Name: Aubrey Johnson
Occupation: Singer, songwriter, pianist
Nationality: American
Current release: Aubrey Johnson's new album The Lively Air is out March 20th 2026 via Greenleaf.    
Recommendation for Brooklyn, NY: I highly recommend visiting the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It’s spectacular in any season.  

If you enjoyed this Aubrey Johnson interview and would like to know more about her music and current tour dates, visit her official website. He is also on Instagram, bandcamp, and Facebook.



When did you first consciously start getting interested in singing? What was your first performance as a singer on stage or in the studio and what was the experience like?

I remember singing along to the theme songs of the cartoons I was watching around the age of 5. I would perform them, next to the TV, for my family and friends when they’d come over!

My first performance was singing a solo song at the church that I grew up attending, at the age of 6. I remember walking up to the stage and stopping next to my dad to ask him what the lyrics were (he didn’t know, ha!).

I ended up remembering them and all went well—after that I was pretty hooked on performing.

If you're also playing other instruments, how does the expressive potential of these compare to your own voice?

I play the piano. I have pretty good facility since I studied classical piano, as well as jazz, for ten years as a child. I’ve continued to play, but I use the skills mostly for practicing, composing, and teaching.

It’s much easier for me to be expressive as a singer since I’ve spent so many more hours singing than playing, but I also feel I can be expressive through my piano playing—I just can’t always play everything I hear!

Singing is an integral part of all cultures, and traditions. Which of these do you draw from – and why?

I grew up singing in the church and I still do some church work as it comes up (classical choral singing, pop, and jazz), and it always feels meaningful me on an emotional level even though I no longer attend church.

In addition to the tradition of jazz and improvisation, I also sing a lot of Brazilian music in Portuguese, which makes me feel connected to that tradition as well. Choral singing (classical, jazz, and gospel) is something I’ve done since I was a child, so I feel that tradition is also very meaningful to me. Singing in harmony and blending with other singers is probably among my favorite things to do.

In the most general sense, I draw from the tradition of live performance, especially the communication and connection that can occur between performers and listeners. I find live performance to be deeply emotional and spiritual.

The ultimate compliment for me is when an audience member tells me they felt moved by my music. That’s why I do what I do.

What were some of the main challenges in your development as a singer/vocalist? Which practices, exercises, or teachers were most helpful in reaching your goals – were there also “harmful” ones?

I feel very lucky that I didn’t have formal voice training until I began college at the age of 18.

Prior to that I sang in choirs, practiced on my own by recording myself, analyzing, and listening back, as well as singing with my piano teacher in my jazz piano lessons. Because of the way I came up, and that I developed my singing for so long before much “intervention”, singing feels very free and joyous to me.

My parents also allowed me to sing as much as I wanted around the house. I now recognize that that freedom to make sound whenever and however I wanted to was a major gift, and integral to my development as a musician.

I love studying with lots of different teachers who work with me on many different techniques and styles. I don’t adhere to a single one, I simply take what works for me and leave what doesn’t. Learning with all of these different people has also been extremely helpful to me as a teacher.

I’ve worked with Christine Salerno (jazz), Monica Griffin (opera), Diana Spradling (jazz/technique), Dominique Eade (jazz), Tami Petty (opera), Jeanne Lovetri (Somatic Voicework), Julia Dollison (jazz), Rosana Eckert (jazz), and Deborah Carmichael (Libero Canto), and have loved them all!

What are the things you hear in a voice when listening to a vocalist? What moves you in the voices of other singers?

I think honesty is what moves me the most when I’m listening to a vocalist. I don’t like to listen to anything that feels fake or “put on” or that exists solely to sound impressive, I’m just not interested in that.

When I listen to other singers, I try to take in what I’m hearing without over-analyzing their technique because that takes the joy out of it for me. I listen for whatever it is they’re trying to express with an open mind and a willingness to understand something I’m not used to hearing.

I love singers of all kinds!

How would you describe the physical sensation of singing? [Where do you feel the voice, do you have a visual sensation/representation, is there a sense of release or tension etc …]

Ooh that’s a tough question! Well, I feel singing in my whole body and whenever I sing, I mean it. Whether I’m singing for fun, improvising around the house, demonstrating something to a student, or performing, I’m always trying to give it my heart and soul.

Singing feels like freedom to me, like flying, like dancing on the top of a mountain on a warm, sunny day.

We have a speaking voice and a singing voice. Do these feel like they are natural extensions of each other, ends on a spectrum or different in kind?

The are definitely related, and there are certain techniques that rely heavily on finding sounds in speech and bridging the gap between singing and speaking. We often have less inhibitions when we’re speaking, so it can be useful to use speech to inform singing.

Singing is a natural extension of speaking, yes, but there is a huge part of the vocal range that is hardly ever touched in speech so that has to be developed in a different way. Also, breath in speech and breath in singing is related but very different when it comes to managing breath over time (required in singing.)

When you speak you can breathe whenever you want, and when you sing you have to plan when you breathe and learn to use the air you take in a very intentional way.

How do you see the relationship between harmony, rhythm and melody? Do you feel that honing your sense of rhythm and groove has an effect on your singing skills?  

I think that harmony, rhythm, and melody are intrinsically related. To deliver a melody in the most informed way possible involves a deep awareness of the harmony and the rhythm.

I studied with a percussionist, Jerry Leake, during my second year of graduate studies, and I see that time as a major turning point in my understanding of and connectedness to time in music.

Honing my sense of rhythm and groove has been fundamental to the growth of my singing and artistry.

What are the potentials and limits of your voice? How much of your vocal performance can and do you want to control?

That’s a difficult question to answer. In some ways, I understand the limits of my voice—especially when it comes to my low register. However, I don’t necessarily label that a limit, as I’m always trying to improve my range, and to do that I need to maintain a belief that it may be possible.

I can control a lot about my vocal performance, but I do so mostly by working on my vocal technique during my practice sessions. I feel that having a solid technical foundation enables me to respond freely to my emotions, to my band, and to the audience during my performances.

As a singer, it is possible to whisper at the audience, scream at the audience, reveal deep secrets or confront them with uncomfortable truths. Tell me about the sense of freedom that singing allows you to express yourself and how you perceive and build the relation with the audience.

Over time it’s become easier and more natural to express myself in a way that feels genuine in front of an audience.

I find that the more honest and authentic I am about each aspect of my performance—from my singing, movement, and facial expressions, to my choice of clothing, repertoire, and emotional expression, the more I can connect with almost any audience.

During my shows I pay attention to the audience and try to respond to their energy when and how it feels natural to me.

I'd love to know more about the vocal performances for your latest release, please, and the qualities of your voice that you wanted to bring to the fore.  

I enjoy writing for all of the things my voice can do—from range, to timbral variety, to stylistic variety, to improvisation, to background parts, singing with and without words, doubling instruments, and being the lead voice.

My mentor, my uncle Lyle Mays, was the first person who encouraged me to consider all of the things my voice can do and to write for all of them. When I sing my own music, my voice naturally sounds a specific way, and singing that way is how I feel most myself.

I don’t try to sound like any certain person or even any specific genre.

When you're writing song lyrics, do you sense or see a connection between your voice and the text? Does it need to feel and sound “good” or “right” to sing certain words? What's your perspective in this regard of singing someone else's songs versus your own?

I definitely feel a connection between my voice and the lyrics I write. I am almost always singing the whole time I’m writing a lyric, and a lyric always has to sound and feel right for me to include it.

When I’m singing someone else’s songs, the approach is almost the exact opposite. It’s my job to make any lyric sound the best that it is possible to sound. I enjoy analyzing and interpreting the lyrics of others very much.

Strain is a particularly serious issue for many vocalists. How do you take care of your voice? Are the recipes or techniques to get a damaged voice back in shape?

I take caring for my voice very seriously. I try to get enough sleep most nights (which isn’t always possible), use a steamer and a nebulizer when feeling especially taxed from travel or a lot of singing, exercise, warm up on a regular basis, and maintain my technique through regular practice.

There are definitely techniques to recover a damaged voice. Anyone with vocal damage should see an ear, nose, and throat specialist (ENT) who specializes in working with singers and get scoped!

If issues are discovered, speech language pathologists are of wonderful help, as well as voice teachers trained in vocal recovery.

How has technology, such as autotune or effect processing, impacted singing? Has it been a concrete influence on your own approach?

It has, only in that when I practice I can record myself (in Logic), see how and where I’m out of tune, tune the recording so that I can hear myself singing more in tune, and then learn from the process.

For recording engineers, the human voice remains a tricky element to capture. What are some of the favourite recordings of your own voice so far and what makes voices sound great on record and in a live setting?

My favorite recordings of my own voice are happily on this new record! I work with an incredible mixing (Rich Breen) and editing (Steve Rodby) team that make me sound my absolute best.

Choosing the correct mic makes a huge difference when it comes to sounding great in both recorded and live settings. Beyond that, EQ, reverb, and a good sound system all help to make singers sound their best.

Motherese may have been the origin of music, and singing is possibly the earliest form of musical expression, and culture in general. How connected is the human voice to your own sense of wellbeing, your creativity, and society as a whole?

Using my voice and singing with others is very connected to and very important to my own wellbeing. Through it, I am able to express myself creatively in a way that would otherwise not be possible.

And certainly sharing my singing with others through live performances and recordings helps me to feel more connected to society as a whole.