Conversations with Bailey Warren

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bailey Warren.

Alright, thank you for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us how you got started?
I grew up in South Florida, Delray Beach, which doesn’t have bluegrass or American music scene. Somehow, my parents found a fiddle troupe (the Keili Kids) that I joined when I was 3 years old. I don’t even remember my first lesson. I have just always been a fiddle player. None of my immediate family are musicians, but they have always loved roots music and have always been patrons of the arts. They took me to music festivals throughout my childhood. Most of our family vacations were to a music festival, Merlefest being the most notable yearly tradition. The community, the fiddle troupe, provided, partnered with frequent trips to see live music, solidified my love for the fiddle at a very young age. It is who I am. When I was around 5 or 6 years old, I met my lifelong mentor, friend, and chosen ‘sister’ Tania Elizabeth (now fiddle player for the Avett Brothers). At the time, she was playing with the Canadian folk band ‘The Duhks,’ which I was a huge fan of. She took me under her wing and has been an invaluable resource for me throughout my life. I was accepted into Bak Middle School of the Performing Arts when I was 11 and quickly transitioned to being a classical player. I could hardly read music at the time and was a little over my head once I got accepted into the top Orchestra, so a lot of hard work went into my time there. I graduated from Bak and moved on to Dreyfoos School of the Performing arts for High School and continued to hone my classical studies, but I always knew I was a fiddle player.

I had attended Belmont University’s “String Crossings” music camp for middle and high schoolers twice before my senior year of High School and knew that was where I wanted to end up. In 2016 I moved to Nashville to start my journey as a professional musician. I had to return home my sophomore year to be with my mother, who was dying of cancer. She passed away in December of 2017. This is a big part of my story; I can touch on it more if you like.

I graduated in August 2020. Despite all the craziness, I had some of the most incredible musicians/people continuing to provide work for me as I transitioned out of college. In January 2020, I was asked to join one of my favorite bands, The Arcadian Wild. This could not have come to me at a better time. Now I tour full-time with The Arcadian Wild and my own band DownRiver Collective (much more traditionally bluegrass).

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?
There have been many challenges along the way. I have experienced a lot of grief for my age, which made me grow up a little quicker than most. Two of my best friends (who were siblings) died tragically and unexpectedly when I was in high school, and not long after, my mother was diagnosed with cancer. She had a long battle with it before passing away in December 2017, when I was 19. She and I were incredibly close, and although it has gotten easier, this won’t be a challenge I will ever fully overcome.

Regarding my career, I struggle a lot (and continue to struggle with) where I belong and who I want to be. While at Belmont, I doubted myself and often questioned if I had chosen the right path. I never questioned if I wanted to be a musician, but rather how to go about it/where the best place to thrive was. I have been blessed with many key figures and pivotal moments in my life that, despite the doubt I faced, have provided comfort and reassurance that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. Joining the Bluegrass ensemble at Belmont and studying under Ryan Joseph (one of my favorite people/fiddlers who legitimately changed my life) was one of these moments. Meeting my boyfriend John Gray, starting our bluegrass band DownRiver Collective together, and joining The Arcadian Wild have been the most pivotal moments of my professional life thus far.

Now the biggest challenge I face is figuring out how to be a touring musician. It is hard. My schedule is wildly unpredictable, and my times at home in Nashville, in my bed, are few and far between. Maintaining relationships, feeling grounded, and having routines when I am gone for weeks throughout the year are hard. I love Nashville and my people here so much; it is not hard to leave, but I also love touring and performing so much, and I wouldn’t give it up for the world, but it comes with unique challenges that aren’t talked about frequently. Especially starting in the business, so much of the job is traveling. It is about 20% performing and 80% traveling in a van, bus, or plane, as someone who has always struggled with discipline. Implementing routine and structure into my life has been challenging when everything feels so scattered. Luckily I travel and perform with some of my favorite people in the world, so it is easy to be around them 24/7.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I am part of two bands that I love with my whole heart and believe in with my whole heart. They are wildly different from each other, and I love that too.

The Arcadian Wild:
This group was led by and founded by Lincoln Mick and Isaac Horn. Their creativity and innovation blow me away whenever we sit down to arrange songs together. I was a fan of theirs before they asked me to join the group, and it was the easiest yes. Sometimes we will characterize our sound as “chamber-grass” since there are many classical elements and roots music stylings. We like to say, if you’re a bluegrass fan, then we are NOT bluegrass, but if you don’t know anything about bluegrass, then we are a bluegrass band. Playing and learning from these guys has improved my musicianship, especially vocally. I have always sung but never considered myself a ‘vocalist’ until now. The harmonies these guys come up with are hard, and it took me a while to wrap my head and vocal cords around it, but it comes much easier to me now and has become much more intuitive. Most of the work and creativity I bring to this group comes from the arranging process. I thrive on elevating ideas and adding my style to existing frameworks of songs. We will spend hours together finding what melodies, licks, band moments, etc. will best serve the song. This process is always fun since we all come from very different musical backgrounds (which becomes very apparent in our music). I draw on Celtic, bluegrass, old-time, and classical traditions in my playing. I like to think that I have found my voice on the fiddle that blends these styles in a way that is my own. I try not to think too hard and just play what feels right.

DownRiver Collective:
John Gray and I founded this group together in 2018. We had this folksy, ‘Mipso’ style idea in mind for what we wanted the band to be. We have expanded to a full 6-piece bluegrass band that draws on influence from The Steeldrivers, Alison Krauss, the Infamous Stringdusters, and many more traditional bluegrass bands. This group is my baby. Gray and I legitimately started it from the ground up, which has taught us so much about the industry and what it takes to make it as an artist/band. You have to have a lot of heart and passion. It took some trial and error, but we found a sound we love and a group of people we love to play with.

We’re gearing up to record our sophomore record this winter, and we are super pumped. The band consists of lead singer Ali Vance, mandolinist Rico Wallenda, and guitarist Jonny Therrien. Before joining the group and meeting Gray, I didn’t think I had it in me to be a songwriter, but I have slowly grown to love it and strengthened those songwriting muscles. Our latest release, ‘Lonely Mountain,’ is a song the 5 of us co-wrote together that we are all very proud of. Everyone in this group inspires me to take musical risks. We are all finding our groove together, which has been so much fun. We’re trying to make bluegrass our own and figure out what DownRiver has to say. It is a cool process, and I love improving my improvisational skills during those 4 hour Bluegrass Brunch gigs at Von Elrod’s.

What do you think about luck?
None of it has felt like luck. All the good in my life has presented itself very intentionally, and I can easily trace back the decisions I have made and the work I have done that led me to a certain moment, decision, or pivotal event. Moments like getting picked up by The Arcadian Wild right before I was about to graduate, before a pandemic no one knew about, felt like a blessing. It happened right when it was supposed to, for all the right reasons, and it made total sense.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.downrivercollective.com & www.thearcadianwild.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baileywarren/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/downrivercollective
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuxKHkwKF8MIBKlB3Gmgp1g/featured

Image Credits
Shelby M’lynn Mick Eli Spotts