MODE: What spurred your interest in songwriting?

Larkin: It was mostly a hobby as a teenager. I was really very gung ho about it, and I would hide in my room and write all the time.

MODE: After finding success on a local level [Larkin is extremely popular in New England, where she studied at the Berklee College of Music ] what made you decide to record professionally? What made you decide to take that next jump?

Larkin: After writing for so long? Well, I was playing out and it gets to the point for everyone who writes or wants to perform for a living that you can call even the smallest club and they want to know if you have a CD out, so its very much the case of having to have the product in order to get the gig and in order to continue working. And I had written a number of songs and I really wanted to get them out so in 1985 I recorded my first album.

MODE: Throughout your career you’ve been compared to a variety of fine female musicians, from Lucinda Williams to Bonnie Raitt. How would you describe your sound?

Larkin: Hopefully ever changing, I’m coming out of the acoustic music circuit, I do a lot of solo acoustic work … I think I’m out of the Richard Thompson school which includes people like Shawn Colvin or Bruce Cockburn, sort of guitar-driven songwriters … and I’m coming out of the American tradition of songwriting and song styling and now I have two produced albums that are, I think, kind of making inroads into more modern pop music even though they’re not as lush as some of the ones I did in the ’90s. These have styles that I think cross over into different types of music.

MODE: Let’s talk about your latest album, then. It’s entitled Regrooving the Dream? What’s the meaning of the title?

Larkin: Well, I was starting over. I was working with a new record company — and I think that will always have an influence on you and how you’re thinking and what you’re thinking about — and I think Regrooving the Dream is about starting over and really refocusing on what it is that inspires you. And that’s what I was doing at that time.

MODE: This is your ninth album, beyond the fact that it is a little more ‘pop-py,’ how does it differ from the previous releases?

Larkin: I’m not sure it’s that the whole album is more ‘pop-py’ — I think that this one is – I think it is pretty well thought out. The one just before it was my first produced album, and we really were doing sort of an experimental project in terms of just using stringed instruments to make percussive noises — the whole album is just based on stringed instruments — and that was a whole different ball game. But this one, this is the first one I felt where we really hung in there and my co-producer Bette [Warner] and I really worked out what we wanted in and what we didn’t want in and it also is a cross section of American music — I think some of it is hip-hop and some of it is traditional country. It kind of runs the spectrum of American music and probably part of the reason for that is I was thinking a lot about American music and the millennium and the turning of the century and what it was that really influenced me.

MODE: So it definitely was a conscious decision that it was such an eclectic mix?

Larkin: I think it was conscious in not editing what was coming out. I am very influenced by what I hear and I was listening to a lot of different things, so I think that was part of it, too. I think if I had been worried about it I would have stopped the writing process and been like ‘what the hell am I talking about, this is never going to sell…’

MODE: You write your own music, a lot of which is very introspective. Is that something that comes easily to you and is that something that you find as a relief or are you able to detach yourself from it?

Larkin: I think it’s harder for me to write a straight-up pop song and have it have meaning for me. I am an introspective writer. I am someone who sort of works out some of my own issues in my songs, in my characters, and I think that the stretch for me is to write something that has feeling and makes sense that is very pop-driven, so that is kind of an interesting perk about the business. A plus for what I do.

MODE: In addition to your lyrics, Regrooving the Dream features a variety of styles with a variety of sounds — with tinges of Celtic and R&B to rock and a variety of instruments from cello to horns — was that an intentional mix?

Larkin: Musically? Yes, I’m very into layers and textures and sounds and what they’re going to do to the music and I try to keep people guessing somewhat to keep their attention — to keep my attention [laughs].

MODE: What is your favorite song off the new album?

Larkin: My favorite one is "Only One" right now. It’s the one that I feel has the broadest scope and really leaps some boundaries. I think it really has a lot packed into it.

MODE: Are you satisfied with the album, is it what you envisioned it would be?

Larkin: Yes, I am very much so. It’s kind of very fun to say that, actually.

MODE: You perform live quite a bit, is that something you enjoy?

Larkin: It is, it’s the thing that I’m the most comfortable with. It’s what I do nine times out of 10 and it’s something that comes very naturally to me. In fact, it’s only been within the last seven years or so that I’ve started to feel comfortable in the studio, so that’s kind of interesting … but live performing is something I’ve done forever, so that comes very naturally to me.

MODE: What is your favorite aspect of a live performance?

Larkin: I like being able to breath into the music and feel like I’ve connected with people and feel that the audience and I are on the same level — that there is a communication going on. And part of that is about not thinking and just letting go.

MODE: What should fans expect from your show at the Whitaker Center?

Larkin: Well, it’s a cross section of music, it’s going to be a fun show, I put some humor into it and have some fun and I think there’s going to be some of the new songs, definitely…and I usually do a section of requests, so that’s always fun.

MODE: Your career has spanned much of the past two decades, how do you think you’ve changed or grown musically in that time? You’ve been able to stay true to you sound…

Larkin: Well, I think that I’m always searching and looking to expand my knowledge and expand what I do and that’s what my goal is, I think musically and personally in my career. But, also, I think that I’ve been fairly consistently acoustic … and that has been a great thing for me. It has been a lot of fun, a lot of joy for me to be able to play this music for people because they’re really good listeners, they are able to run the gamut in terms of their listening and their appreciation of different styles of music, and I can’t say that for every single style. So I feel very lucky.

MODE: What are some of your upcoming plans and future goals?