When it comes to categories, Laura Love defies them all. For a while she referred to her sound as 'funkabilly.' Then when her first critically acclaimed release for Mercury, Octoroon, came out last year, the label 'Afro-Celtic' was given to her by an astute critic, and it stuck like crazy glue. "It doesn't quite fit anymore, it's not quite enough, is it?" Laura laughs, "If you can think of something better, go for it!" Quite a task, considering how many musical influences are liberally sprinkled throughout Laura's latest Mercury release, Shum Ticky. Laura Love gives the term 'world music' an entirely new meaning. "I didn't set out to be unique," she insists. "I think I was defined by my limitations. I didn't have the attention span to sit there and get every nuance of jazz, blues, swing, bluegrass, or Celtic music. I would have to strive forever to copy it, and I would be just that -- a copy. I'm an amalgam of all these things -- I've got African blood, European blood, Indian blood, and it all comes out in the music. My body seems to have a memory for things I haven't quite experienced. And I have a lot of curiosity about it -- what slave owner raped what slave, what slave mixed with which Indian to get me here. I guess I'll never know, but I get glimpses of it that show up in my music."

A Lincoln, Nebraska native, Laura began her wildly diverse musical career at the age of sixteen, playing her first gig at the Nebraska State Penitentiary. Beginning with pop standards, moving into grunge-blues with the controversial Seattle band, Boom Boom G.I., and on to solo recordings, festivals and headlining shows, Laura eventually released three albums on her own label, Octoroon Biography. Putumayo World Music has included Laura's music on two compilations, as well as releasing the Laura Love Collection, while Laura's electric live performances have entranced critics around the globe.

"I started writing my own songs because I was criticized for doing other people's sexist, misogynist music. I had to get a dictionary, looked up the words, and said 'You know, they're right!' I went to school and got an education about these things -- women's studies, race relations, civil rights classes. I learned about the far-reaching effects of it all, and that's what I wanted to write about." Laura picked up the bass at age 25. "I wanted to play those subliminal notes," she says with a knowing smile, "On the bass you're not cluttered up with all those chords; you're usually just coming up with the root. I get a groove. A simple groove, but it's an anchor. Once I get a body memory for the groove, once every part of me gets it, then I'm free to start humming over the top of it. I let the song kind of lead, and the last thing that comes into play are the ideas of what the song is about."

The infectious, lyrical, universally-themed songs on Shum Ticky traverse the whole of Mother Earth. Along with 12 original Laura Love compositions, the album features a jazzy cover of "The Clapping Song" with a guest rap by Sir Mix-A-Lot. "Mahbootay," an absurdly catchy African chant, is actually a tribute to a certain lovely part of Laura's anatomy. "I just don't hang out with people who don't like my butt!" Laura exclaims, "You know, it's a universal theme! The bottom line! I get so sick of opening magazines and seeing those spidery, junkie-looking women that are like 'I'm so hungry I could eat my own fingers!' Go get a burger, girl! More power to women who actually look like that, but they gotta have something to sit down on, don't they?"

Shum Ticky blends nursery rhymes with rap and scat which somehow combines perfectly with yodeling. "My mission in life is to put the 'yo!' back in yodeling," Laura declares, "Anyway, can't we all just get along? You know, ebony and ivory? It feels really good to put a Middle Eastern melody with an Afro-pop groove, it seems like they flow together naturally, and the bottom line is that we are supposed to get along, influence each other, absorb each other's culture. It's a dynamic thing."

Mercury's David Wilkes saw Laura's tantalizing performance at the Putumayo Showcase at Carnegie Hall and convinced Mercury Chairman and CEO, Danny Goldberg to catch Laura's Indianapolis show the following week. "Danny is the dude for me," Laura says, "He just completely gets it. There isn't any crap about moving units, he wants it to be commercially successful, but the main thing is, he likes what I do. I'd been resisting major labels for years, but Danny made me feel calm and peaceful. My friend Danny is helping to get the word out about my music. That's how I feel."

The bottom line for Laura Love is honesty and pure self-expression. "Once you get over yourself, it really frees you up," she grins. "Writer's block is being afraid to make a mistake, to be criticized for being juvenile or not being profound. I've lived my whole life being juvenile and not being profound," she laughs wickedly, "and I feel pretty good! If we could just live our lives the way we make love. Just so it feels good, and not 'Oh God, how do I look in this position? Oh no, this isn't my best light!' Nothing is better than an uncool moment in a slick situation. Most of my life I've strived for uncool moments."

Obviously Laura Love gives new meaning to 'uncool.'