Rising Stars: Meet Monica Valli

Today we’d like to introduce you to Monica Valli.

Hi Monica, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When I was about eight year old, I was first introduced to the guitar when my older brother came home from his first guitar lesson and started playing a blues shuffle. That was it. I was mesmerized and got a guitar myself and started taking lessons. I only played for about a year then quit to do other eight year old girl things. I picked it up again out of nowhere when I was about 15 years old and haven’t put it down since. I started playing bluesy dive bars all around my hometown of St. Louis on school nights and weekends until I attended Berklee College of Music, graduated, and moved to Nashville. Shortly after moving, I was hired by Dustin Thomas, an LA based artist, who I toured with for two years. Learning all about the industry and the road in real-time. After three awesome tours with Dustin, I was hired by Nashville local Ron Pope, who I had the best time touring with right up until the global pandemic started. Since quarantine, I have been writing my own music and heading into the studio to record my songs for the first time.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Pretty smooth sailings so far. I’m very fortunate to have been surrounded by good people – from playing those dive bars in St. Louis to touring the country with a full band and crew. The bumpiest part was probably at Berklee college. I actually quit playing guitar for two years and changed my degree from performance to music business. I lacked trust in myself and others as well as confidence. It was a lot of pressure but it was a crucial lesson to be true to myself and have a sense of humor about the human ego. The actual music industry has been a lot less pressure than attending a class at Berklee.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do?
I am a freelance guitarist. Specifically lead guitar. I get hired by various artists to gig and tour with them. I’ve done some studio work as well but my heart is in touring.

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
I’ve learned to take nothing for granted and make the most out of any situation by being flexible and staying positive. Though the pandemic took away live music, it gave me the time to really practice my craft and become a better guitarist. I also started songwriting this quarantine and putting a lot of energy and time into my music whereas normally, I’d be putting that into other artist’s music.

Unrelated to music, I launched a small business of organically handcrafted beard oils – Valli Beard Oil. I’ve always worked with essential oils and plant-based ingredients and have always wanted to start a business around that. Being in the music industry, I’ve been surrounded by men who have more hair than I do so starting with beard oils just made sense. The pandemic gave me the time to create this business and share with the world my other passion. I’m grateful for that!

Pricing:

• $24 for beard oil

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: vallibeardoil.com
• Instagram: @monicavalli

Image Credits
Kylie Rebecca, Meera Rajahopalan, Andrew Morton