We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Audrey Assad. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Audrey below.

Audrey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

Being a full time professional musician is a privilege, and I’ve been very fortunate in my pursuit of that; that said, over fifteen years in to making my living at this, I have run into significant creative and emotional / spiritual roadblocks as an artist due to the pressures that come along with intersecting commerce and creativity so closely.

I find myself fantasizing about other career paths; especially those that naturally intersect with talents or interests of mine, like being a post-partum doula. I derive a lot of meaning and purpose from being a caregiver, and I love to cook, so sometimes I daydream about what it would be like to make that my living. It’s still a freelance profession, but there is always a need for services like those, whereas music is something people are less and less sure how they’re willing to engage with financially.

I can’t complain; I think there will always be a way to make a living with music, even with the advent of AI technologies–those who are willing to get creative and stay flexible will find their way, and I really do believe that. But yes–I daydream about other jobs all the time. I am sure most people feel the same way, honestly, regardless of their field!

Audrey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I live in Nashville, TN, with my husband, two children, and cat; I have been a professional musician and songwriter for over fifteen years. I was a major label artist for three albums’ worth, until I left in 2013 to strike out on my own and make music independently; I haven’t looked back.

I first got into the business somewhat by accident; I was raised in a religious context where women usually got married young and stayed home with children, so I didn’t have big career plans. But I started writing songs at the age of 19, and was shocked at how much they seemed to resonate with other people. One coffee shop gig led to another, I started touring with a local college band in a van, and six years later I moved to Nashville and signed a record deal, as I mentioned above. I think I’ve been very fortunate in that a lot of other artists have stuck their necks out for me and given me opportunities because they believed in my work: I don’t think I’d be where I am without them.

As a solo artist, I’ve been historically known for my sincere and heartfelt lyricism, as well as the lush/intricate spin I put on the singer/songwriter genre. I am proud of and thankful for the intimate role that much of my work has played in the lives of the people who love it most. I often hear that people play my songs on a parent’s deathbed, or at the birth of a child–in significant life moments where the veil is thin; what an absolute honor.

These days I am building my production and writing skill set, expanding into multiple other genres, and I am as energized as ever to continue my artistic growth.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I am always seeking to expand my spiritual and emotional capacity to feel and express. I don’t think that always has to look or sound like earnest, lyric driven songwriting, though; music is so much deeper than words. Music is, as cliché as it is, a universal language. To me, this means that it is able to transcend context, time, location, language/culture, belief/ideology, age…all the things we use to keep ourselves safe and give ourselves an identity. Music can tear all that down and reveal the deeper truth that we are not truly separate from one another. So, whatever I do, whatever it sounds like or whatever it may say…I hope that it is driven by something deeper than a message. I long to connect with myself, with others, and with whatever lies beyond us; music is both my vehicle to that and my expression of it. I never want to let the challenges of intersecting commerce and creativity rob me of that fundamental drive to connect.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

After I’d made several records in the major label system, I realized that the environment I was in at my label was becoming spiritually, emotionally, and creatively disordered. I had lost the plot on what made me fall in love with music in the first place, thinking in terms of numbers and metrics and pleasing the people who were funding my projects. After long deliberation I decided to get free of my deal and go independent so that I could better serve myself and my audience by making things that were at least somewhat less encumbered by the over-consideration of an arbitrary and ultimately meaningless “bottom line.” This wasn’t free of difficulty, as almost nobody around me was very pleased with my decision to go that route at the time, but I knew that I had to make a change or I was going to just give up and quit making anything. The pain of that idea was simply worse than the pain of leaving, so I pivoted.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://audreyassad.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/audreyassad
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/audreyassadmusic
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/audreyassad
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AudreyAssad
• Other: http://tiktok.com/@audreyassad

Image Credits
Jeremy Cowart, Matthew Tyler Priestley