Remember concerts? Wow, so much nostalgia. Well, this week Vanessa Carlton was supposed to kick off her U.S. tour to promote her new album Love Is an Art. But we’ve since firmly exited that lovely timeline and instead the singer-songwriter is home with her dog Sinatra (who is *thrilled* about all this, by the way) playing her gorgeous sun-drenched piano for all of us on Instagram Live. Carlton joined Vulture’s own Madison Malone Kircher for an interview and mini-concert as part of our new series Superlative Sessions, where she treated us to some tunes and answered questions about the new album. She even shared the song she finds hardest to play, teaching us some cool music lingo in the process. While regaling us with “Miner’s Canary,” which is full of what — if my memory of music theory is correct — are technically called arpeggios, Carlton revealed to us the existence of “clams.” No, not the tasty mollusks that accompany linguine, the musical slang term for mistakes. While its origins remain unknown, it’s probably because, in real life, clams are terrible musicians.
She also covered her favorite Carole King song “It’s Too Late,” and, of course, played some of her classic hit “A Thousand Miles,” while clarifying that she wrote the song when she was “17 and a half” and would now never walk a thousand miles for a man (except maybe her husband.) She dedicated it to those of us quarantining right now, letting us know she’s proud of us (aww!), while reminding everyone: “Don’t walk anywhere!” Not even to make your way downtown, okay?!