet, and they asked if I would fill in on an advocacy visit at a state prison for women. After my first visit, I knew I would come back as much as I could. It was really an experience that I’d never had anything similar to and I still go whenever I can in between tours. And I’ve met really incredible, inspiring, resilient women who shouldn’t be there and, um, have taught me a great deal about humanity.

You know, many artists, Johnny Cash most notably, had large portions of their work shaped by their experiences with prisons and prisoners. Do you think your work in these outreach programs has affected or inspired some of your songwriting?

Oh definitely! I don’t think this record would exist without the people that I’ve met through CCWP. This record is different from all of the others in that it’s a lot more outward looking and it’s a lot about attitude and community and collective energy and, um, that comes from the people that I’ve met and worked with.

Your most recent album, We The Common, came out earlier this year, did you have any specific goals going into the writing and recording process?

I think the main goal was to sort of put into song and capture this new sense of, as I said before, this collected energy and to sort of show my gratitude for what I get to do and the people I get to meet and work with. It’s more just a consideration of what is beyond me, you know? Sonically, I wanted it to sound more . . . to have the same energy that we have live, that could be better captured on record.

Break Out

Critical Care

“I was never a big fan our country’s drug policies in the first place. But after being inside and seeing so many people, so many folks who have been convicted of non-violent offenses, a majority of which have to do with drugs, it’s an atrocity. There are so many people in prison who don’t need to be and what they need are rehabilitative programs and treatment. This whole war on drugs thing is so useless, a function of industry and the privatization of the prison system. Yeah, I’ve only become more critical of our country’s drug policies since I’ve been volunteering.

I’m in support of [cannabis], you know, I think that access to health care is important and vital. It’s a lot less detrimental some of the other things that are available over the counter or everything that’s peddled by pharmaceutical companies and championed by our health care industry. So, yeah, I’m all for it.”