When was the first moment you truly felt part of a community as a musician/artist?
When I moved to Nashville at 25 years old, I really got thrown into the music community there. I was suddenly a little fish in a VERY big pond, and as intimidating as it was being in writing rooms with people who’s experience I felt eclipsed my own there was also this weird feeling of camaraderie? We were all gathering for the purpose of writing a song, for capturing a feeling, for chasing a dream and suddenly my own dream didn’t seem like such an isolating pursuit but l like something I could chase with other people.
Do you recall a collaboration that played an important role in your career? How did that happen?
Right in the midst of 2020 I began hanging out a lot with one of my best friends Ruthie Collins, a very talented Americana artist in Nashville and although we were both fans of each others music, we had never written together. I think during covid, we weren’t as booked up on our calendar and there felt no pressure to make the music our labels wanted us to make. We made up a little pop duo called TAROT in which we gave ourselves the freedom to write WHATEVER we wanted and say all the things we would usually edit out (for country radio) I think that collaborative experience really inspired me to trust my own voice again, to not be afraid to cross genre bounds and ultimately after a couple of humbling years in Nashville, that making music could just be really fucking fun again.
Have there been times when you’ve felt particularly isolated and cut off as a music worker? What did you do to help yourself in these instances?
The music industry can be cut throat and I definitely found that out the hard way. When you lose a publishing deal or a record deal or even just the glow of being the new and shiny thing, people will drop you. People you once worked with won’t return your text messages and make you start doubting yourself. What I ended up doing in those moments was try to shift my focus back to the music. If some of my past producers weren’t gonna wanna work with me then I was gonna learn how to produce myself. I tried to turn any of the negative thoughts into fuel to get better, to improve at the craft that I just loved so much. I would wake up every day and watch production tutorials, I would write every day, I would try and learn something new every day and I really felt like that helped me get back to what it was all about, the music.
What have been some ways you’ve met and connected with people you’ve gone onto collaborate and work with in your career?
When I first moved to the United States I went straight out on tour, which I did consistently for about 2 years. During those tours I was able to meet a lot of great artists, one of them being Walker Hayes (who I was a huge fan of).
After writing with him a couple of times Walker ended up producing my debut album ‘The Garden’ which we had SO much fun recording and included songs I feel like really started to shape me as an artist. He has also just become a steady supporter of my music since, even after his viral success for Fancy Like which got him a grammy nom, he is still one of the artists in Nashville who I can send new songs to and get great feedback or sometimes he will just message me to keep going, knowing first hand how hard this industry can be. I think it’s important to have music friends like that.
How do you remain connected to other music workers (despite distance/time)?
As much as social media can be the bane of our existence as musicians in this day and age, I do think it is a good way to stay connected to the music community. Seeing people get online and be honest about their struggles as well as their successes, makes you feel less lonely with the things you are having a hard time with. I think that is one of the nice things social media has done, no matter where we are in the world we can open up an app and see other people who are making music and trying (and sometimes failing) and trying again and being open enough to bare it all in the pursuit of building connection.
If you could offer your younger self advice around the importance and influence of community and collaboration within music, what would you say?
I would say you don’t know it all, not even close. Be open to every opportunity and don’t close yourself off from the ideas of others but also at the end of the day, trust yourself.
Sometimes I feel in this industry we can let ourselves get TOO influenced by other people. People who think we should look a certain way, sound a certain way, say a certain thing and while I think it’s important to build a good community I also think you need to know yourself and what you bring to the table.
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