Out folk-rock singer-songwriter SONiA Disappear Fear is steering her world tour through Philadelphia this weekend to perform at Philadelphia Folk Festival.
SONiA’s (real name Sonia Rutstein) latest album, last year’s “Broken Film,” found her returning to recording under the name Disappear Fear, the band she founded in Baltimore in 1987.
“There’s no difference at all,” she said about her solo and band work. “The goal and objective is to stop confusing people. I am Disappear Fear and I am SONiA. Now, my official performance title is SONiA Disappear Fear. I started Disappear Fear with my sister and I always have been the one who has written all the songs, whether it’s just me and my guitar or me and an eight-piece band. So it’s one and the same.”
SONiA recorded her most recent album in Nashville. She said Nashville, a nerve center for country music and the music industry as a whole, has more resources for her to work with as a musician than her stomping grounds in Baltimore.
“I wouldn’t want to diss my hometown but there’s a lot of great players [in Nashville] and great studios too,” she said. “There’s so much work there. Musicians are playing all the time and they get darn good at that. You just have a lot more choices and it is reasonable budget-wise. The demand and supply seem to balance out favorably for me.”
We talked to SONiA before she jetted off to Germany to perform at Hamburg Pride. Over the last year, she has performed in countries including Germany and Israel. With the growing tensions globally, we asked if the events around the world making headlines ever concern her in regard to traveling and performing.
“I did perform in Israel in 2006 when the Lebanon war was happening,” she said. “At that time, we were allowed to fly, I named my Disappear Fear. It wasn’t just an idea of putting together a cool set of words that rhyme. The idea was I would live into that [name]. It was no question for me to support humanity continually forever and ever no matter what. I certainly don’t want to die on the road, but it is important to not just talk the talk but also walk the walk. My life would be meaningless without that. And yes ,I am a little scared, but it’s not going to stop me.”
Meanwhile, SONiA said she is working through prospects for new songs for her next album.
“I write 20 or 30 songs and then I choose the best of those,” she said. “Actually, the audience will choose the best of those because I will run them through for people.”
She added that some of the fans attending Philadelphia Folk Festival might get to hear some of her newer songs that she is considering for the album.
“It’s going to be very amazing,” she said about what festival attendees can expect. “My main set Saturday will be the biggest part for me. I’m hoping to do two songs that I have not performed much at all. I’m going to be playing more piano this time, so there will be something completely new.”
SONiA Disappear Fear performs Aug. 15-17 at Philadelphia Folk Festival, 1323 Salford Station Road, Harleysville. For more information or tickets, visit www.pfs.org or www.soniadisappearfear.com.