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Tea with a cabaret star: this week on The Green Room

Natalie Douglas is an award-winning cabaret singer from New York, and is out with a new album.
Natalie Douglas

If you have your portrait hanging on the Birdland Jazz Club Wall of Fame, you’re kind of a big deal.

Natalie Douglas is an award-winning singer who has her picture hanging in the legendary New York City establishment, and yes, she’s a big deal in the world of cabaret. 

Earlier this year, she released a new album, Human Heart.

Natalie Douglas says creating an album using classic, cabaret songs, was pretty straightforward for her.

"Selecting songs for the cd was really easy," explains Douglas. "They're 12 songs I truly love and that I wanted to sing and do in this way."

All the songs on Human Heart are numbers that Natalie Douglas has performed for a while. She says that's part of the why the decision process of choosing what would make the final cut was so clear. Over the years, she's had fans ask her, "When are you going to record that one?" Or, "Why isn't that on a record?" That's caused her to keep a running tally in her brain of songs fans especially love. 

Douglas says the order in which she arranged the Human Heart was very intuitive— much like the way she puts together a set list for a show. She says she loves doing research on various themes, and then finding the appropriate songs to fit those themes. 

Mr Bojangles​ is a song that Natalie Douglas performs on her new album, and has gotten a lot of attention for it. The song has been covered by a lot of different artists—  from Nina Simone to John Denver. And yet, Douglas has a very distinct version of the classic tune. Since she's not a songwriter, she says tries to find songs that speak to her.

"Once I find that tune, then I start living in it," says Douglas. "I think the ideal experience for singer, listener— that relationship— is that...each person is having the experience as the song unfolds."

You can listen to and buy Natalie Douglas' new album Human Heart here.

Dan Wanschura is the Host and Executive Producer of Points North.