By Danielle Krantz<\/p>\n
What did the start of your career look like for you?<\/b><\/p>\n
I was singing constantly from a young age. I was always singing, I always had a big loud voice and I love to express myself. I\u2019m the youngest of four so I was always making up songs and was Annie when I was nine. I did 80 performances as Annie and that, really early on, solidified my love for sharing and performing and using my voice to fill up a space. From there, I started writing songs, taught myself how to play the guitar in high school, and then started playing open mics and getting slots opening for other artists, moved to LA, and got a record deal. I was always putting myself in situations where I could sing for people.<\/span><\/p>\n When you first got discovered and moved to LA, did you have that \u2018I made it\u2019 moment?<\/b><\/p>\n I grew up in the midwest, in kind of a small city, called Rock Island, Illinois. My only real context for the music business was kind of a diluted one. I was a little bit delusional because in movies, you go to LA and you get the big record contract and really that\u2019s not how it works for a lot of people. I think I was so naive, that I did just that. I went to LA, I was playing lots of shows, I was discovered, I was signed to a production deal, and then I was signed to a record deal, but then that record deal fell through. But I found a manager and then I was signed to another deal. It took many years before anything really happened. I didn\u2019t really get too discouraged when things didn\u2019t work out and just kept going, so there was definitely a feeling of like \u2018wow, I got this deal.\u2019 But there was also this feeling of \u2018oh, I got this deal but it\u2019s falling through and now I\u2019m getting this other deal and it\u2019s taking forever.\u2019 [Laughing] So, I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve ever had that one moment where I\u2019m like \u2018I made it!\u2019 It\u2019s just an ever-evolving process.<\/span><\/p>\n I love that! What was opening for Lenny Kravitz on his \u201cLove Revolution\u201d tour like?<\/b><\/p>\n That was a big early moment. I had signed a deal with Maverick Records and the guy that signed me was friends with Lenny Kravitz. He knew there was this tour happening and that they were looking for an opener so he was able to pitch me. So getting that call a few weeks before the tour like \u2018hey, you\u2019re going on tour with Lenny Kravitz\u2026\u2019 that was huge. In hindsight, one of the biggest opportunities I\u2019ve had. It felt amazing. It was gigantic and it was super cool. One thing I did learn through that, my first time ever touring, was that I guess I thought it was going to be like the movies, but really it\u2019s just a lot of hard work. It\u2019s a lot of traveling, going from city to city. You don\u2019t see much of any of the cities, you don\u2019t really hang out much with the band because they\u2019re soundchecking, and then you\u2019re soundchecking, and then it\u2019s showtime. So it was such a huge honor and an early lesson.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Jumping off of that, what advice would you give to young artists looking to dive into the music industry?<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s just changed so much. There\u2019s so much different technology and so many more ways now to be discovered, like TikTok and Instagram. Artists aren\u2019t really going to make the same amount of money off of selling CDs as they would have, so even being able to fund a tour is tricky in and of itself. I don\u2019t know how to quite give advice because it\u2019s changed so much since I started out. That being said, I think one thing that was really huge for me was not only was I constantly writing, playing, singing, practicing, warming up my voice: like really training to do this thing that I loved, but I also was very social, especially when I was younger. I was seeing live music, I was meeting people, I was opening up for other bands, and forming my own community. I think community is so important in any walk of life. Surrounding yourself with people that make you feel like you can be the best version of yourself. I was playing music with this big group of my peers early on and we had our community and our night of music. Just surround yourself with people that you love and trust. I think community is a way for people to take notice of not only you, but you representing something with a group of people. That may be more likely to draw people\u2019s interest.<\/span><\/p>\n Where do you draw inspiration from?<\/b><\/p>\n I\u2019ve never been really good at making things up, really just my life, as simple as that sounds. I\u2019ve had some breakups over the years that have definitely fueled a lot of songs. I would hate to think that your life has to fall apart to make art but there have been challenges and struggles. I look at the world right now and there just seems to be so much pain and confusion. I think just processing my emotions and my reaction to the world and my relationships is really where most of my ideas for songs come from. I kind of just sit around, like anyone else, and sort of think about things. [Laughing] For me, it always starts to turn into a little melody or a little line. I\u2019ll write down a title or a lyric. So, just my life!<\/span><\/p>\n What did the creative process look like with your newest album, \u2018Carving Canyons?\u2019 Specifically, because it was written in the pandemic.<\/b><\/p>\n Yeah, I think a lot of artists I had asked about this too; the first six months of the pandemic I wasn\u2019t really writing a lot because I felt like there were just so many big, shocking things happening with COVID and politics and a lot of heaviness in the world. So, I wasn\u2019t really writing very much at first because it was like, \u2018where do I begin?\u2019 It was too much to process in not only my own pain, but other people\u2019s pain. I had gone through this pretty awful breakup in May of 2020. And so by November of 2020, after the election, I went to Nashville and was like \u2018I have all of these things I\u2019ve been living with for the last six months and these thoughts and feelings.\u2019 A lot of the pain that I had when it all started in May, I had worked through a lot of that and was on my way to making sense of things. Luckily, for me as a songwriter, I have music as a sort of therapy. I started writing songs for \u2018Carving Canyons.\u2019 So from like November 2020, for about a year, I would just write three or four songs and then I\u2019d go record them. Then I\u2019d go home for a month or two and then I\u2019d write some more songs and record them. What I think made for an interesting album, is the album has this whole arc of grief: from when I started and was really angry and sad, to almost a year later, where I had pretty much accepted the events that unfolded. I learned some things and gained some emotional intelligence and so I could really see the whole picture of all of the emotions when you\u2019re going through grief.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I definitely think you can hear that specifically in \u201cSad.\u201d I feel like there\u2019s so much heartache and also kind of owning yourself in that song.<\/b><\/p>\n Oh totally! And I think why I say this on stage when I play that song. I don\u2019t think you should be in a state of rage and vengeance. But I also think it is a stop on the journey and that you need to own it. I think anger, especially in women, it\u2019s like \u2018no one likes an angry woman.\u2019 Well I\u2019m allowed to feel my \u2018fricken feelings, you know? [Laughing] And I think with \u201cSad\u201d it\u2019s like eventually I don\u2019t want that person to be miserable, I want them to go off and have a happy and fulfilling life. Some things just don\u2019t go right, people make mistakes. But when I was in that place of like, \u2018you hurt me and I feel like you\u2019re not sorry enough,\u2019 that\u2019s a very human thing to feel. I think with my music, I try not to shy away from being truthful. I had many months where I was tortured by this feeling of this person who just dumped me on the side of the road to be with somebody else and it made me angry. And I didn\u2019t want them to be happy, I wanted them to suffer. [Laughing] But then I got over it! You get it. It\u2019s a valid emotion, it\u2019s not mature, but it\u2019s real and it passes. And when it passes it feels really good because it doesn\u2019t have power over you anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n Yes! And you also co-wrote that song with Madi Diaz. What was that process like? Do you enjoy co-writing?<\/b> Yeah and I mean Madi is fantastic. Her album, \u201cHistory of a Feeling\u201d is just a masterpiece. Madi and I had a lot of mutual friends, we met here and there, but I never really knew her. Her manager, Christian, is an old friend of mine. We met over Zoom and ended up writing that song in like an hour. I felt like with this record in general, I wrote with a lot of women. It was amazing how quickly I felt like we were able to write these really powerful songs because it\u2019s my story, but of course the people I\u2019m writing with are going to bring their own life experience to the table. It\u2019s nice to have someone to bounce things off of and be reminded like, \u2018oh yeah! Everyone goes through this at some point. I\u2019m not the only one who\u2019s felt this way. It\u2019s very universal.\u2019 She\u2019s [Madi\u2019s] just lovely and amazing and it was a real honor to get to write with her. I was amazed at how quickly we were able to get that complicated feeling into a song.<\/span><\/p>\n I love that. Especially since you wrote with so many other women, I think your new album is so empowering.<\/b><\/p>\n Yay! Well thank you, that means a lot. It really feels good for me to have music to make sense of my life and to heal; but then to release it into the world and hopefully have it become healing for other people. Again, so many of the things we go through that feel so terrible and lonely, the reality is everybody has been through some version of this at some stage in their life. That kind of makes it somehow more bearable. You will come out the other side of this.<\/span><\/p>\n Right! So, \u201cCarving Canyons\u201d has a little bit more of a folky sound than some of your other stuff. Is that sound the direction you feel you\u2019re moving into?<\/b><\/p>\n I wouldn\u2019t necessarily say so. The thing is, I started out as a singer-songwriter. I played acoustic guitar and sang and was kind of a folk artist. But then once I started making albums and working with producers, musicians, and labels, the sound was kind of thickened and produced. I love it all. I\u2019m proud of everything I\u2019ve done. But I think these songs, there was just something about them, that they didn\u2019t feel needed quite as many layers. There were just a lot of layers to the emotion and to my vocals, that the \u201cfolkiness\u201d was sort of a reaction to the content of the songs. It\u2019s hard to say. I think, moving forward, I will continue to fail to fall into a genre, as much as sometimes I would like to know what I \u201cam.\u201d [Laughing] It was just a reaction to the songs being a little more delicate, that the music felt more stripped back. But I would just as easily love to make a big pop album again, or a country album. I don\u2019t really have any sense of what\u2019s next but I\u2019m open to lots of things.<\/span><\/p>\n I love that flexibility and that unknown!<\/b><\/p>\n Yeah!<\/span><\/p>\n So you mentioned that you loved everything you\u2019ve done. Do you have a favorite album you\u2019ve released?<\/b><\/p>\n I don\u2019t. Of course, \u201cCatching a Tiger,\u201d my official debut album, will always feel very special because it\u2019s the album that gave me a career, and allowed me to travel, and make new friends, and listeners, and gain an audience. I mean I\u2019d say I probably end up playing most songs off of \u201cCatching a Tiger,\u201d just because that was the foundation from which I grew. My song \u201cEverywhere I Go\u201d is always really satisfying to sing; it never gets old. I think \u201cCastles,\u201d for example, because that album is a little bit different; there were people who didn’t give it a chance almost and then have gone back and lived with it and come to love it. That\u2019s the tricky thing, as an artist, trying to figure out how to stay curious and open to new things, but also making sure that the people who are coming along with you don\u2019t check out. I try to create for me and then it\u2019s good if people are into it, but I can\u2019t go into creating wondering \u2018what are people going to like?\u2019 It\u2019s interesting to see what people respond to, but I also know that I can\u2019t be guided by that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Speaking of that, you\u2019ve covered so many different amazing songs, and your voice has drawn many comparisons to Stevie Nicks. Do you like this comparison?<\/b><\/p>\n It\u2019s funny because I\u2019ve always loved classic rock, so growing up I\u2019ve always liked Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks is amazing. It\u2019s a total honor and a compliment to be compared to Stevie Nicks. There\u2019s a part of me that hopes no one thinks I\u2019m trying to sound like Stevie Nicks, or that she is annoyed, if she\u2019s ever heard of me! [Laughing] It\u2019s definitely a huge compliment but it\u2019s never been intentional. It\u2019s funny because I\u2019ve covered two Fleetwood Mac songs, mostly because they were for things that were requested. Like I did \u201cGo Your Own Way\u201d for this tea commercial and suddenly it was being used in all these other things. It\u2019s been an interesting thing that kept pulling me back without intentionally trying to align myself with this Fleetwood Mac comparison. But they\u2019re such an amazing band. I\u2019ll take it, I love it! But like you said, I\u2019ve covered Danzig, Judas Priest, One Direction, and Bob Dylan, and Lady Gaga. I really love tackling songs in different genres because it\u2019s kind of how you can tell a song\u2019s really good: you take everything away and it\u2019s still really solid.<\/span><\/p>\n I love your version of \u201cBad Romance.\u201d I think it\u2019s amazing!<\/b><\/p>\n Thank you! That was so funny too because that was the early days and I was over in London. We were keeping a crazy schedule and it was all new to me and it was like, \u2018we need some songs to cover!\u2019 So I was like, \u2018I like that new Lady Gaga song!\u2019 And we didn\u2019t even have time to learn it, we were just like \u2018play it! Go! We\u2019re filming you!\u2019 There was something about barely knowing how to play it that made it even better because there was more of an urgency to it.<\/span><\/p>\n Right! Who are some of your favorite artists and what are you listening to now?<\/b><\/p>\n High school, for me, was such a great time to be an aspiring artist because Sarah McLachlan, Fiona Apple, Liz Fare, Sheryl Crow, Tori Amos, there were all these amazing women who were singing but also writing songs and playing instruments. Their personas were very approachable, it wasn\u2019t too costumed, I could see myself in this music and these people. I think my inspiration from when I was young really came from that realm. To be honest, it\u2019s kind of an obnoxious answer, I really don\u2019t listen to that much music anymore. If a friend of mine has a release, I\u2019ll listen to it, love it, and share it. And I love Miley Cyrus, I think she\u2019s great, in terms of contemporary popular things. But I watch a lot of television! I used to listen to music and now I just watch so much dang TV, it\u2019s crazy. I even listen to TV when I drive. [Laughing] It\u2019s very strange!<\/span><\/p>\n [Laughing] I honestly do the exact same thing.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n That\u2019s so funny! Yeah, people make fun of me. I\u2019ve seen \u201cThe Office,\u201d \u201cFriends,\u201d \u201cGilmore Girls,\u201d and all of these shows so many times that I can just put them on in the car and listen. It\u2019s just very comforting because nothing bad ever happens on those shows.<\/span><\/p>\n Right! Exactly. You\u2019ve lived many places. Moving back to a farm, what\u2019s that been like?<\/b><\/p>\n It\u2019s been really great. I grew up in the midwest with the seasons and stuff and I left at 18. I lived in California for a long time and that was amazing too. California is beautiful! But about seven years ago, I just decided I needed to move closer to home and I missed the midwest and the seasons. The pace of life is easier, it\u2019s not as intense or rushed. The farm has been great. For a long time, I wasn\u2019t there all the time. I was touring and then I would just come back and was renting out the land. So I garden, but I don\u2019t necessarily have to tend to the 45 acres. Being there more during COVID, I started to put all of my tillable acres into prairie and planting a lot of trees, and trying to get rid of invasives that are in the woodlands; just really nerding out with conservancy stuff. If I\u2019ve been out on the road for a few weeks or a few months and I come home, it\u2019s such a peaceful place to land. I sit on my porch a lot with my dog. It took a while during COVID, when I was just there all the time. At first, it made me a little crazy. Then once I got used to it, I just really loved being home and cooking. I garden so I can make myself fresh food and go for walks and there’s a pond on my property. I\u2019ve been trying to figure out how to take care of that and get the algae out of it. I also started a popcorn company! I like having a project and I really like living back in Iowa, out in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n What is the popcorn company called?<\/b><\/p>\n
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