Today we’d like to introduce you to Sophie The Stray.
Hi Sophie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started playing guitar relatively late – at 18, in the midst of my first existential crisis post-high school graduation but pre-leaving the nest. I picked up a guitar and started plucking out notes with my fingers. I was already pretty good on bass, piano and vocals. I had always been involved in music somehow. For the first time in I don’t know how long, I was distracted from the unending dark cloud of anxiety that constantly choked me. I had found my instrument.
But I didn’t start a band for another 7 years. I left my depressing home town and moved to Athens, Georgia for college. I focused on my studies, English and Spanish. I read constantly, and played guitar and wrote songs clandestinely. Only after I graduated and got an office job, did I venture out to play my songs at an open mic at a bar cafe called Hendershots. I sucked. But I had something really unique that some people noticed. My playing was influenced by classical music. My singing was raw, and my lyrics were timely and likewise tragic. I met my bandmates in Athens. We recorded a DIY record called Foolish Human during the pandemic, and as the shut down lifted, we released the record and started playing under a new band name – Sasha Stray.
Sasha Stray played mostly in Athens and Atlanta from around 2021 -2023, the exact years I was in Grad School at Georgia State, for Social Work. Our political message got supercharged as I was living in Atlanta, studying Social Work, and huge changes were taking place in American politics, including the fall of Roe v Wade. We recorded a single called Go to the Ocean (go read the lyrics on the Sasha Stray Bandcamp), and I spoke openly on stage about the importance of abortion rights. We released another album called, The Ape, which is the recording work I’m most proud of, produced by Will Wise. But as soon as I finished grad school, I left my band behind and came to Nashville on my own.
In Nashville, I started fresh but not completely from scratch. I bought a Taylor and leaned in to my acoustic, folk side. I attended all the open mics in Nashville and released my first songs as Sophie the Stray, recorded with the help of Henry Luther, a Columbia, South Carolina “Chaos Folk” artist. I met drummer Joe Hamm, and we worked together with Jack at Devil’s Tower Records to create the album “Apartment in the Universe”. With Joe, I have played the iconic Nashville venues like 5 Spot, The End, and Cobra. We also got to play in Atlanta, and most importantly Athens, GA, which I dreamed of getting back to ever since I left.
We’ve played with a revolving door of talented bassists, but we may have just landed on one that sticks. I’m looking forward to officially introducing my band line up to the world soon. We’re looking forward to a gig in Chattanooga, TN at Cherry Street Tavern this December 14th. After that, I will focus on writing and continuing to develop the next album. My goal for 2026 is to hit cities like Athens, Atlanta, Huntsville, Knoxville, and my home town of Columbus, GA on tour.
I now consider my genre Art Rock. The music is dynamic, progressive, and melodic, and the lyrics are essential to the songs.
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?
Every step of being an independent musician is a challenge. Finding people to work with, and communicating and agreeing on the roles of bandmates was important. When I say I was in grad school at the same time as I was in my first band, I mean I was living in Atlanta and studying full time, then driving an hour to Athens every weekend to rehearse and play gigs. I was involved in a political activism that was exhausting. I was feeling more confident than ever, but also in a constant state of performing and being judged. My decision to move to Nashville, and the band break-up that entailed, was violently sudden, and dramatic, and my self-esteem took a hit. Our album “The Ape” was not promoted at all. It was released, and then flop – we never played another show. Now my biggest challenge is money. The solution to one of my previous challenges is to work with professional musicians, whom I pay to play with me. Now the roles are clear – my songs are my songs, and I have the final say about creative decisions. But I have to work a full time job, and manage my own band (with Joe’s help, thankfully) which is another full time job. We’ve made virtually nothing playing shows in Nashville, and our out of town shows paid, but not nearly enough to cover the expenses. Most independent musicians I know would agree that social media is a drag. That is, creating a certain type of content at a certain frequency to have any online relevance, is not how we would choose to spend our time. But I try to have fun with it.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I have released two albums as Sasha Stray: Foolish Human, and The Ape, available to listen to on all platforms – Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, etc. (and Bandcamp!)
I released one album, Apartment in the Universe, and a few singles: People Like You, Distance, Kingdom of Dreams, as Sophie the Stray.
Apartment in the Universe includes a few re-recordings from Foolish Human, including No Zion, I’ll be the Light, Apartment in the Universe, and Foolish Human.
I am especially proud to have released No Zion and Yellow Feathers when I did. These two songs comment on the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and express my solidarity with the people of Palestine, from my Jewish American perspective.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Focus on the music. We look around and see shells of people, clamoring for attention online. The image becomes the main focus, and it’s easy to lose touch with the spark that started all this. For me, it was in solitary moments in my bedroom with my guitar and the purest expression of emotion, without any thought of being watched. I love being on stage, but it takes a lot of grounding and re-centering yourself to maintain that pure connection to the music and its meaning, while actively connecting with an audience. Maybe that is my true art form.
Communicate and set expectations with the people you’re working with. Whether it’s about songwriting credits, pay, time commitment, whatever. Talk about this stuff ahead of time and show the people who are helping you make your dreams come true how important and appreciated they are.
Do what you can with what you have. A lot of people would look at my body of work and find plenty to critique. But for me, as a person who was always working and studying, this is what I made happen with music. I could not have conceived of these songs, if I hadn’t also taken time to live out the other parts of my life that seemingly took time away from music. I have been doing it, continuously moving forward, for years. It’s messy and imperfect. For me, as a punk turned Art Rocker, getting the songs out there in live performance and whatever kind of recording I can muster, is far more important than perfection.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fNT7zQG1q4nXJsGtwV6OX?si=ULR7VHgXS3a6EryDRDjzag
- Instagram: @sophiethestray_music
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1KULmzNovRdDpZzjKam2BX?si=3bz04nn5Qcq9Awh1qQZKVQ
