PITTSBURGH – Calendars insist we're in the 21st century, though a surprising number of music listeners still hold onto a belief rooted in long-ago, far less enlightened times.
That's why Mindi Abair couldn't resist writing "Pretty Good for A Girl," her answer to Neanderthals who use condescending language when trying to compliment her exceptional musical skills.
With her bluesy saxophone blasting, and vocals confident and cool, Abair makes "Pretty Good for a Girl" a rallying cry for women, with verses like "She's not 'pretty good for a girl,' she's talented/She can do everything just as well as you/She's not 'hot' because she can play an instrument/She's not waiting to be told what to do."
Featuring guest guitar from six-string slayer Joe Bonamassa, "Pretty Good for A Girl" has caused a buzz Abair hadn't anticipated.
"I didn't think that would be the talked-about single," Abair said in a telephone interview promoting her two sold-out Pittsburgh shows next weekend. "I just thought that would be my fun, autobiographical song, but that's the one everybody latched onto. Sometimes songs take on a life of their own like that. I just see women doing so many amazing things, and that's so cool, but still I've had so many people say to me, 'Oh, you're pretty good for a girl' and I keep wondering, aren't we past that point? I've known a lifetime of people saying something like that and they completely mean it as a compliment. They're trying to be thoughtful so I just said to my guitar player, Randy, one day, we got to write a song about this, and I want it to be a down-and-dirty blues song about what I've lived. My story. To put it out there for men and women to hear, to take stock of and maybe help change some beliefs."
Abair will be sure to sing it Saturday, when she and The Bonebreakers, her bluesy rocking backing band, headline the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild on Pittsburgh's North Side. As is common at the jazz hall, both shows sold out weeks in advance, with many tickets purchased by subscription.
A jazz hall might seem a curious choice for anyone only familiar with Abair and the Bonebreakers' "‘The EastWest Sessions," which kicked off the new year atop the Roots Music Report's Blues Album chart and has been featured on SiriusXM's B.B. King Bluesville channel.
Though many jazz fans discovered Abair first.
"We had played Manchester Craftsmen's Guild years ago. It's such a cool and nice place and we sold it out last time, before we made this record," Abair said. "A lot of my history is in the jazz world and jazz festivals, though I kept getting booked at rock festivals, too."
Abair's lively sax work has been relied upon by an array of touring and recording musical stars, such as Aerosmith, Gregg Allman, Keb’ Mo’, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Duran Duran, Mandy Moore, Lee Ritenour and Booker T. Jones.
The biggest concert crowds she's ever faced were when she was the lone girl on stage with one of pop's biggest boy bands.
"I played with the Backstreet Boys at the height of their career," Abair said. "We played for 100,000 people one night in Rome, it was just nuts. Every night there would be at least 60,000 fans. I also did a night with Aerosmith where there were 90,000. Just a sea of people with unbelievable energy coming from them."
With Backstreet Boys, almost all those fans were screaming teenage girls.
"Cute little girls, some fainting and being taken out of there by stretcher," Abair said. "In every city, there would be a few thousand girls lining the streets outside the hotel singing Backstreet Boys songs back to us. It was just a crazy way to live for a couple of years. Definitely a life experience. What's really cool to me is now I'll still have girls come up to me at my shows and say, 'I remember you with pink hair playing with Backstreet Boys, and now we come to all your shows.' It's cool to know they've grown up with you. What a crazy thing to think about."
And while she's played sold-out stadiums with major acts, "I've played some of the crappiest clubs you'll ever see, too. I made every mistake in the world, and I've seen some amazing things when the crowd comes to life."
Abair drew from those highs and lows when she authored "How To Play Madison Square Garden: A Guide to Stage Performance" addressing the question she hears the most from aspiring young musicians: How do you conquer stage fright?
"I thought if I can save someone who's starting a band a few years of their life and have it crystallized in words, and not just something like, 'Hey, be cool on stage,'" Abair said.
"Everybody gets stage fright, you just have to get to know who you are and build a show that's organic and honest to that. If you try to pretend you're something else that's disingenuous and people pick up on it. Audiences are smarter than you think. Let them be a part of who you are and what your music is," Abair said.
The worst stage fright she ever experienced was the first time she played sax on TV's "American Idol."
"I understood there were 1,000 people in the audience, but 26 million watching on TV, so I was thinking, 'you'd better not screw this up.'"
She has a trick for those rare cases any more where she's nervous about taking the stage.
"I usually talk to myself and say out loud what it took to get there. I remind myself I know my instrument. I am one with my instrument. I am worthy of being here, I know the song. I've rehearsed the song. Sometimes it seems stupid to say it out loud, but it really helps to say you are the person who is supposed to be there."
She's certainly supposed to be at Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, the only Pittsburgh venue she's played with the Bonebreakers.
"Derek Frank, our bassist, is from Pittsburgh and he's really looking forward to it," Abair said. "We have fans there, we want to play there."
Frank also plays bass in Shania Twain's band, while guitarist Randy Jacobs has backed Bonnie Raitt and Willie Nelson. Abair will never forget the first time she saw Detroit blues-rocker Jacobs on stage.
"He did a backflip into the audience. It was the most unbelievable rock star stuff and I remember thinking I've got to stay friends with this guy. We've worked together on a bunch of records over the years."
The Bonebreakers typically launch their shows with "Vinyl" which memorably compares a loving relationship to a record needle fitting snugly in a vinyl groove.
"We must have spent two or three hours coming up with the actual line," Abair said. "There are probably 1,000 iterations of it. I loved the idea."
As for her concert style, Abair said, "I'm definitely chatty. I tell people the stories behind the songs and how the band came together. It's a show where you'll leave knowing more about us. You'll become more a part of our music. But this isn't a show where you'll just sip wine and be lost in conversation with us in the background. You'll be sucked in to the show and dancing. It's high energy."