Rita Wilson is tuning up with a new album, Troubadour show
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Rita Wilson’s filmography is peppered with pop music, including ‘Raise Your Voice’ (in which she played the mother of an aspiring singer) and the big-screen version of ‘Mamma Mia!’ (which she and her husband, Tom Hanks, executive produced). Next week the L.A. native takes the mike herself with ‘AM/FM,’ an album featuring interpretations of 14 hits from the 1960s and ’70s. Wilson spoke with Pop & Hiss ahead of her gig Friday night at the Troubadour.
You picked some great songs for ‘AM/FM’: ‘Wichita Lineman,’ the Supremes’ ‘Come See About Me,’ ‘Never My Love’ by the Association. Choosing what to sing must have taken forever.
Completely. We started with a lot of songs -- at least 100, maybe more. I looked at each song as a monologue: What is this person trying to say?
Did that make you hear anything in a new way?
I grew up a first-generation American, and my mom drilled into us that our reputations were so important. So ‘Angel of the Morning,’ when I first heard it as a teenager, I thought it was sung from a teenager’s point of view. It was this story about a young girl who decides to sleep with this guy; then it’s the reality of, ‘Oh my God -- he didn’t really love me!’ When I started recording it, I thought of it differently: This could be a woman who’s had a whole life, and now she’s just longing for some kind of companionship.
The album’s title implies a relationship with the radio. How do you discover new music?
I still use the radio -- FM and XM [satellite radio]. I also have kids, so they keep me fresh on some of the current music.
Your son Chester scored a viral rap hit last year under the name Chet Haze. Should we expect to see a family band soon?
Yes, we’re touring as the Hanks 5 [laughs]. When they were growing up, I was pretty adamant that they take music lessons. I didn’t try to tell them what instrument to learn, so they tried different things: trumpet, piano, bass, drums. But they all still play music, and that was the goal.
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