Check Out Alma Russ’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alma Russ.

Hi Alma, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born on a farm North-Central Florida. My family loved music, but no one played or sang.
When I was a little kid, we would go to Disney World sometimes. My parents would take me to the Country Bear Jamboree. It’s set up like an old-timey theatre where animatronic bears dressed in western wear would sing and play string band and country music. Most people would find it kitschy, cheesy, and odd. Admittedly, I had never been and went today, I probably would as well. However, as a 7 year old, I loved those country singing bears, and I think they were part of my motivation in wanting to play music.
We would spend summers in Western North Carolina with my Great Grandma, and I fell in love with Appalachian music. I started learning to sing Scotch-Irish ballads. It must have been interesting to hear an 8-year-old singing of unrequited loves and murders, as are common themes in those songs, but I was drawn to that old music.
At 12, I started learning to play the fiddle, and then eventually took on claw hammer banjo.
I also loved the old Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, and Dolly Parton songs that would come on my great grandma’s radio. I always said I wanted to be like Dolly when I grew up, so that way I could wear red lipstick every day (though now, at 26, I don’t wear red lipstick every day).
In high school, I started playing fiddle and singing in local bands. My parents were so supportive and would take me to the bars =, where the shows took place. They’d put X’s on my underaged hands, I’d sleep on them, and then go to school the next day with big X’s on my face.
I also got into the songwriters: Townes Van Zandt, John Prine, Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams among others. I learned guitar so I could write songs. I loved storytelling, and I wrote the first song I was happy with at 16. It’s called “Next Town”. I still play it today, and hope to still be playing it when I’m 80.

I went to a local college, and around that time I started playing solo shows around town.
I had always had a heart for traveling, and I saw other artists going on tours. I figured that would be a good way to see the country, so I started booking shows at random bars and restaurants across the states. The first time I did it I was 19, when I went to Texas. I had romanticized Texas in my mind because so many of my favorite songwriters got their starts or were from there. After that, I’d go cross country as much as I could. Initially, it was mostly about the experience of being on the road and seeing sights. The shows were mostly a means gas money. It gradually became more about the music, and these days when I go on the road, while I love the experience of it, I try to play at least 5 nights a week.

I am not saying this to discount social media, or the success that some artists find through it, but I am thankful that I got started right on the cusp of the Tik Tok and Instagram craze . It’s not that they didn’t exist, and maybe this was just the circles I was running in, but I think there was less of an emphasis on them than there are currently. I say this because, while I see artists who’s main idea of success is going viral on social media, my primary goal was always just to perform as much as I could. I am glad that I wasn’t focused on trying to “make it” on any outlet. I just started going out, booking random gigs, connecting with all types of audiences, developing my style and skill as an artist and performer – I think all of that made me who I am, and continues to make me. Not that social media isn’t important, and not that I don’t utilize it as much as I can, but I think if my goal starting out was to “make it” on any of those outlets, it wouldn’t have served me as an artist.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
While there have been struggles, I think I have loved what I do so much that I have accepted them as part of life, as part of the story, and it’s just the cost of doing business. There’s been lots of “crappy gigs”; from strange nights of playing for drunk people that yell “Free Bird” every few minutes or don’t listen at all, to driving 5 hours to play a show and finding that the venue owner double booked me…but in the end it’s hard to say they’re “crappy gigs” because I still get to do what I love doing. The way I look at it, no one owes me their attention, I’d just like to do my best to earn it.
There’s the struggles that naturally come with living on the road for a month or two, from living out of my Prius, not showering, missing my home, and nowadays my husband.
There’s also the hard work of being your own booking agent, manager, and social media person as an independent artist, but it’s all just part of the job, and I love my job.
And of course, there’s doubts, imposter syndrome, looking at how many amazing artists there are out there and wondering what part I have in this world. But at the end of the day, I feel like this is what God made me to do. I don’t have to be the best, I just have to be the best at being me.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a singer-songwriter out of Western North Carolina. I play country and roots music inspired by artists such as Dolly Parton, Gillian Welch, Patsy Cline, Lucinda Williams, among others, and I play guitar, banjo, and fiddle, and I perform throughout the southeast as well as the nation. My favorite quote used to describe what I do:

“The sound of Alma Russ is less an attempt at impersonation, and more an amalgam of many great singers of country and roots interwoven into an original approach…”- Trigger, Saving Country Music.

Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
I released a new song last month, “Magnolias”. My friend Mamie Lew and I recorded it in an old tobbacco barn. It is the first single off the album I am working on, and I hope to release more songs, soon.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/always_alma?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=7fdeaada-2367-48fd-9f5b-55b4260d12cc
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/always_alma/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlmaRussMusic/