© 2026

For assistance accessing the Online Public File for KAXE or KBXE, please contact: Steve Neu, IT Engineer, at 800-662-5799.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Becca Mancari explores the different facets of forgiveness on 'Left Hand'

Becca Mancari
Shervin Lainez
/
Courtesy of the artist
Becca Mancari

Updated November 3, 2023 at 5:55 AM ET

Family. No matter what your relationship is with your family — good, bad, even non-existent — your family is part of what defines you. It's part of what makes you you. For Becca Mancari, a queer person who grew up in a conservative Christian home, that family relationship has been a complicated thing to navigate.

When Mancari's family finally invited Becca's longtime partner for dinner, for instance, it came with some caveats: "We want to invite to come to our house. We don't want you to act like you're together, but we're going to allow you to come into our home."

In this session, Mancari talks about how those experiences inspired much of the songwriting on their new album. The album, called Left Hand, includes collaborations with members of what you could call Becca's chosen family — like Brittany Howard, Julien Baker, Zac Farro and co-producer Juan Solorzano.

But its title is also a nod to Becca's heritage and the Mancari family crest, in which a left hand holds a dagger aloft. Our conversation is coming up, along with live performances beginning with the song "Eternity."

Copyright 2023 XPN

Tags
Raina Douris is the host of World Cafe.
Miguel Perez
Miguel Perez is a radio producer for NPR's World Cafe.
Creative Commons License
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of any other photos and graphics.