Daily Inspiration: Meet Lindsey Wall

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsey Wall. 

Hi Lindsey, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started as a 10-year-old girl with a guitar in her backyard in the mountains. I would sing for hours, making up songs about my friends or a blade of grass blowing in the wind, or horses. I always loved singing, finding sounds… and “writing” my own songs. If felt natural to me in a way that nothing else did. So really, ever since then, it’s been something that has been a part of me and how I understand and process the world. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There have been smooth parts about the path I’m on, and also parts a lot more bumpy. I wouldn’t have the clarity and understanding of why I’m doing this and what I want out of it without those moments of uncertainty. Since I was young, I knew I wanted to do this. I wanted to dive into music in a way that made me better at my craft, to be able contribute to a world that has helped me to navigate my own self in times when I can’t understand much else. But following this yearning after high school wasn’t always supported. I also didn’t have any idea what it would even look like to even take a small step in this direction in the small town I live in, I didn’t know anyone else who was doing it. Gradually over time, with the focus it took to be in school while working full time to support myself, I stopped playing music. And when it was all gone and I wasn’t playing at all anymore, challenges in my life had no outlet to have any light shed on them. I had hit some sort of rock bottom and clung to music to get me through. From then on, promising myself to never let go of music. Each day, I’m consumed by my love for it. The craft, the catharsis creating allows me, and the endless amount I have to learn and keep learning. I’ve recorded an EP, was recruited to be on American Idol where i got through a few rounds, written lots of songs no one will ever hear, and a few that people will. And today I’m back here in Santa Cruz on a late winter but sunny day working on a new one in my little studio in the redwoods. I came home a couple months ago after a year of recording an album of 7 songs with the most incredible people in Nashville. 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Since I use music so much to navigate my inner world and to glide through the punches, most of my songs tend to be sort of emotional… maybe kind of sad. haha. The nylon string guitar is something that has been key in inspiring what comes out of me lately. I’ve only been able to write anything on my nylon the last year or two. Because of this, the album I just recorded was expansive for me in its process and what these songs became when we brought other musicians into it. They started out as acoustic and bare songs, shapeshifting into full-band indie-rock songs. It was just really enjoyable to create something new to me, with musicians more knowledgeable than myself and my wonderful producer and great friend, JD. I try and stay myself in my work, and I hope that is what we all try and do. So, what would set me apart I guess, is me, showing up to my art as the person I am… as the amalgamation of experiences, challenges, sunny days, darker ones, and people and places, I am influenced by. 

What matters most to you? Why?
Along similar lines, what is most important to me in my art is staying honest. Like a lot of us, as a young woman, I was taught to suppress my truth to keep peace around me and worry about the comfortability of everyone before even addressing the honesty in myself. I began to know myself and express myself in a more whole way when I started writing. I want to remain open and grow more vulnerable as I grow as an artist. This is the part of everything that connects us all to each other.  And we need more connection. Especially in a world that feels broken a lot of the time.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindseywallmusic/?hl=en

Image Credits
Jacq Justice
Josh Soyombo