Conversations with Ivory Hecker

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ivory Hecker.

Hi Ivory, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My dad bought me my first guitar when I was about 13. He used to tour and sing. He and my mom taught me how to finger-pick the classical guitar, which is similar to acoustic, only a more romantic sound. I spent the next decade-plus just playing guitar and singing to myself therapeutically.

Then out of the blue, I was asked to play guitar and sing at a charity event in 2019. It was a scary but fun push outside my comfort zone. A few weeks after that, I came across a reiki master at a shopping market. He read my aura and identified that I was a musician in a band. I wasn’t in a band at that time, and music played a small role in my life.

Little did I know, he was predicting my near future. In the weeks that followed, I got endless requests to do paid music gigs. Then I experienced love at first sight at a Halloween party that year. It was one of the most spiritual experiences I’ve ever had. In the days that followed, song after original song poured out of me. I had never even tried or desired to write music, but suddenly I was writing like magic. Someone asked what the hardest part of writing songs was. I said holding it in would be the hardest.

The songs were just pouring out from another realm. I had spent months in meditation and yoga leading up to that point, and I think the spiritual activity put my heart in an open space for creativity to flow. In 2020, I was invited to join a band, as predicted. I also produced four of those original songs. That year, my life got turned upside down, partly due to the pandemic, and I put music on hold. I finally produced my 5th original song in 2022. Then by chance, I was connected with songwriter and producer Billy Dawson in Nashville.

I met with him and Kelli Johnson at his studio, and we wrote a banger just this summer that is being marketed to the top country artists. It’s called “Goodbye Slowly.” The song chorus came to me while doing laundry this summer when my boyfriend and I had broken up. It’s a heart-wrenching breakup song. We ended up getting back together, but the song stuck. Billy and Kelli filled out the rest of the song beautifully. I can’t wait for you all to hear it! Much more to come.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
From 2019 into 2020, my creative flow was off the charts. Then, my dad was killed in an accident, then the pandemic hit and I realized I needed to leave my corporate job due to rampant corruption in the company. So many emotions.

So much uncertainty. My creative flow was thrown off, and I felt a duty to shift focus away from music. Yet sometimes the uncertainty would bring its moments of creativity. I’d write a song I never would have written had I not been faced with those obstacles. I shifted from a corporate career to entrepreneurship in 2021 which came with a lot of work and stress.

I realized I needed to add music back in order to stay balanced emotionally. In 2023, I started booking gigs again and wrote some new music. For me and my mental health, it’s important to exercise both sides of the brain—the arts and the book smarts.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a singer-songwriter and classical guitarist. I’m different in that I never try to write a song. I allow songs to come to me—often in my sleep. They say you can’t rush art.

I only write it down when the lyrics and melody come from an authentic place—otherworldly—and flow out effortlessly. When I’m not doing music, I cover news and podcast. I come from a corporate news background, and the music has always soothed me after a stressful news day.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
I learned to follow my heart and always tell the truth no matter how high the stakes, which ended up leading me away from my corporate career in the middle of the pandemic.

I never would have charted a new path that led me to the songwriters in Nashville had I not gone my own route.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/ivorylyrics?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
• Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/@IvoryHeckerMusic