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DEB CALLAHAN: GROWING UP WITH BACKBONE

By Lawrence Lebo

Soulful Deb Callahan is a woman of many talents.
Singer/Songwriter, Artist, Bandleader, Psychotherapist, Social
Worker and mom. The Philadelphia blues-based R&B singer
keeps quite a few balls in the air! It takes a lot of backbone, and
Deb Callahan certainly has that!

Callahan’s 6th CD release “Backbone” is laid-back funky and
reflective. The feel and tone throughout is not dissimilar to a
Joss Stone album. The CD, produced by Philadelphia
producer, songwriter and guitarist Chris Arms was
recorded live at Morningstar Studios in E. Norriton, PA
with overdubs and mixing completed at Arms’ Studio
501 in Philadelphia, PA. Deb recorded the album with
her long-time band of Allen James on guitar, Garry
Lee on bass and Tom Walling on drums. On track 3,
the R&B groovin’ ‘Big Girl Pants’, Deb sings “I’d
rather stay in bed, Don’t wanna deal with too much
more. Oh, the hard, hard stuff, I just want to ignore.
I’m gonna put on my Big Girl Pants. I’m gonna walk
right out that door”. One can imagine Deb in a
therapy session with a client hearing these kinds
of concerns and giving this kind of advice! Extra
credit for the inspired slide guitar work on track 9
‘Cleaning House’ by guitarist/producer Chris Arms.

I asked Deb Callahan to tell us about her life and
her new release “Backbone”. This is what she told
me ............

LL: Would you describe growing up in
Boston, MA, and the family you grew up in
please?

DC: I grew up on the north shore of Boston
in a town called Beverly, MA. It’s a nice
community on the water and was a
great place to grow up. My siblings
and I rode our bikes everywhere,
spent time at the beach, parks
and woods, went on camping
trips, skated in the winter on a
local pond, played sports and
hung out with friends and
family. I liked to listen to music
all the time, draw/sketch and