Kelsea Ballerini

Kelsea Ballerini

Interview

Kelsea Ballerini Talks "Legends," Sophomore Album & Touring

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GRAMMY nominee gets candid on the reality of facing album No. 2 and the challenges of being a tour headliner
Nicole Pajer
Recording Academy
Oct 12, 2017 - 3:38 pm

Kelsea Ballerini’s debut album, The First Time, spawned three No. 1 consecutive singles – “Love Me Like You Mean It,” “Dibs,” and “Peter Pan” -- making her the first female artist to accomplish the feat since Wynonna Judd, in 1992. It also earned her a GRAMMY nomination and an initiation into CMT’s Next Women of Country club. Two years after the release, she performed across the globe, graced the Grand Ole Opry stage, and headlined her first tour. When the promo run ended and it was time to start thinking about album number two, the country songstress found herself a bit intimidated.

I couldn’t even write for six months because I was like “I don’t know where to start,” she tells GRAMMY.com.

When the dust settled and the singer/songwriter began to force herself back into the groove “I was like, ‘Dude, fear sucks. Write a bad song. Who cares? You have to write a bad song to get a good one,’” Ballerini revealed. To bring out her evolving style, the 23-year-old teamed up with several of her songwriting idols to collaborate with, including Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne. She also rounded up her favorite Nashville hitmakers and took them on weekend writing retreats. By the end of her songwriting journey, Ballerini went from having writer’s block to having drafted a pool of 200 potential songs for the new album.

GRAMMY.com caught up with Ballerini to discuss what she learned about herself as an artist from her first few years of touring, the secret to writing a killer sophomore album, and how the key to having a successful writer’s retreat is to go into the weekend with a plan.

You recently released your new single “Legends.” How did that song come about?
I wrote “Legends” almost 2 years ago. It was when I was first starting to write for this next record. I was going through a breakup at the time and I had written so many songs about the sadness, bitterness and anger you go through when you experience a breakup. I really wanted to write a song about that moment where you look back on it and are like, “you know what? I’m going to choose to look back on the good parts. I chose to love what we had and really let it go.” I feel like when you accept that is when you can move on. “Legends” was me being like, “I’m going to choose to look back fondly on this.”

How is album No. 2 coming along?
It’s great. I’m so excited!

You had such amazing success with your debut album. Did you feel any pressure to outdo yourself with the follow up?
I did feel pressure. I wrote and recorded a lot of my first album before I even had a record deal so we didn’t even really know that we were making an album. The second record is really the first full intentional album that I’ve made. I’ve known since the beginning of the writing process “you’re writing for your sophomore record,” whereas the first one I didn’t know that. I think it’s definitely more challenging but it’s also way more thoughtful. This album is really thought through, which has been really fun and creative to be able to put together.

Do you have to do anything to push the “I’m writing for my actual album” mentality out of your mind?
Totally. I couldn’t even write for 6 months because I was like “I don’t know where to start.” You sing your first record over and over again for 3 years and those are songs that I wrote when I was 19. I’m 23 now and “who am I now? What do I sound like now?” I think it took me 6 months of being really scared to figure out that voice. I was like, “dude fear sucks. Write a bad song. Who cares? It’s ok. You have to write a bad one to get a good one.” I just let myself write and I ended up writing over 200 songs for this record.

 

What did you do differently in the studio this time around?
I think it was really important for me to just write. I wrote twice a day, three times a day sometimes if I was in Nashville. I did a couple of different writing retreats where I would bring out my favorite writers and we would write all day everyday for 3 or 4 days. I think in doing that, you kind of write to what you want to say. I wrote over 200 songs so a lot of them are not great and definitely not exactly where I wanted them to be but it got me into the heartbeat of the next record.

The hardest part about making this next record was time; I didn’t have a lot of it. I’ve been touring non-stop so it was hard to find the time to be home and just have a day to just write and not have somewhere to go. I think having those writing retreats was the only time that I could just focus on songwriting. We did one right before the cutoff of the album and 2 of the songs that we wrote on that are on the record.

What are your tips for making writing retreats successful?
I think what helped me is I wrote until I found a couple of core songs. My core songs for this next record were “Legends,” “Graveyard,” and “Unapologetically.” Those were the 3 that as soon as I wrote them, I was like, “OK this are your pillars. This is your cornerstone.” So I would go into write and I would play these songs and I would say, “OK this is where this record is going. This is the overall heartbeat and vibe and sound of it” -- just so we could all get in the same headspace. That’s what we did on the last record too. We wrote “Love Me Like You Mean It” and “Peter Pan” within months of each other. And I played those two songs in every writing session that I went into and I was like, “This is what my record. This is what we’re building out from.”

You co-wrote “Legends” with Forest Glen Whitehead. Was it fun to return to the studio together?
Forest is my musical partner. We’ve written 100 songs together. He helps me find my place as a songwriter. He co-produced my first record and co-produced this one. He is just very hands-on with my records. We wrote “Legends” with Hillary Lindsey and she is the reason that I’m a songwriter. I remember being absolutely obsessed with her. This was our first co-write, which is really really special.

What are some of the things that you learned from working with her?
With the first record, I couldn’t get in the room with a hit songwriter to save my life. My first album was me and my friends who hadn’t had any success. The second record, I wanted to keep that but also add in some outside voices to try and hear what they brought. I have songs with Shane McAnally, Ross Copperman, Josh Osborne and Luke Laird.

They brought out something in me where they would say one thing and then let me ramble off a bunch of crazy stuff and then help me sort through it and then let me ramble off. I feel like the best kind of songwriters are the ones that will inspire you and then just let you go.

You’ve described your new music as bolder and a lot darker. Was that a natural evolution?
I feel like listening to my first record, it was kind of like me becoming an adult. In doing that, you have a lot to cover within 12 tracks. I didn’t really allow myself to get too deep because I wanted to talk about being young and being insecure and having my first crush and having my first heartbreak. Covering all of that within 12 tracks, you don’t really get super in-depth. With this record, having already introduced myself to people who have heard the first one, I’m able to talk more about me and life and what’s happened. Even as a songwriter, I’ve been challenging myself to talk about things that I’m feeling. It’s been fun to get a little more in-depth with emotions and life.

How would you describe this new stuff stylistically?
It’s still very country pop. Production wise, it’s very similar to the first one. We love walking that line. Jason Massey who is co-producing this record -- he did the first one as well -- is from Los Angeles and Forest is from Louisiana. They have this amazing roots country banjo heavy sound with 808 synth beat drops when they come together. It’s a cool thing that they do.

You wrote 200 songs for the album. What was the process of distilling that down to the final album tracks like?
I think you have to figure out what you want the album to be. The first one I wanted it to be an introduction. This one, I wanted it to be a chronological introduction of the last 2 years. Once I decided that’s what I wanted it to be, I asked myself, “What are your 4 best breakup songs that you feel really tell the story?” And then it goes into growing up and it’s like “OK what are your favorite life songs that you feel tell exactly where you are at right now?” And then it goes into love and it talks about falling in love and getting engaged and all that. I literally went through all my songs and I picked the best songs of each. We’ll do a deluxe so that will give life to a few more songs.

I love to be a songwriter too so I’m open to giving the songs to other people or getting in the room with other people and writing for their project. I’m so into that, especially now that I’m done with my album!

You were all over the map the last few years touring in support of your debut. What did you learn while out on the road?
I think just how to entertain people. I had never put on a live show until I put out my first single. Opening for Lady Antebellum, Rascal Flatts, and Thomas Rhett, who have been touring for years, taught me how to put together a show and interact with the crowd and my fans.

You also headlined your first tour.
Putting together a 75-minute show when I had 3 singles out was very intimidating. However, when I actually did it, headlining was the most rewarding thing I’ve gotten to do so far. When you’re on big tours, like right now with Lady Antebellum, the majority of the crowd knows my 4 singles on the radio but they don’t know my record. You kind of forget that your record had a life. But headlining, those people know every word to every album cut. They know the songs that you put on YouTube 5 years ago; they give life to your whole album. It’s really rewarding to know that every word mattered. For me, there are 2 things that no matter how big or small the venue, I always want to have at my show. That’s a really big hype entrance and a really stripped down vulnerable acoustic moment because growing up and going to shows, those were always the moments that I felt the most – the moment before the artist goes on stage and everyone sits on the edge of their chair and that moment where there is a giant sing-along and so much heart to it. I think building those two moments were the most important to me.

What’s next on the agenda?
The album comes out November 3, So I’m very excited about it! 

Kelsea Ballerini, Thomas Rhett Honor Country, Barry Gibb

Midland photographed in 2017

Midland

Photo: The Recording Academy

Interview

Midland: 'On The Rocks' At Austin City Limits

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Country group on why music is essential part of their lives and collaborating with A-list songwriters
Lynne Margolis
Recording Academy
Oct 17, 2017 - 9:40 am

The guys in Midland know they’re in the midst of a moment they’ll only experience once: that sweet spot when a band’s star starts to rise and reality starts to resemble their dreams. Right now, they’re enjoying their growing fame, which began building with the release of their hit single, “Drinkin’ Problem,” and went into hyper-drive with the September 22 release of their debut album, On the Rocks, which entered Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart at No. 2.

The trio — lead vocalist Mark Wystrach, guitarist/vocalist Jess Carson and bassist/vocalist Cameron Duddy — hail from Dripping Springs, Texas, just outside of Austin. But their music owes as much to Bakersfield — and Laurel Canyon — as it does to Texas. Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakam (whose song, “Fair to Midland,” inspired their name) and the Eagles form their foundation, George Strait and another inspiration, Gary Stewart, shore it up.

They spoke of those and other influences — and clarified their bona fides — following their Sunday set on the second of two Austin City Limits Festival weekends.

“I want to clear up one thing,” says Wystrach, in a voice that sounds nothing like the deep baritone of his singing. “Each and every one of us has been playing music since we were kids. Jess got into music at 9 or 10 years old; Cameron started in his first band at, like, 11. I grew up in a live country-music honky-tonk, since I was a baby sitting in my mother’s lap. Music has been an essential part of our lives.”

They didn’t come off some Music Row assembly line, in other words. They’ve put in the time, even though each had other career pursuits as well. Duddy, a northern California native, won an MTV Video Music Award for directing Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven”; he also directed Mars’ “24K Magic,” Fifth Harmony’s “Worth It” and Jennifer Lopez‘s “Ain’t Your Mama” — and Midland’s “Drinkin’ Problem.” Wystrach, who grew up on an Arizona ranch, acted and modeled (including underwear, though he says he was more often the guy who rode the motorcycle or horse in shoots, and spent far more time tending bar and waiting tables), and cofounded a footwear company, MOVMT. Carson, raised on an Oregon Christmas-tree farm, played in various bands, as did his partners.

They discovered they sounded great together when Carson and Wystrach showed up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to be groomsmen in Duddy’s wedding. They’d all known one another from their years in Los Angeles, where each had migrated in his early 20s to seek a music career; Duddy had been in bands with both. None of them had gotten very far, however; they hadn’t even released any music. But as they blended their voices in the mountains, they decided to give it another shot — together.

“This band felt like the first time that we had the opportunity to really do things right,” Wystrach says. He and Duddy followed Carson to Dripping Springs, where he’d moved with his wife, a horse-cutting competitor. As for why they chose Austin instead of Nashville, Carson explains, “When we started this band, country music itself was not even anything like it is today.”

Revivalists like Chris Stapleton and Sturgill Simpson had yet to appear on the scene, much less sweep awards. “There was nothing in the ether that would have made us think that we could go to Nashville and have any effect,” he adds. “We wanted to play in honky-tonks.”

They got a weekday afternoon slot at Poodie’s, the famed roadhouse founded by Willie Nelson’s late manager. They also played places like the Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos, the fabled songwriting incubator where George Strait got his start. When the headlining band and bartender stepped out to smoke cigarettes, Wystrach recalls, Midland found itself playing to the club’s memorabilia-filled Strait shrine.

As he tells that story, he happens to be wearing a Strait-logoed T shirt. The band is somewhat dressed down today, but is known for its love of retro country glam (think Gram Parsons’ Nudie suit).

“We’re pretty unapologetic about having a great sense of fashion,” says Wystrach. “That’s part of the artistry.”

They honed both their look and their art while working their way along the honky-tonk trail. Eventually, they crossed paths with Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne, who share songwriting credit (as well as co-producing credit with Dann Huff) for several of On the Rocks’ 13 tracks. McAnally and Osborne found kindred spirits in Midland; the first time they wrote together, “Drinkin’ Problem” was the result.

“If you get to be exposed to other great artists who can help elevate and realize your full potential … you’d be a damned fool to not take that up and run with it,” Wystrach says.

But the efforts are truly collaborative, they add. And Duddy emphasizes, “We’re writing music that means everything to us. These are our stories; these are our songs. And we get the biggest kick out of writing together.”

One of Carson’s favorites on the album is “Electric Rodeo,” which describes the ups and downs of their current lifestyle with lines like, “We’re painting on our suits/we’re pluggin’ in our boots.”  

“We intentionally went for a sort of Glen Campbell quality to that song,” he says. It matches the band’s collective personality: partly serious, partly tongue in cheek. And catchy as heck. 

Chris Stapleton Wins Best Country Album

Trisha Yearwood

Trisha Yearwood

Interview

Trisha Yearwood On Touring With Garth Brooks, Voice Health & Christmas

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GRAMMY winner reveals the secret to creating music that resonates with fans and the candy bar her hubby needs in the recording studio
Nicole Pajer
Recording Academy
Oct 12, 2017 - 4:26 pm

Trisha Yearwood got her start opening up for Garth Brooks in the early 90’s. “I learned so much from being on the road with him, it was unreal,” she tells GRAMMY.com Twenty-six years later, the GRAMMY-winning songstress is still looking to the country crooner as her music career muse. The duo, who married in 2005, are constantly collaborating with one another. “We always sing on each other’s records,” Yearwood reveals, adding that her husband is notorious for pushing her out of her vocal comfort zone. Her wailing vocals at the end of Brooks’ rendition of “Shameless,” for instance, occurred when the country star pushed his wife to be more “raw and gritty.” And Brooks often turn to Yearwood for her honest opinions when he’s in the process of crafting new tunes. “It’s great to have somebody to bounce things off of and to be honest with you that you trust to be like ‘Yeah you need to sing that again,’” says Yearwood.

GRAMMY.com caught up with Yearwood at the launch of her William Sonoma food line partnership to discuss how she refuses to record any track that she can’t personally relate to, how setting the vibe in the studio helped her and Brooks to record a Christmas album in the midst of a Southern summer heat wave, and the secret to staying relevant decades after her career launched.

You’ve had a lot of exciting projects coming out lately, including your new food line at William Sonoma. As an entertainer, how important is it for you to eat well?
I struggle with my weight so I’m always trying to find ways to eat healthier and that’s very important for an entertainer. If you take care of your overall body by trying to eat healthy, exercise, and sleep, then your voice stays healthy. I don’t really have time to have a cold every couple of weeks so I really do find if I eat healthy and get my rest, then my voice stays healthy too.

Are there other things that you do to keep your voice in optimal shape?
It’s basically the things your mom told you to do. Get plenty of sleep, drink water, take care of your body. I try to associate what’s happening with what I’m eating and so I try to stay away from dairy before I perform. I notice that if I have cream in my coffee or cheese on something, that I have to clear my throat more. You don’t sing through your nose, you sing through your diaphragm, which is way down there and if you breathe from that space, then what comes out of your mouth should not be taxing on your throat. That’s always one of those things that, thank God, I always did and when I found out about it as an adult, I was like, “Oh cool I always do that.” I never had any – knock on wood – major vocal troubles.

You are currently on the road with Garth. What goes into curating that show?
Garth is not like other boys so there is not a tour like this. We are about to hit our three-year mark of this tour. It always starts with the music. It’s really the Garth Brooks tour with Trisha Yearwood. I come out in the middle and do my set and it’s a much more abbreviated version of an evening with me when I do my own show. So for me, it’s thinking you’re going to be out there, you’re coming out with a big bang, what songs do I have to do? I couldn’t get out of the building without doing “She’s in Love With The Boy” and “How Do I Live” and “XXX’s And OOO’s” and “Walk Away Joe.” So you kind of figure out what the songs are going to be and then you figure out how you make those songs bigger and better. For Garth it’s second nature, He’s always done these big tours and he’s used to a bigger scale. I’m used to theaters, I love theaters where if you say something in the background, I can hear you and we can have a conversation. Stepping into this arena is a lot different for me and it’s a big space. You’re trying to get into the back row but the back row is a lot farther back than it is in a theater. We’ve incorporated a video screen to make it interactive for people at the show. I think that helps create an energy that makes my portion of the show very fun for me.

You actually started out opening for Garth back in the day. What have you learned from him over the years that you’ve taken with you into your career?
The very first tour that I was on in ’91, I was opening for him. I had one song on the radio and he was just entering the Garth Brooks phenomenon phase. He was just starting to explode and it was such a huge time in his career so to be the opening act was a huge opportunity to be in front of those fans. I was lucky because the first artist I toured with was him and he taught me, just by watching him, so many things. The thing that I took away the most was how he treated people. To this day, now knowing him 27 years later, he treats people with respect, no matter if you’re the President of the United States or you’re the guy who is taking out the trash in the building. There is no difference in the way that he treats people. He’d also be right there beside you helping you take out the trash or opening the door for you. He’s always been that guy and that’s who he is. I think I always thought that when people become famous and successful, they don’t do anything for themselves anymore. They have somebody that drives them around, somebody does their grocery shopping, someone does their laundry and I watched the biggest star in country music do all his own stuff. My theory is if you’re a nice person, then success gives you an opportunity to be a nice person on a grander scale. I really don’t think success makes people assholes. I think that’s kind of who you are and then I think success gives you a greater platform to be an asshole.

Are you working on any new material these days?
This leg of the tour will end in December and we’ll figure out what’s next. The intensity of these shows and this tour has been a lot. The only thing I’ve written on the calendar for January is sleep and I have that written on the calendar for every single day but that’s when I want to start a new record. I’m just starting to listen to songs. That’s the one thing, in all of these wonderful things that I do, that I have really missed. It’s kind of been impossible and new music has been on the backburner for a while but it’s time. I am so anxious to get in the studio and make some new music so that will definitely be happening in the first part of the year.

What’s the secret to constantly creating new content that resonates with your fans?
I think it’s very selfish honestly. I think the first person that it has to resonate with is you. As an artist, if you’re making music for any reason other than the fact that it’s a song that moves you first, then your kind of selling out. I’ve always had this theory that if I record a song because somebody tells me that it’s going to be a hit but I don’t like it, it doesn’t feel like me, then you are kind of screwed either way. If it’s a huge hit then you sing a song that you hate every single night and if it’s not a hit, then you basically sold your soul for no reason. It’s really a very personal connection to songs and then you make that record. This is how I do it, without thought of “is this going to get played on the radio?” or “is this going to be a hit?” You basically choose songs that you love and then once that album is done you go “OK now what is the best way to get it out to as many people as we can? What songs seem like they are the ones that more people will resonate with?” And you have to kind of put it out there and take your chance. It’s like if you’re a painter or a sculptor; you have to do what moves you and then you hope it moves other people.

You and Garth did a Christmas album together last year. What’s it like when the two of you are in the studio together?
Well the Christmas album was mostly things that you would know – a combination of things from the past and more recent songs. Garth wrote a few songs himself and then he and I wrote a song together called “What I’m Thankful For” that became a very special piece because James Taylor came and sang on it. The coolest thing about the Christmas album to me was it’s my favorite holiday. Garth and I have always sung on each other’s records even if we haven’t done duets but this was the first chance where we got to sing together all day long. It was a joy. We got to drive to the studio together and drive home together and in between just have fun. The studio, if you do it right, should be a place that really is a sanctuary and a place that you get to really enjoy and be creative. I always look forward to those days because you know you’re going to get to have fun. You don’t know what you’re going to create until you leave that night. You won’t know until you’ve done it so it’s really fun. One of my favorite things in the whole process of the music business is the recording process – just taking a song that you like and then turning it into yours and sometimes those things turn into songs that become iconic songs and you are like “man when we recorded it we just liked it. We had no idea where it was going to go.” That’s a really cool part for me.

Do you and Garth push each other out of your comfort zones in the studio? Who is more notorious for doing that?
I think Garth has always been good at pushing me outside of my comfort zone. I go back to a song called “Shameless” that he recorded that was a Billy Joel song. He wanted this harmony at the end of the song. It’s on the fade when you’re going into the next record on the radio. He wanted me to do this wailing high kind of crazy thing and I’m like, “I’m game.” So I go in and I do what I thought would be great. I thought he would be crying it was so good. I was like, “That is amazing!” and he’s like, “This sounds effortless. I want you to push. I want it to be raw and gritty.” Basically, he pushed and pushed until I got angry with him and we were not a couple at this point. We were just friends and I was pissed. He said, “No. Just one more time.” At that time I was so mad that I said, “Fine here you go” and I just hit this thing and just wailed out of anger and of course that was the one. He’s like, “That’s it! That’s it!” So when I hear “Shameless” and I hear that wailing thing on the end, people are like, “Oh man I didn’t know that was you. It just sounds so different” and I’m like, “I was really mad.” But I love it. I think he was right. I would not have gotten to that level had I not been pushed.

I don’t think I do that with him because he already pushes himself so hard that he’s already got that part down. In the studio, I’m the friend that will say, “I think you want to listen to that one line. It’s not quite there on pitch.” You need someone to go “Can you listen to this and tell me that it’s OK?” It’s great to have somebody to bounce things off and to be honest with you that you trust to be like “Yeah you need to sing that again.”

When you write new material, what is that environment like for you?
It happens in different ways. I am not the writer that Gath is. I think he is probably always writing. For me, because my biggest musical influences were people like Linda Ronstadt and Patsy Cline who really didn’t write very much, I’ve not written as much as Garth but he helps me. Like the Thanksgiving song on the Christmas album, that came about because I needed a song for the Thanksgiving episode of my cooking show. If you look up Thanksgiving songs on the Internet, there just really aren’t any. He was the one that said, “Let’s write it” and I said, “I’m good at telling a story but I’m not good at writing.” And he’s like, “Well tell me a story. Tell me what’s important in your life.” He takes my words and he makes them beautiful. I love writing with him because he just gets that. With other people, I have a book of titles and thoughts – a line here and a line there. You go in and write with somebody and they might go “Oh I like that one. Let’s write that.” And that’s how it starts and you work all day on something and sometimes it turns into something, sometimes not.

The one thing that I will say as an artist who listens to a lot of songs is I think that back in the day, maybe 20 years ago, writers had publishers who really pushed them to not settle for the first thing they wrote and really rework and rework to get those lines perfect. I’ll hear songs today and say, “They’re good songs but they are not finished.” It’s like somebody wrote down the first thing that came into their head and it’s good but it needs to be continued to be worked on. As an artist listening to songs, I wish publishers would push writers to rewrite and to keep working and to just hone it and get it perfect.

What are your studio must-haves that help create the perfect zone for writing and recording?
Garth calls them his vitamins and power drink and that’s M&Ms and Dr. Pepper. If you walk in the studio right now and he’s recording, there will be M&Ms and Dr Pepper in there because that’s his thing when he’s working. He has a sweet tooth. I don’t eat a ton when I’m recording because if you are super full, then you can’t really sing. On studio days I’ll eat light. I’ll eat a salad or something that keeps me going but is not heavy. But two things that I don’t live without in the studio are coffee and water. I’ll drink coffee all day if I’m not careful. I have a deal with myself that for each cup of coffee; I have to drink a cup of water. Those are the things I can’t imagine being in the studio without. 

Trisha Yearwood Wins Best Female Country Vocal Performance

GRAMMYs
News

A Letter To Our Recording Academy Members And To Our Colleagues In The Music Industry

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Read a letter from the Academy's Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees
Tim McPhate
Recording Academy
Feb 15, 2018 - 12:16 pm

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees is attuned to the calls to action that have resonated ever since the 60th GRAMMY Awards. We recognize the impact of the unfortunate choice of words from our President/CEO, Neil Portnow, in a post-GRAMMY interview. In the many letters and statements that we and our Board have received from some of our most respected artists, as well as prominent female and male music business executives, the message is clear: Our Academy and our industry must do a better job honoring and demonstrating our commitment to cultural, gender and genre diversity, in all aspects of our work. 

The Recording Academy is a membership organization, first and foremost. Like all Academy members, our Trustees live and breathe music, and are embedded in the fabric of our industry. Our Board members - many of whom are women - include independent artists, songwriters, touring musicians, producers and engineers, visual and audio entrepreneurs, A&R executives, and music publishers.  Our Vice Chair and former Chair/Chair Emeritus are women, and our National Awards and Nominations, Membership, Advocacy, and Producers & Engineers Wing Steering committees are all chaired or co-chaired by women. We honor the Academy, and we expect nothing less in return than strict adherence to musical excellence, an inclusive and diverse philosophy, meaningful outreach and communication, a purity of purpose, and an eagerness to embrace change as our musical culture and society evolve

The Academy’s commitment to our community resonates far beyond the nominations, winners and performers on the GRAMMY Awards. MusiCares, the GRAMMY Museum Foundation, and our Advocacy presence in Washington, D.C., speak to how much we care about all the people in our music family, whether they are Academy members or not. Our 12 Chapters nurture new generations of professionals in recording and business, and mentor Governors on our local boards to ally themselves with the issues they are most passionate about. At the heart of what we do, there is mutual respect and the belief that each of us has something unique and valuable to offer. The more diverse we are as an Academy, the better equipped we are to champion our members and our community.

The GRAMMY Awards have always been a positive and negative flashpoint and will likely continue to be because of the ever-changing nature of our world. We are constantly striving to reflect genre, gender, and ethnic diversity in our categories and fields. We welcome proposals from our members to make changes, and we debate all worthy ideas at an annual meeting dedicated solely to this purpose. Likewise, we have worked hard to ensure that our eligibility requirements reflect changing distribution methods. The advent of online voting and the ability to offer audio streams of nominated titles has been designed to make the voting experience convenient, while not compromising security.

The Academy is a thriving, fluid environment. It has a powerful agenda to do good work intended to improve the lives of those who create music, and to ensure that we respectfully participate in a culture where creativity can flourish.  We look to our industry partners to provide opportunities for music creators to maintain their professional careers. We embrace the idea that with the help and support of dedicated artists and professionals, we will undertake a fresh, honest appraisal of the role of women in all aspects of our Academy and the industry at large, with the hope of inspiring positive change.

Our Board of Trustees is committed to creating a comprehensive task force that will take a deep look at these issues and make material recommendations on how we can all do better. We are pleased that our task force announcement has been well received, with many people offering to participate in work that will yield tangible results. As we continue to take the appropriate time needed to ensure that this action is well-conceived and properly developed, we ask you to remember what this is about: improving our community and creating opportunity for all.  If we achieve this goal, we will all look back at this moment as one that has helped reshape the fabric of our industry. 

Please be assured that the Executive Committee and our Board of Trustees holds all the Academy’s leadership to the highest standards. We respect and deeply appreciate the opinions of the artists and industry leaders who have spoken up since the GRAMMY Awards. We cherish the trust that you have in the Recording Academy, and pledge to honor this transformational moment of gender equality as we continue to recognize musical excellence, advocate for the well-being of music makers, and ensure that music remains an indelible part of our culture.

Respectfully,

The Executive Committee on behalf of the Board of Trustees
The Recording Academy

Travis Meadows in 2017

Travis Meadows

Photo: Joshua Black Wilkins/All Eyes Media

News

Travis Meadows Talks Sobriety, Songwriting & 'First Cigarette'

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The prolific Nashville-based songwriter goes deep on how MusiCares has helped him on his search for sobriety, the importance of journal writing and his new album, 'First Cigarette'
Brian Haack
MusiCares
Dec 1, 2017 - 2:34 pm

Nashville-based country singer/songwriter Travis Meadows is a survivor many times over.

Now seven years clean and sober, his path to recovery wandered a broken line that included four trips to in-patient rehab, not to mention a lifetime of hard lessons learned.

A professional musician since his teenage years, Meadows found religion in his early 20s and spent almost two decades traveling as a missionary, preacher, and active songwriter in the Christian music industry. At age 39, faced with growing disillusionment, he cut ties with the Christian music scene and relocated to Nashville to work as a traditional songwriter and performing musician, where he concurrently suffered a multiyear spiral into addiction and alcoholism.

The support network and partner services offered through MusiCares, which is designed as a safety net of critical assistance for music people in times of need, had a part to play in Meadow's effort to regain control of his life and find a sustainable path to recovery. Following the release of his third album, First Cigarette, the singer/songwriter sat down with us to discuss his ties to the organization, writing songs for his new project and artists such as Dierks Bentley, and his thoughts on personal writing and strategies for self-growth.

How did you first encounter MusiCares and at what point did their support enter the picture?
Well, it was in the very beginning. Sadly, I did not even know that MusiCares existed. I lived in a bubble — my drinkin' bubble. And when I came to the point when I said, "I need help," and just started telling everybody, "Get me outta here. What do I do?" There were some people that were somehow connected to MusiCares, and they are the ones that put me in treatment that very first time.

It's all a blur. All I remember is making that call, and I remember that MusiCares came up, and my [former] wife said, "Pack your bags, you're going in." And the very next morning I was on my way to treatment for the very first time. So MusiCares has been a part of my entire recovery experience. I am very, very grateful to them.

Travis Meadows in 2017

How you been able to make use of any of their other support systems or other partner services?
Mostly, for some medical needs here and there. [MusiCares has] also been a great resource for some friends of mine. In fact, though obviously I can't say the name, maybe three or four days ago I made a call and said, "I have a friend that is dying, and I think he's ready for help." And they've put that person in treatment. So they're still just an incredible resource.

I look at MusiCares like an angel of mercy. They've just been so much a part of my entire recovery experience, and I love them for it. It's hard to find words because I'm so deeply grateful.

"My phone is probably the most powerful weapon for sobriety that I have found. No matter where I'm at, I can call a friends and say, 'Look, I'm about to walk into this uncomfortable situation.' … It makes it a lot easier to remember that I'm not alone on this journey." 

Is there anything you'd like to share that your journey to recovery has taught you about building positive coping mechanisms, dealing with repression, or that you think could help educate others who may be drawn to self-medicate in an attempt to deal with traumatic experiences?
For me, personally: writing, and surrounding myself with people and resources that I trust. [In] the chaos of using multiple substances, you kind of find yourself surrounded by a certain kind of people. The thing that worked for me was I had to change my playmates and my playgrounds.

That was really hard to do because I had years invested in these relationships. There was nothing wrong with those people per se, but it was just that I could not be in that surrounding anymore. So I started surrounding myself with a community of like-minded people and people that I trust. My phone is probably the most powerful weapon for sobriety that I have found. No matter where I'm at, I can call a friend and say, "Look, I'm about to walk into this uncomfortable situation." … It makes it a lot easier to remember that I'm not alone on this journey. 

That's certainly been something very helpful for me, knowing that I have some people —including a couple of the people at MusiCares. Debbie [Carroll, Sr. Executive Director for MusiCares Nashville], in particular. She's been quite kind to me, and it's not always been business stuff. Sometimes it's just been, "I just wanted to tell you what was going on, and check in, and tell you how grateful I am today." It's pretty remarkable.

You've said in other interviews that many of the lyrics for 2011's Killin' Uncle Buzzy came out of writings that you didn't necessarily intend for people to hear — lines you wrote at the behest of your rehab counselor. Is the practice of personal writing something you think anyone/everyone could benefit from?
It absolutely helps, and it was quite a surprise. I was in treatment for the fourth time, and I was checking out, and one of the counselors suggested I keep a journal. I said, "Honestly I just don't do well with journaling. I wouldn't say that I'm lazy, [but] it just seems a little redundant, and I can't even read my own writing. But if you think it will help, I do write songs." And she kinda chuckled, and I said, "I'm not kidding. I don't want to die."

She [told me] the benefit of writing your thoughts down, and where you're at, is you may wake up one day and see some progress, and that will motivate you to keep going.

One song turned into two, and two became three, and it became evident that I was making a record, and that record changed everything for me. By the time that record finished I was nine months sober. It was life-changing. To this day, seven-something years later, I still find writing quite therapeutic.

Can you share a bit about the writing and inspiration behind "Riser" (written for Dierks Bentley), and what that song means to you today?
What a fantastic interlude to writing. I was just coming out of a real dark period when I first met [writing partner] Steve [Moakler]. Steve is just full of hope and full of optimism. He had just fallen in love, and you know, everything was going right in his world.

I had this idea about getting back up, and getting back into life, and Steve was the guy I wanted [to write with].  …Graciously, he accepted, and we wrote a beautiful song. I have lost count of how many people have sent pictures of these lyrics tattooed on their bodies.

Let's talk a bit about your brand-new album, First Cigarette. Can you break down the single "Underdogs"?
"Underdogs" is me, man. And it's you. It's everybody that's ever felt overlooked, a little misunderstood. I've always felt like I was a little bit on the outside looking in, in every situation. I've always pulled for the underdog.

What about "First Cigarette"? How did you make the decision to name the record for that particular track?
Underdogs, to me, was the obvious [album] title. I just, for some reason, did not want to be too obvious. Every record I make, I like [people] to take a journey along with me. I like them to settle in and try to find the heart of the record. So "Underdogs" was the obvious title, but it was so obvious that I just felt like it might be taking the easy way out.

"First Cigarette" ended up being the sleeper on the record. … Just to address the obvious, [the song] actually doesn't have anything to do with smoking. It has to do with contentment and learning how to lean into it. We've spent a lot of time in this discussion talking about how challenging life can be, but there are also some beautiful moments. When those beautiful moments come, embrace them. Lean into them and enjoy them. They are gifts.

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