Today we’d like to introduce you to Allison Leah.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’m a folk-pop artist based in Nashville, Tennessee.
I was raised in the suburbs of NYC and that’s where I fell in love with music, creativity, and songwriting. I grew up in an extremely musical family – my dad is a music engineer so he had a studio in NYC and I can recall singing there from as young as four years old.
When I was eight, an agent heard me singing at a holiday party and asked if I would be interested in singing in jingles. So, I began working as a jingle-singer at eight years old and recorded familiar jingles like the “Hess Truck” Commercial, GE spots, and radio tags for Z-100, among others.
I also was passionate for musical theater and all of these childhood experiences served as a huge inspirations for me.
Years later, I found myself in college studying media and journalism. I was passionate about this subject matter too, but I still found myself seeking opportunities in music wherever I could.
The summer after my freshman year of college, I went to a music festival and was so inspired by the range of artists that were performing and something “clicked”. Up until this point, I had no idea there was an in-between super-stardom and playing covers in your bedroom.
After this trip, I approached music with discipline knowing that this is exactly what I want to do. I started writing music at a breakneck pace and went back to college that fall with a different mentality.
There wasn’t a community for songwriters at my college at that time, so I ended up creating a lot of makeshift opportunities for myself. I performed at every college event that would have me and opened for bands that performed at my college.
So that’s how the story began. After college, the real work started. I moved back to the NYC area and wanted to play shows and especially tour. I started booking what I refer to now as “couch tours” – I would stay on my friends’ couches around the east coast and perform wherever I could get a gig. I started vlogging these tours and building a community online.
After spending a few years in New York, I moved to Nashville in 2020. I wanted to start collaborating with other musicians, and I did. This is how my EP, the weight of my heart was born (more on that to come!).
Currently, 2022 has been wonderful. I’ve spent the year touring to play music festivals and shows around the country. I’m releasing an album and I’ve met so many wonderful people this year. I’m feeling more inspired than ever heading into 2023.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
No road is smooth, especially in the music industry. It’s full of rejection that anyone who’s ever been successful has experienced. I’ve worked to shift my mindset and recognize that I can’t control whether somebody says “yes” or “no” but I can control how many seeds I plant: how many shows I play, how many people I reach out to, how hard I work, and how many songs I write.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a folk-pop artist which means I do a little folk and a little pop. I’m inspired by artists like Maisie Peters, Maggie Rogers, and Noah Kahan who blend these two genres.
I love pairing honest stories with ethereal melodies and I write songs about growing up, love, nostalgia, and the world around us. I’m told it’s the message of my music that sets me apart from others.
When I was 12 – 14, I turned to music to feel seen, and now it’s my goal to be that for others. Whenever someone tells me that my music has allowed them to feel understood or helped them through a tough time, that’s the greatest compliment I can receive.
Right now, I’m most proud of my EP, the weight of my heart (Out November 4, 2022!).
The weight of my heart is an autobiographical journey throughout my life since 2020. Each song on this record details a certain situation that has ‘weighed on my heart’ and how I’ve made sense of them. This album is nostalgic, ethereal, detailed, and vulnerable.
Sonically, it sounds different than anything I’ve ever released. I spent the majority of 2020 writing with my friend Alex Bonyata (3/6 songs on this EP were co-written with him) and when we started collaborating, something really clicked. We wrote the majority of this album in isolation so no risk seemed too big and we let our creativity run wild.
In January of 2021, the album was starting to take shape and we completed the album in New York at my dad, Jon Altschiller’s recording studio, ‘Chiller Sound. This is where we got really experimental – we recorded the sound of ice on a pond, hit mugs with spoons and recorded that to signify years passing in “24 years down”, and we even took a bag of ash from the fireplace, dropped it on the ground, and recorded this. This sound became the kick drum in “i gave u my number”. The attention to detail on this record – both in the production and the lyrics – is something that I’m so proud of and excited for you to hear.
I hope this EP helps you get to know me better, and in the best case, I hope it helps you get to know yourself better too.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Honestly, my favorite childhood memory goes back to what I mentioned earlier: singing in the studio.
While other kids went to their parents’ offices for “take your kid to work day”, I went to the recording studio, and my reward for good behavior during a session with a client was that I could sing in the recording booth afterward.
I sang original songs and to karaoke tracks. I remember doing these little demos and my dad would burn me a CD that we would take home. This was such a special childhood memory and it’s definitely my favorite. It also served to be very good preparation for my life to come 🙂
Contact Info:
- Website: allisonleahmusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allisonleahmusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allisonleahmusic
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/allisonleah_
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/allisonleahmusic
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/allisonleahmusic
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4Z7W615KWC9UpT72lN8RPs?si=uD_FotgkTOabqT-PGFuiQw
