Tamara Dodd loves music. Along with her decades-long music career rapping under the mononym Bates, the St. Louis native deeply enjoys the process of creating music, collaborating with fellow musicians and introducing musicians to each other. Her fifth album, “The Terrible Tales of Mother Goose” showcases another fascination of hers: horror stories.
The album was a long time coming. COVID-19 halted performing opportunities and dashed her inspiration. Bates told St. Louis on the Air that it took years to find the inspiration to put pen to pad and to get back into the recording booth.
Finally, inspiration for a concept album came to Bates in a dream.
“I fell asleep [to] a scary movie called ‘Jack and Jill.’ I woke up and had an epiphany. So I started looking up Mother Goose titles to see how far I could actually take it — what kind of twists I can apply,” Bates said. “I got three different titles in, I read the actual poems [and I was] like, ‘Oh, okay! This is a little dark in itself’ … and that created the excitement.”
Bates partnered with a host of St. Louis musicians from multiple genres. She said that this album helps redefine — or reintroduce — her prowess as an artist.
“This is the project that defines the kind of music that I actually hear in my head [and] the music that I want to make. [‘The Terrible Tales of Mother Goose’] is my opportunity to show people that I'm not just a rapper who writes rap lyrics,” Bates said. “I really am a music fanatic, and I'm really interested in the production side of the music. I'm not here to prove myself as a lyricist anymore. I'm a songwriter, songwriter and performer — that's what I want to be labeled as.”
Two songs from “The Terrible Tales of Mother Goose” reference the nursery rhyme “Ring Around the Rosie,” a classic story theorized to be inspired by the bubonic plague, or "Black Death. Bates’ “Ring Around the Rosé” is a light-hearted twist on the macabre children's poem.
“I took the darkness out of it. You’re holding hands in communion, which means you have more than one person there. So I figured it was a good vibe for the club environment, the party environment,” she said. “The sense of community, of having a lot of people around, but things are still destructive around you. This is escapism.”
Her song “Ashes, Ashes (Abandon Buildings)” serves as an analogy of decaying infrastructure and declining self-esteem.
“There are people who don't know their self worth, not understanding your position or your value within [society]. Sometimes people just don't have the nurturing that they need,” Bates said. “[‘Ashes, Ashes’ is about] anything that's causing you to feel empty inside and where you're trying to fulfill something with what you'll never attain.”
In “Georgia Porgia,” Bates and singer/pianist Klick Klack explore the risks faced when entering, and ending, a relationship.
“This is one of my favorite songs I've ever written, because it's so much like the music I love to listen to. I am a really big R&B fan. Even though I'm a hip-hop artist, I'm listening to R&B way more than hip-hop,” Bates said. “When you hear those harmonies, that's [Klick Klack]. The piano solo on this song is also him.”
As an independent artist, Bates is used to wearing every hat available to take her music from concept to production. She said “The Terrible Tales of Mother Goose” is a proof of concept for the next step she wants to take in the music industry.
“I am looking towards the popularity of the Grammys. … I know that I can shoot for 2027, so I'm keeping this album fresh. This is an ongoing campaign,” Bates said. “I feel like this album is great enough and the songs on it are great enough to have longevity across more than one year. That would be my focus moving forward.”
For more with Bates, including how a drive around town led to the hook of “Ashes, Ashes (Abandoned Buildings),” listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Darrious Varner is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
