Rising Stars: Meet Cristina Vane

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cristina Vane.

Hi Cristina, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born in Italy and grew up mostly in Paris before coming to the U.S. for college at 18. I have always loved music; I sang to myself as a baby in the crib and played piano, flute and sang in choirs growing up. I picked up guitar around 13 and used it to play my favorite songs of the time before starting to write songs around 16 years old. When I graduated college, I made the decision to really give music a try, as I had played my first real gigs the summer before while home in London. That same summer, I discovered slide guitar and began teaching myself bottleneck slide and open tunings. By the time I moved to L.A., I was already playing in the style, but when I heard Blind Willie Johnson, my interest skyrocketed. This led me down the rabbit hole of American Folk music, which was supplemented by my time working at McCabe’s Guitar Shop, and learning fingerstyle/travis picking from my mentor during that time. I also picked up banjo then.

I moved to Nashville in 2018 after doing a five months tour around the country. I put out my first full record this year in April and feel that Nashville has been everything I hoped it would be when I moved here. It has pushed me to better my musicianship and being surrounded by excellent players has been so inspiring. I feel very lucky!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being a musician has not been totally smooth. Making the call to pursue “music” after college was pretty scary for me, I didn’t have much of an idea of how I would make that work. But I got a job pretty soon working for LiveNation at various theatres in L.A., and little by little got a band together, played my first shows, and did my first out of town shows. I have had moments of extreme doubt, which sounds tame but really rocks your world when you’ve decided to dump your eggs into this really tenuous basket. There is no roadmap to being a creative professional, unlike some other jobs. You can’t just do what someone else did, it probably won’t work for you. So the moments when I feel like quitting, those are extremely disorienting. I have unfortunately struggled with sexist men saying disgusting things to me when I am trying to do my job (sound guys, audience members, and online), been told my music wasn’t good enough or ready to be shared, I had my guitar smashed by a tweaker on the beach in Venice when I was busking, and hit other bumps along the way for sure.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am an Americana musician and songwriter – I play slide guitar, fingerstyle guitar, clawhammer banjo, and I sing, write and perform all my songs. I tour for much of the year, and in my spare time I write, record and release new music. I also sometimes do some commercial acting on the side. I am most proud of trying to stay true to myself and following my passions for this very niche music that has lead me to beautiful communities of people. I am also very proud of my tenacity and not losing sight of my vision!

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
I have learned that the cliches are mostly true…I think that while common sense may not be common, people have this sort of instinctual ability to sniff out bulls**t and that ultimately you are doing yourself a disservice by trying to cater to other people! The truer you are to what’s inside, it seems to me, the more magic the music.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cristinavane.com
• Instagram: @cristinavanemusic
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cristinavanemusic/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CristinaVaneMusic

Image Credits
Photo: Alex Skelton banjo Photo: Michael Tedesco