Grace Pettis

Grace Pettis

Interview conducted on April 18, 2020

by https://www.unratedmag.com/?s=dan+LockeDan Locke

New York City indie label MPress Records has just signed a multi-album deal with Austin singer/songwriter Grace Pettis. MPress, distributed worldwide by Caroline/Universal via SRG-ILS Group, also releases albums by Rachael Sage, Seth Glier, and A Fragile Tomorrow.  Pettis’ debut single on MPress Records, “Landon,” produced by Daniel Barrett, is available now.

​Grace Pettis is an award-winning songwriter from Austin, Texas who is a noted member of the South Austin scene. A little bit folk, a little bit country/Americana and with a whole lot of soul, Pettis has released two DIY albums and the Dallas Morning News has hailed her as “one of the most talented young singer-songwriters in America”.

ABOUT GRACE PETTIS: As a card-carrying member of the south Austin scene, Grace Pettis has amassed bragging rights to spare. She is the winner of many of the nation’s most prestigious songwriting contests, including NPR’s Mountain Stage NewSong Contest, and has received grants from the Buddy Holly Educational Foundation. Grace’s songs have been recorded by other esteemed artists, including Sara Hickman and Ruthie Foster and she added to her songwriting accomplishments in 2019 by signing a publishing deal with BMG. Catch her with her band at an Austin club, headlining a festival with her trio Nobody’s Girl, or on her own, trying out new songs in a little gem of a listening room, somewhere in America.

What is your upbringing?

I grew up two places at once: Decatur, Georgia (Atlanta) and Mentone, AL (on Lookout Mountain). My upbringing was informed by both of those (very different) parts of the south. My dad is a moderate Evangelical Christian. We went to first an Episcopal and then a Catholic Church in Alabama after my dad married my stepmom Michele (who was Catholic). In my dad’s home, I was taught that my relationship with Jesus is the most important thing. In my dad’s house, we read the Bible and prayed regularly and accepted most of what the Evangelical church taught. My mom is a liberal Quaker and her partner Rick is agnostic/leaning atheist. My mom is spiritual but she wasn’t as deliberate in passing along her beliefs to us; she let us choose where we wanted to go to church and what we wanted to believe. In my mother’s home, I grew up going to Quaker meetings as well as lots of different kinds of churches with friends and overhearing philosophical conversations between my mom and her professor friends (she taught poetry and women’s studies classes at Georgia State University). Thanks to my parents, I had two very different political and religious perspectives competing in my head for space. It’s taken me a lot of years to sort out the points of intersection and dissonance and to find my own faith and worldview.  

 How did you discover music?

I don’t know that I ever discovered music. Even in the womb, I was constantly surrounded by music. My dad is a performer and songwriter and my mother also sings and plays several instruments. Both of them love to listen to music too and have lots of musician friends. Music has always been a big part of my life. I don’t know what life would be like without it.

 How did you start to write music?

When I was a very little kid, I would musically narrate whatever I was doing. I.e. “I’m tying my shoes and I’m petting my dog…” etc. I would walk around the house, constantly singing these weird little songs I was making up. I was instinctively trying to turn my thoughts into songs when I was just a few years old. When I learned how to write, I started writing them down. I can’t remember not being a songwriter.

 What is Americana music?

If you figure it out, let me know. When I first started out, we were all calling our music “folk,” because being a folk artist meant anybody with a guitar and their own songs who couldn’t afford a band yet. And you got to write about whatever you wanted to- not just trucks and stuff. If you were a little more conservative, you went with “country.” If you were a little more liberal, you went with “folk,” or maybe “alt Country,” if you were way too cool for yourself. Now it’s “Americana.” Which, as far as I can tell, means country, folk, and a few blues artists that can’t catch a break in any other mainstream genre, for whatever reason (hint: usually sexism, homophobia, racism, ageism, or a combination of those factors is at play).  

“Americana” is a catchall for some of the artists that popular music leaves behind. Artists like Brandi Carlile, who was summarily ignored by mainstream country for years (in large part, I’m sure, because she’s gay), Jason Isbell, who writes songs that are way too good for the mainstream, and Yola, who is both British and a soul singer, have been called “Americana.” But whatever it is, I tend to like listening to it. 

And it makes a lot of sense as a label for my own work. I have a pretty legit country music backstory- I grew up in a log cabin on a mountain in Alabama. But at best, I’m country adjacent, if modern country radio is any indication. Also, I’m not 21 and blond. So, there are two disqualifies, right there. But I’m allowed to be “Americana.” So, I’ll be Americana, if that gets me where I’m going.  

I will say that I have the same problem with country music that I have with folk music and with Americana too, as much as it touts itself as a “new thing”: all three genres have Southern roots and yet somehow ignore the fact that black people live in the South. I grew up in the South. I grew up with lots of black people. Why are there no black people on CMT? Why are there no black people at folk festivals? And why are there no black people at Americana Fest in Nashville? The word “Americana” makes it sound like it’s a genre for true American music. But if that’s the case, why are 99% of the performers white? Are black people not part of the American story? It’s especially offensive when you think about how much of an influence black music is in all three genres. What would Americana be without the blues? What would country music be without banjos? How can you write music for regular “folks” if you completely ignore the black experience? So yeah. That bugs me. I really hope Americana can widen the tent a bit. More people of color. More women. More native people. More queer folks. I will say that I’ve seen some recent efforts to be more inclusive. I hope it sticks. Let’s get more of America in our Americana. Then we really can become something new, something true.

 Do you remember how you got your first guitar?

I bought it myself, for $100, when I was 15. I first learned to play on my mom’s Martin but no way would she let me take it to my dad’s house, where I was living most of the time in high school. My dad had some beautiful and expensive guitars that he depended on for his livelihood. He didn’t let me play them. So, I saved up my allowance and bought a truly shitty “Johnson” guitar. A big, red Johnson. The action was so bad, it made my fingers bleed. When my dad finally noticed that I was not giving up on this guitar thing, he let me borrow one of his first guitars, a Guild knockoff that actually sounded pretty great. I had that on loan from my dad all through college, until I won my first guitar in a songwriting contest.

 And do you still have it?

Nope. I gave it to my friend Marie’s kid sister Amber. She got bored with it pretty quickly, I think.

What is your favorite guitar make, model and year? And does it have a name?

I play a Moonstone guitar. It’s a gorgeous, handmade instrument. It’s small-bodied and one of a kind, modeled after a vintage Martin. I don’t know what the year is but I think it’s a 000? My other guitar is a Gallagher, which is also handmade. It’s bigger and more of a bluegrass guitar. It’s the one I won in the songwriting contest. It’s the guitar I wrote all my songs on for the first 5 years or so that I was touring after college. I was afraid to touch the Moonstone for a long time because I was so intimidated by it. Now I play them both. They’ve got distinct personalities and they’re very different from each other. They don’t have names. I tried out a few but they didn’t stick. I just call them “The Moonstone” and “The Gallagher.” Between the two, I’ve never really needed another guitar. I do like Guilds and Gretsch guitars, though. And I never met an old, beat-up Gibson I didn’t like. Collings has that sweet, bell sound like my Moonstone and they’re made in Texas too. So, I like those.  

How did you write your first song?

When I was little, I would just “write” songs about whatever I was doing. They were very literal. Just narrating my life with songs. “I’m eating a cookie and I’m going to the potty,” etc. I don’t actually remember my first song. I wasn’t making up songs. I can’t remember a time before being a songwriter.

 In the past, you have gotten a grant from the Buddy Holly Educational Foundation. How did you find out about the grant and what did you get from the foundation?

I’ve got a friend who’s on the Board for the Foundation. He’s been an advocate for many years, kind of waiting in the wings for the opportunity to help me out. When Ruthie Foster covered two of my songs on her Joy Comes Back album, it provided him with the “cred” that he needed to put my name in the hat for a scholarship. A spot opened up at the last minute for the Chris Difford Songwriting Retreat in Glastonbury, England. The Buddy Holly Educational Foundation was one of the retreat’s sponsors. So, they arranged for me to go for free. It was a life-changing experience. I got to punch far above my weight and co-write with some truly incredible writers. That’s also how I first landed on BMG’s radar, which led to my publishing deal.

 I remember hearing your song “You are the Cowboy”, as I was listening to it, I keep hearing it as a hard rock song. Have you look into redoing it?

Ha! I love that. I should. It’s funny you mention rock. My next album is going to be a lot more rock and roll. I’m pretty excited to get my Electric Dylan moment.

 You just been signed to a multi-album deal with MPress Records. Are you excited about this?

“Excited” is not the word. It’s hard to describe just how much it means to me. MPress is a small but efficient and effective label. They’re an indie that gets real results. Signing with them feels better than signing with the majors. It means that people I truly respect and like believe in me enough to invest their time, talents, and money in my music. That’s a crazy vote of confidence, especially in this very oversaturated playing field. As a kid, I thought I knew what “signing a record deal” might mean. Then I grew up and decided it would never happen for me. And now that it’s happening anyway, it’s so much better than whatever I thought it might mean. For the first time in my ten-year career, I’ve got an entire team around me, dedicated to making my music successful. I have these conference calls and there are these experienced, talented professionals on the other end of the phone who believe that I’m a horse worth betting on. It’s incredibly humbling. I hope I never take it for granted.  

 What party were you performing at during SXSW at the time Rachael Sage discovered you? And how did she come up to you at that performance?

I’ve known Rachael for years. I never thought of her as a record label owner. I sort of knew, in the back of my head, that she ran a successful label, but I mostly knew her as a peer; a songwriter and artist I liked and respected. We’d crossed paths at many SXSWs in the past and at folk music conferences and festivals. But the party we both always went to every year was my friend Steve’s private party. (The same friend who also connected me with the Buddy Holly Educational Foundation and with BMG- I owe Steve my firstborn, basically). Pretty much every year, Steve would find a way to sneak me into the lineup of performers playing his parties, which were always well attended by his music industry friends. But that year, I got to do a full showcase with my band- lead guitar, bass, drums. (My band is killer. They really elevate what I do. But most people who’ve heard me, including Rachael, haven’t heard me play with them, because I rarely can afford to take them outside of Austin.) Something about hearing me in that context, as a bandleader, and hearing the new batch of songs (that we’re about to start recording for my debut album on MPress) sold Rachael on me, I guess. I’m really grateful she took a closer look.

Who else was on the showcase?

It was an impressive lineup. Cha Wa, Joe Ely and Kimmie Rhodes, Tommy McLean and CC Adcock, and Tyler Ramsey. I didn’t get to hear everybody, though, because my official SXSW showcase at the Continental Club was the same night and about 30 minutes after the showcase at Steve’s party ended. So, we had to cut and run immediately after playing, in true SXSW fashion. I didn’t know I’d made such a good impression until later. 

 How many times have you performed at SXSW?

Last year was the first time I’d ever gotten an official showcase, in 2019. That’s the SXSW that got me noticed by Rachael and MPress. That same year I also got an official showcase as a member of Nobody’s Girl (my songwriter trio with Rebecca Loebe and BettySoo). So, it was a pretty great first year. This year, I was selected twice again but didn’t get to play because of the coronavirus. Obviously, like the rest of Austin, I’m devastated that SXSW had to be cancelled. It was absolutely the right call but it was a major blow to the Austin music scene and economy.

 I live in WV. How was your performance at the NPR Mountain Stage?

That was a pivotal moment for me. It was one of the first shows I ever played. And it was to this huge theater full of people, syndicated all over the country. It was a bit surreal. I was VERY young. Like 21 years old or something. And then I was picked as one of the winners, won “best song,” and got to go on the radio the next day with Larry Groce. That’s also where I got to know BettySoo. She was another winner that year.

 Tell me about your latest solo release? “Landon”, what is it about?

Landon is an apology song that I wrote for my best friend from high school, who came out as gay right after we graduated. When he worked up the courage to tell me over the phone, I let him down. Instead of listening and being there for him, I responded with a bunch of canned answers that I’d learned from going to church about what God thinks about being gay and why it’s a sin, blah blah blah. I knew it was bullshit even as I was saying it. Landon was, and is, one of the best people I know. He didn’t have an immoral bone in his body at 18. He was an almost painfully good person. How could this sweet kid be a sinner, just because he got crushes on boys instead of girls? It didn’t make sense. After some years of prayer, thought, study, and wrestling with my own conscience, I knew I had to really communicate that to him somehow: that who he is is not wrong or sinful or some kind of mistake. That I was the one who had wronged him. His coming out was one courageous act that eventually inspired a little courage in me, when I finally took a long, hard look at my preconceptions and complicity in the harm that’s done on a daily basis to the queer community in this country. I’m so grateful for Landon. Now we are close again and it’s wonderful. We are hoping the song is able to heal a few wounds for other folks too. These are hard times and life is short even in the best of times. We owe the people we love the truth and we shouldn’t waste any time giving it to them. Tell your friends that you love them. Tell them you’re sorry when you screw it up. That’s what the song is about. 

 Tell me about your trio Nobody’s Girl? How did you get the band together and why did you pick that name?

Nobody’s Girl is a band I joined by accident. I was going on just one tour with my friends of about 10 years, BettySoo and Rebecca Loebe. To make it a little more special, and to promote the shows we were starting to book, we made a video with some iPhones. That same day, we worked up a cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” with three-part harmonies. When it went mini-viral among our fans, we started wondering if maybe we were on to something good.  

We started thinking maybe we’d try writing just one song together. We figured it would be a nice way to close out the co-bill shows for our collective fans. When we were brainstorming places to sneak off for a day or two to write, my husband reminded me that I had some friends with a studio in the hill country. Those friends are Tracie and Pat Drennon. They have these sweet little guest rooms you can stay in when you record there. We holed up in one of those with a few bottles of wine and ended up writing two or three songs in about 48 hours. When we played them for Pat and Tracie, they kind of fell in love with the trio. And we were falling in love with the idea too.  

It’s not a given, when you sit down to write other songwriters, that you will like what you come up with. We wrote three songs in a row that we loved. And we loved singing together. And obviously, because we were already friends, we had a lot of fun doing it.  

Tracie and Pat own Lucky Hound Records, which signed us shortly after that weekend. We were in the studio within a few weeks recording those songs. We signed a record deal before we had a band name or had ever played a show. So, we had a LOT of work to do in a short amount of time to turn that package tour into our first tour as a band. We tossed around about a hundred different band names over email before settling on “Nobody’s Girl,” which comes from a Bonnie Raitt song. We liked that it sounded like a classic girl group name but that it was a little tongue-in-cheek too, We’re not teen girls in a singing group, after all. We’re full-grown women. We’re seasoned performers. But there isn’t common nomenclature for bands made up of women. They’re referred to as “girl bands” or “girl groups.” So, the name’s a little playful.  

And that’s how it accidentally happened. None of us were looking to be in another band but it just kept working and we just kept following the good vibes. Now we’ve been touring for a few years, have an EP out, and just wrapped up recording on our first full-length record.  

 Your first performance at Nobody’s Girl was in front of an SXSW crowd. Tell me how that came about?

So that same friend I mentioned, Steve, invited us to play his private SXSW party. Seriously, SO MANY good things have happened in my life as a result of being friends with Steve.  

 You are scheduled for the NPR Mountain Stage on June 7. Do you think it will happen with the virus going on? If it doesn’t do a webcast?

Nobody knows what the world will look like in June. Obviously, we hate to cancel anything until/unless we have to. But our first priority is being good global citizens; keeping ourselves, our families, and our fans safe during this pandemic. And I’m sure Mountain Stage shares those feelings. All the musicians and venues I know are working hard to come up with creative ways to stay afloat. It’s a learning process- figuring out what works for your audience. It’s not one size fits all. I’m sure Mountain Stage is working on contingency plans too.  

 Your album comes out on July 10th. Tell me about it. And how did you go about recording it with all three of you busy recording artists?

We are so proud of this album. It’s a proper introduction to who we are as a band. When we first got together, we were just thrown into touring and writing together. It took us about a year to really gel and go from being three individual solo artists to a group, with its own personality. We’re excited to get to show people how much we’ve grown together since that first EP. We’ve spent the last few years booking writing dates with each other basically every time we found ourselves in the same place at the same time and not touring. Every chance we got, we got together and worked on writing and re-writing these songs. Then, we spent weeks in the studio with our producer Michael Ramos, writing harmony arrangements, obsessing over details, and recording a whole lot of parts in a grueling timeline. Our production team worked around the clock and lived on coffee and adrenaline and we got it done. We’re really grateful to everyone who worked on it. It was a labor of love.

 How do you stay healthy while touring?

I do a little yoga. That helps a lot. It’s not consistent. There will be months where I’m dedicated and I do it every day. Other months, I fall off the wagon. But yoga is a godsend for 12-hour car rides and the strain I put my body under, carrying gear and playing every night. I like to go for walks when I can. That’s easier on solo tours than with Nobody’s Girl. There’s less downtime with Nobody’s Girl. When I was first starting out, I was super poor and pretty much lived on McDonald’s. Now I try to stop at healthy grocery stores for supplies. I eat mostly vegan on tour because you never know where that dairy/eggs/meat comes from when you’re at a restaurant. I’m not vegan but I like animals and I think they deserve to live with a little dignity. So, I try to eat “happy meat” and “happy dairy and eggs.” It’s good for my body and my soul too.

 How do you go about creating a piece of music??

It’s different every time. But in general, I keep notebooks on my phone and in my bags and I scribble down whatever ideas pop into my head, whenever they pop into my head (if I don’t write it down when it happens, I run the risk of losing the idea). Then, when I’m feeling musical, or when I know I need to write because it’s been a while, I crack open those notebooks. I also sing melodic ideas into my phone. So, I have those scraps to rummage through too. I co-write a lot. I also write a lot on my own. Sometimes I start fresh; like, I pick up my guitar and a song starts falling out. Or, I’m in the shower and something just comes to me, almost fully formed. But often it’s a matter of going through my scrap piles and seeing what’s interesting with something else. Or letting one scrap lead me to an entirely new idea. Sometimes I have to write and re-write and re-write a song, over the course of weeks, months, or years. Sometimes they’re done in 15 minutes. It’s always a little mysterious, which is part of the appeal.

 What are you’re feeling about streaming music?

My thoughts on music streaming are constantly evolving, as the industry is constantly evolving. I think we all miss the days of real income from people buying hard copies of CDs. I used to sell so many hard copies of CDs online. Now people are only buying them at shows, and fewer and fewer people buy them, even there. Most cars and computers don’t even have CD players anymore. You don’t want to be that guy, desperately holding on the past and shaking your fist at the sky or the powers that be. But I don’t think the streaming model has replaced that income for most artists, especially on the lower rungs of the ladder. And it’s even worse news, now that we can’t play live shows because of coronavirus. That’s become the major (sometimes only) source of income for most musicians I know. So yeah, we’ve got to figure something out.

 Digital vs. vinyl?

As a consumer of music, both have their advantages. It’s apples vs. pears. Digital means quantity. You have unlimited possibilities of things to listen to on Spotify and iTunes. This means, as a listener, you can go wide and discover lots of new artists and sounds. Vinyl means quality. Nothing out there sounds as good as vinyl. And there’s still something so satisfying about their physicality of it. Getting to slide a record out of its sleeve… pushing play is just not the same. On the musician side of things, income from streaming is not much for most artists (understatement of the year). You can make some money selling vinyl, but it’s fragile and big and hard to take on tour. And it’s got a niche audience. More and more people are getting into it but CDs still sell better than vinyl.

 Any plans to tour?

Not right now, no. I think we’re all in a holding pattern. Waiting to see what’s safe/feasible for artists, venues, and concertgoers. I have a feeling it’s going to be at least a few months before anybody’s playing shows. Maybe even a year or longer. And when touring resumes, it might not look like it did before. There’s just no telling how the industry is going to change in the next year. I am hoping to be able to play an album release tour in 2021 for my debut MPress Records release. Fingers crossed.

What song from the past is in your mind right now? And what is the meaning that song means to you?

 I’ve been playing an older song I wrote when I was 20 or so-called “Nine to Five Girl.” I wrote it when I was working a lot of not so great day jobs in college. It’s a song about being a young woman in the workforce, a necessary cog in the machine but unseen and unknown as a person with potential. It feels relevant to me again, even though I’m not bussing tables, cold calling strangers at a call center, answering the phone as a receptionist, making change as a cashier, or handing people their drink orders through a drive-thru window anymore. Who knows? I could be back in that kind of work again very soon, depending on what happens to the music economy in the age of corona. I’ve got a bit of a cushion from my fan base, who tips me for online webcasts, and from my publishing deal with BMG, at least for the next few months. But I look around and I’m noticing that a lot of “essential” people in the workforce- those people who have no choice but to keep working- are women. Mostly women of color. They’re nurses, they’re fast-food workers, and they’re grocery store cashiers. And they’re teachers, trying to figure out how to keep kids’ educations on track with webcams. Many of them are mothers, so they’re also having to figure out how to care for their kids, who are suddenly out of school, without daycare. It’s no accident that our economy is built on the backs of women. Women make less than their male coworkers and have less opportunity for job advancement than men. As a society, we’re suddenly figuring out how “essential” these women really are. Men who are staying home with kids for the first time are figuring out just how hard that job is. Parents everywhere are realizing how vastly underpaid and underappreciated their kids’ teachers are, now that they’re having to do so much schoolwork at home. And nurses are heroes. That’s an undisputed fact. We all know that now. It’s past time to recognize the contributions of women in our workforce- stay at home moms too! There’s so much work that goes underpaid and unseen. The system is dependent on women and yet dismissive of them at the same time. We don’t value women in the workforce. We don’t protect them. We don’t allow them room to grow as professionals or people. Something has to give.

What did you do on International Women Day?

This year, International Women’s Day fell in the middle of the last week of my European tour. So that’s how I spent International Women’s Day: working internationally, as a woman. It’s going to be a while before I can do that again. I’m glad I have those memories. And I’m glad I made it home.  

 How has the Me 2 Movement change society?

“Me Too” was this big revelation for a lot of people. Mainly men. Most women I know were and are well aware of how insidious and widespread sexual assault and sexism is. The real revelation to me was that it seemed to be such a revelation to the men in my life. My male family members and friends were shocked and that was shocking to me. Didn’t they know? I guess not. There was a lot of introspection and reflection that men engaged in for a minute, which was great. They started asking themselves hard questions about complicity and consent. That was good. Since Me Too, I’m seeing women being a lot bolder and louder, talking about their experiences of harassment and discrimination. It’s less taboo for survivors of sexual assault to share their stories, which is a major win. We’ve shed a light on some high-profile monsters, like Harvey Weinstein and R. Kelly. That said, there is so much work to do. We haven’t scratched the surface. And the memory of Me Too is already fading and making room for the next news cycle, while the problems persist for women all over the world. Representation in government, media, and in the workforce. Equal pay. The legislation of reproductive rights. Childcare and paid family leave. Domestic violence. Sexual assault. Rape culture. None of that has gone away. None of that has been fixed. MeToo hasn’t changed our society nearly enough.

 You are from Austin. How has the music scene in Austin been affected by the COVID-19 virus?

Well, just like everywhere, there are no live shows now. Live music is, for most musicians, the largest piece of the pie when it comes to how we scrape together a living wage. If we’re even able to do that with music alone. Most musicians I know also have day jobs, usually in the gig economy, which offers the most flexibility for playing shows. Most of those day jobs are gone now too. Every single musician friend I have is unemployed. None of us know how where we are going to pay our rent or buy groceries. Many of us are scrambling to find other work, asking relatives for help, applying for unemployment, and moving back home with relatives in other states.  

As for me, I’ve got a publishing deal with BMG, which is a consistent little paycheck that’s enabling me to survive, at least until my contract is up for renewal. That’s HUGE and it’s not something that any other musician I know has going for them. It’s a unicorn situation I’ve found myself in. On top of that, I’ve got a little money trickling in from weekly webcasts. I’ve been playing those as co-bills with my musician friends to try and help them out a little. It’s really not that much money, though, and doesn’t begin to make up for what we’ve all lost from live shows that have been cancelled.  

It’s hard to know how the larger Austin music scene is doing, since none of us can leave our homes. It seems to be hanging in there, for the moment. I’m seeing lots of nonprofits stepping up to close the gap and help musicians avoid destitution. I’m seeing lots of fans stepping up to keep their favorite musicians. But now that the playing field online is so crowded, many musicians are getting left behind. I’m privileged to, as a songwriter and the person whose name is on the marquee, have a small loyal number of fans who know my name and are invested in keeping me working in music. My friends who are primarily players don’t have that advantage. They don’t have that fanbase already built up. They’ve built their income playing bass or drums or lead guitar and that work is gone now. Lots of my musician friends are leaving Austin. There was already an exodus happening but it’s in full force now. This is an expensive city to live in, in the best of times. The live music scene and all the other cool stuff that make Austin the place we most want to live make that struggle of paying bills worth it, usually. But even my husband and I are selling our house, preemptively taking steps, in case the worst happens and we both end up unemployed. Right now, we’re barely hanging on and we don’t need the stress of trying to make mortgage payments or catch up to a forbearance. If we both end up out of work, we’ll have to leave Austin. Along with most musicians, I know. What will this city look like on the other side of this? It may take a while to bring it back to life or for it to be recognizable as the music city we know and love.

 You were scheduled for SXSW this year. And while you were on tour overseas, the COVID-19 hit. How did you find out about SXSW not happening and how did you get back from your tour with all the air flight bans going on? And were your self-quarantine because of eh international travel?

I was in Ireland, the Netherlands, and then England, playing a couple of shows with my friend Rachel Laven to close out my European tour. Those turned out to be the last few shows I would get to play for a while. They’re even more special to me now because of that. But I also cringe a bit, wondering how many people were infected in those bars and venues that week. Luckily, Rachel and I weren’t, as far as we know. This was before the 6-foot rule was common knowledge, but we were doing elbow bumps and compulsively sanitizing our hands, which helped a lot, we think.

Typing this now, I’m thinking about Rachel and all my friends “across the pond.” This pandemic has underscored the global nature of our reality as a species. Nationalism and xenophobia don’t work when countries are relying on each other to have enough respirators to go around. There are some things- viruses and global warming, for example- that are everybody’s problem. Global problems require a global perspective. 

Anyway, that last week, we were learning that SXSW was really cancelled. At the time, there were a lot of emails and phone calls and everyone trying to figure out what to do. There was all that going on. And I was also checking my flight itinerary compulsively on my phone, to make sure it was still happening. My mom lives in Ireland, so I had this crazy plan B that involved buses and ferries and getting back to Ireland from England in case I was stuck on that side of the Atlantic. But thankfully, I caught one of the last Norwegian Air flights out of London. As I was in the air, flying home a few days later, Trump officially stopped letting British nationals fly to the US.  

I made it back to the US literally just in time. A bunch of Brits on the same flight turned around and flew back home if they could, booking expensive return tickets the second the plane landed. I got a connection out of Miami to Dallas, and then to Austin. I was supposed to be on a direct flight to Austin that day but because I had been in the Netherlands, I’d waited hours in the London airport while airline staff figured out what to do with me. As soon as I got back to Austin, I self-quarantined for 15 days. 

How do you feel the COVID-19 virus going to affect the music business in the future?

Really, nobody knows. No one has a crystal ball. Right now, a lot of musicians are turning to online engagement to grow and maintain their fanbases and that’s going to continue. People are going to get used to consuming music that way and they won’t want it to stop, just because live shows are a thing again. I also think that the return to national and international touring for many artists, if it happens at all, is going to be stilted and look different. It’s going to take a long time for people to feel safe going out to hear music again. There’s going to have to be a lot of infrastructures there for bands to justify buying flights and hotels. So that’s going to take some time to recover. And maybe some musicians will have figured out a way to make a living without touring by then. Maybe some of them will prefer that. As for me, the second I’m able to travel, I’m going to want to. As long as it’s safe for me and my fans. I really love touring. I miss the freedom of it. I hope it comes back. 

What have you been doing with your self-quarantine?

I’ve been working my ass off. There are major learning curves to overcome. I’m basically teaching myself how to be an amateur sound engineer, videographer and social media manager. I’m having to think on my feet and get very creative, very fast, to carve out a little income for myself, my family, and my team. I’m also taking the time to write, which is my job as a songwriter with BMG Music. I’m in the middle of planning recording sessions for my next album, my first release with Mpress Records. Obviously, all the plans I’m making for the future are tentative and subject to change. My producer, my manager Fabian, the label, Nobody’s Girl, and our team, keep having to pivot and move in new directions. I’m doing weekly webcasts on Facebook with my friends, as a way of staying connected, supporting my community, and checking in with my fans. I’m in the researching and planning stage of launching a Patreon, along with a new podcast, which will happen very soon. All of this is in the midst of selling our house. It’s been incredibly stressful and has involved a lot of cleaning supplies. But all my work is keeping me distracted and sane. It’s a good coping mechanism right now. That and wine and Star Trek.

 Lots of people are doing nightly concerts over either YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You are doing your part with your webcast you are doing. How are your fans liking it?

It seems to be going well! I think it’s going to be harder for people to tip as well as the weeks and months go on. More people are losing their jobs, so people are going to have less discretionary income. I’m going to keep playing the shows, though, even if people aren’t able to tip. It’s good for me to have something to rehearse for and I love getting to hear my friends play the co-bill set. It’s nice to keep in touch with them and with my fans. Just to check in and make sure everyone’s ok. Music is therapeutic for everybody, including musicians. I’ve been getting great reactions in the comments. People are engaged and appreciative. And it’s nice to feel like I’m able to do something, as small as it is.

 How do you see yourself in the next five years?

I’ll be writing and playing music, whatever happens. Before I had a career, I was writing and playing songs. If I don’t have a career anymore, I’ll still be doing that. But I’m hopeful. I have a lot going for me- a wonderful manager and label. Two great bands. A publishing deal. And a small but very supportive fan base that wants me to keep going. I’ll survive. I’ll be writing and playing music.

 Anything you would like to say in closing?

Stay safe. Stay home if you can. Keep making art. It’s cheaper than therapy and it still matters.

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