With Heart, singer Ann Wilson launched her recording career in 1975 out of Seattle. Nearly 50 year later, she’s still making vital new music. 

She and her new band Tripsitter are on an intimate tour of smaller theaters and clubs, playing music from their album of all-new songs, Another Door, released at the end of September.

“She’s the greatest female rock singer of all time, in my opinion,” said producer/mixer/songwriter/musician Paul Moak of Tripsitter, and believe us, he shares that opinion with millions of fans the world over. 

Moak, who produced and engineered Another Door, also plays keyboards and guitar. The album is a collaboration with Tripsitter, comprised of Moak, Ryan Wariner, Tony Lucido, and Sean Lane. They will join Wilson on stage when they stop by The Clyde Theatre on Tuesday, Nov. 28.

Musical journey

What can we say about the great classic rock band Heart? 

Ann on vocals, with her younger sister Nancy Wilson, one of the greatest rock guitarists to come out of the ’70s, co-helmed a band that topped the rock charts time and again through the early ’90s, selling more 50 million albums with such classic songs ranging from “Barracuda,” “Crazy on You,” and “Magic Man” to “These Dreams” and “What About Love?” 

Heart was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013, and Ann and Nancy were given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award this year.

As Nancy Wilson is committed to promoting her critically acclaimed 2021 solo album, You and Me, and touring with her own band, older sister Ann started her own project.

In 2022, Ann Wilson released Fierce Bliss, an album of originals and a couple classic rock tributes recorded in Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama with guest artists including Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Warren Haynes, and Vince Gill. 

She and bass player Tony Lucido assembled a band of a younger generation of Nashville, Tennessee, cats to take her show on the road. They got along so well that they decided to co-write and record Another Door. 

Rubbing elbows with rock royalty

Another Door is a barn-burner of psychedelic-tinged hard rock, veering almost into metal on one or two tracks. There are copious classic-rock instrumental touches and even some lighter, folk-oriented acoustic sounds. 

Every singer has to adapt their technique as their voice, which is their instrument, matures. I’m happy to tell you Wilson’s power and extraordinary control are still under her command. She even plays flute in a couple of places, recalling the original sound of Heart.

I spoke with Moak by phone from his home in Nashville, where he has owned and operated a top-flight recording studio, The Smoakstack, for 15 years. 

“It’s been all over the map, from pop stars like Kelly Clarkson to tiny independent bands here that nobody really knows,” he said of his recording and producing work. 

The Smoakstack is outfitted with an amazing collection of enviable and sought-after vintage analog recording gear and rare keyboards and guitars.

Bandmate Ryan Wariner is Nashville nobility, the son of musicians’ musician Steve Wariner, one of the most accomplished Nashville guitarists and songwriters of his generation. 

“Ryan has all of his dad’s chops, but bent towards the Eddie Van Halen thing,” Moak said. “He’s just an incredible player. It’s an honor to get to play with him every night.”

It’s not hard to understand why Moak decided to pause his studio work to hit the road with a hall of famer.

 “I had to go out and see what it was like,” he said. “We just have had so much fun. That’s why we decided to make a record together. 

“We started writing (Another Door) out on the road. Then we would come bring the ideas here, usually a week or two at a time, and that would allow her to write to some of the music that we’d made. We were all in it from the beginning to the end, so it was very collaborative experience.

“We were originally called The Amazing Dogs, which no one liked,” he added. “It was kind of an inside joke. When we started making this record, we felt like, ‘Man, we need a name that people can take a little more serious and elevate.’ And it was Ann’s husband, (Dean Wetter), who came up with the name Tripsitter, just had the idea of us guiding the listener through a musical journey, either on stage or as they listen to the record.”

Keeping it intimate

Back in the day, Heart filled the largest arenas and concert halls, and the Wilsons’ many projects and tours over the years have put them in every kind of venue. 

But this year with Ann Wilson, Moak said, “We intentionally want to keep it intimate. So it’s mostly older theaters and clubs.

“I like the clubs where everybody’s standing room only, and they’re packed up against the stage. Tony loves the theaters, and it is an awesome thing. It’s just a different listening experience. This summer we were doing a lot of festivals, for larger outdoor crowds.

“With Ann Wilson and Tripsitter, we do some covers that are exciting to us, and we play three or four songs off the new record.” 

Some songs from Fierce Bliss will be options. 

“And then definitely a big selection of Heart songs that we know people love and they come to hear,” Moak said. “It’s a really good mixture of everything, and it’s always evolving. We try not to repeat the same thing too much.

“Writing and recording the album with Ann Wilson was a intensely personal and gratifying experience. And now to play those songs live for people means a lot to us.”