S4 Ep2: Rebecca Gates

My Favourite Elliott Smith Song

Our guest today is the musician Rebecca Gates.
Rebecca is based in Portland, Oregon and was one half of The Spinanes before she left to release music as a solo artist. The Spinanes were a firm fixture on the Portland music scene and it was there that she met Elliott Smith for the first time and established a friendship that would lead to her recording backing vocals on the song St Ides Heaven, which appears on his self-titled album.
That makes Rebecca - as far as I understand - one of only three people to have sung backing vocals on an Elliott Smith album track. Thank you to Reddit for the answer!
So, you might have guessed that St Ides Heaven is the song we discuss. Rebecca very kindly shares her memories of recording her vocals for the song, what she thinks of it now and a few other Elliott related stories besides as well.
Extra things to look at / listen to:

• St Ides Heaven by Elliott Smith: https://elliottsmith.bandcamp.com/track/st-ides-heaven
• St Ides Heaven performed by Rebecca Gates: https://rebeccagates.bandcamp.com/track/st-ides-heaven-live
• Madding by The Spinanes: https://thespinanes.bandcamp.com/track/madding
• For No One Else by The Spinanes: https://thespinanes.bandcamp.com/track/for-no-one-else

My Favourite Elliott Smith Song is produced by Rob Comba and Elizabeth Withstandley.
Find us on social media @myfavesmithsong.

MyFavouriteElliottSmithSong.com