We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Hannah Lou Woods a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hannah Lou, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
Hello Canvas Rebel! Thank you so much for inviting me to share. I feel like as a musician or person on a more creative life path you’re always taking a risk, as it’s not always certain what will happen, and certainly there is also some financial risk as well. I feel like a lot of my life has been about taking little “risks,” little steps outside of my comfort zone here and there, that gradually led to bigger risks, bigger leaps of faith and trust that it’ll work out or that I’m capable of figuring out how to make it work. Taking a risk to me means constantly facing my fear of failure/ the unknown and moving forward with the ‘crazy’ idea anyway. If it’s something that I feel strongly I need to do on an internal level, I do it, even if half the time I’m slightly terrified or anxious, because some part of me knows that’s the next step I need to take.
For example, when I was 18, I took a chance and moved from a smaller midwest town to a big city Boston, and though it was a little scary for me at the time, I knew it was the right choice to make, and it ended up leading to so so many other opportunities. For example, getting to study abroad in Greece. And that experience gave me more confidence to travel abroad in general. The next thing I knew I was headed to Kenya with a non-profit called Global Youth Groove, focused on cultural music exchange and bringing instruments and computers to underserved communities. It was there that I met my friend Dave Chapman, and where we had the idea to start a project called We Saw Lions. I took a risk and traveled to Sedona by myself for a month where I worked at a retreat center and was able to do yoga and meditation. I went there to take care of myself and ended up meeting the love of my life. After living in Boston for a while, my husband and I decided to take a slightly larger risk and move to a tiny mountain town in New Mexico, where he had friends who had a home in the mountains that needed long-term. He’d been teaching yoga full-time and was wanting a career change, and I was feeling the call to slow down, connect more deeply with nature, and try and find a different way to do this music career thing that didn’t result in total burnout. While there, a friend from Instagram Equanimous reached out and asked if I had any music that would like some label support, which led to We Saw Lions (the project I started with Dave back in Boston) getting music released on Jumpsuit Records. Equanimous also sent a song over that he thought we might like to remix, an electronica/guided meditation track called “Cellular Upgrade” that he made with the artist Activation. I didn’t really know either of them, but took a risk and said why not, let’s try it. I rearranged it and wrote lyrics and from my tiny town in New Mexico, recorded the vocals, sent it to Dave in LA who added additional production mixed it, and somehow the song now has over 7 million streams. But all of that came from taking tiny risks over time. I couldn’t have written that song without having had the life experiences I’ve had, without having moved to New Mexico, without having gone to Kenya and met Dave, without all of the millions of tiny risks and steps that I took before that moment.
Taking a chance, taking a risk, doing something new or out of the ordinary is always a little scary, because there are certainly times when it doesn’t always go the way one wants it to, but from every experience there’s something to learn, even if it’s, “okay I definitely don’t want to do that again.” Through being brave and taking little steps and risks, we can grow in our ability to take bigger leaps and try bigger things, to potentially make a bigger impact and bring more beauty and inspiration into the world. I’m currently at another growth edge – my next leap of faith is moving from MN to San Francisco in June with my husband who just got a job there. I don’t really know too many people there yet, but I trust that I will find my way, one risk, one tiny step outside of my comfort zone at a time.
(PS If anyone out there in the Bay area is reading this, feel free to shoot me a message and say hi – would love to connect or collab! :D)
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
A little bit about me…I am a singer-songwriter, music artist and creative soul on a journey of expressing and understanding the deeper aspects of who I am through music, art, and other healing modalities. I share my art with the hope that it might help people in some way, whether that’s feeling inspiration or joy, giving people more permission to feel what they feel, or to feel less alone in their experience of those feelings, my hope is that my music can add a little more beauty and light into the world.
How I got into songwriting, music, and self-expression as a pathway for healing and self-discovery:
Music was always around while I was growing up. My dad was always listening to different types of music, my mom was a musician, and my older sister, three younger brothers and I all ended up being pretty musical. My parents really encouraged us to learn music and all of us took piano lessons. It was also an avenue of self-expression for me, a place where I had more room to explore my voice and feelings, where I could process my life experiences, and also, I just found it so fun to be able to create my own music, to be able to express who I was at a deeper level than just words could say.
I started writing songs in middle school, when I learned more about jazz and improvisation and poetry and it all sort of started to combine. My original plan was to be a doctor – I just wanted to help people feel better. I was on that trajectory towards becoming a doctor, but then this music thing just kept calling. I’d share a song and it would make someone cry and I’d be like hm… maybe there’s something to this…I learned about the field of music therapy, and about Berklee College of Music, and I sort of just applied on a whim thinking like there’s no way I could get in there, but then I did, and well the rest is history as they say, I’ve been doing music ever since.
Types of creative works that I provide:
The types of creative works and services I provide are all centered around songwriting, music, and creative expression as pathways for healing and awakening to deeper aspects of oneself. Currently, I have a few different music projects I’m working on, each feeling like a different aspect of my consciousness—a slightly different internal channel that wants to express itself. Each project has its own color and feeling.
“Hannah Lou Woods” songs usually come from the deepest aspects of myself and consciousness. They are very personal, originating from a more vulnerable place inside. I use real instruments in the production to reflect that raw, authentic, unstripped quality and deeper expression. It feels like a place for my deepest truths and feelings to reside, and it’s much more acoustic singer-songwriter-based.
“We Saw Lions” is more electronic and pop-oriented, and has a more produced sound. It’s a place for me to have fun, play, experiment, and try out different sounds and expressions. I’ve even recently been playing with different outfits and hairstyles. The songs feel more universal and a little more dance-oriented, sometimes more mystical/spiritual. It almost feels like an alter-ego for me, like a different aspect of my consciousness peering through that I’m still coming to know. For this project, I try to create the type of music that while also honoring all feelings, also lifts my heart open with joy and freedom and makes me want to dance, songs that are maybe a little easier for people to sing along to. It’s also one big experiment in throwing paint at the wall and seeing what happens. There’s a sort of mystery about this project unfolding itself over time, even to me. It also feels more collaborative in nature, sometimes almost like the songs and messages are more for the collective than just myself, if that makes sense. Originally, I started this project with my friend Dave Chapman, though it has since evolved to include other collaborators/co-producers as well.
“The Arrow & the Bow” is a folk-pop duo project I started with my friend Hillary Reynolds back in Boston. It started as a yearning we both had to travel to Ireland and Scotland, and writing music about our travels and our own journeys of healing and self-discovery through music. Hillary is an incredible songwriter and I am super grateful to get to make music together. We’ve mostly been remote since we both left Boston, but we have some new stuff in the works :)
I’ve also released two fan-funded albums under my previous name, Hannah Christianson.
In addition to these music projects, I also provide music therapy, sound healing, songwriting support for other songwriters, and music and self-empowerment workshops. I guide others to use songwriting and music as tools for self-reflection and self-expression. I particularly enjoy sharing live music for events connected to honoring nature, as well as yoga events and classes, especially those centered around celebrating the solstices and equinoxes. During these events, I mostly play improvised music to reflect the energy and feeling in the room, following the yoga teacher’s flow. I curate and create music to hold space for people as they move, flow, and process emotions. I love these events and the power that music can have, especially after people have been moving and breathing and becoming more present with themselves. There’s a deeper kind of listening that can happen when I share a song in Savasana (a common final pose in yoga classes when people are resting on the floor). It’s a different kind of experience sharing music in that setting compared to sharing music at a bar. To me, it feels like the music can have a greater impact and can provide a safer space for more unprocessed emotions to exist.
What types of problems music solves / what’s unique about my music:
If music solves any problem, I think it’s that it helps people feel what they’re actually feeling, it gives permission for people to feel, and to feel less alone in those feelings, and in that way people can feel seen, or feel things they couldn’t express themselves. Every artist brings something unique, because of the nature of every individual’s life experiences, no two people have the same experience, so I think what sets me apart as an artist is my own journey through life. Maybe some other artists feel this way as well, but I also think part of the uniqueness of what I bring is the level of vulnerability and openness I go to within myself to write something that feels true and authentic to me and my path, and the uniqueness is there because of my unique experiences as a human. For me, it’s not just a song, it’s a piece of me bubbling up to the surface to be seen. It takes a lot of courage to share these parts of myself with the world, as they’re not just the usual day to day things that are shared. It often feels like I’m turning myself inside-out. I think every artist does this to some extent, but yes, I think that’s part of what makes an artist more powerful, is how true it is to them, even if it’s just a story, how much does that story become an authentic reflection and extension of a deeper emotional truth that resides within?
What makes this path meaningful to me:
I think what makes this path so valuable and meaningful to me is the way that it’s nurtured and required me to stay true and more deeply connect with myself, to follow and find my own way within the music world, to continue to listen to that inner voice, even if it doesn’t make sense to the ‘normal’ voice in my head about the way things are ‘supposed’ to be done, and how through doing that, I’ve been able to support others on their own paths towards living a more beautiful life. To know that my music has made an impact on someone is deeply meaningful. When I receive messages from people about how a particular song helped them get through their depression or how it helped someone get through a divorce, messages like that are just so meaningful to me, and they remind me of why I share the songs. I write the songs first for myself, and I share the songs with the hope that it will help others on their way, that it will help make this world a little more beautiful place for people to be. To know that I’ve created music that feels true to me, and that somehow that music and authentic expression has helped people on their way, that’s the type of thing that makes all of the hard things about the path worth it.
Something else I’d love people to know:
I recently released an EP called Meet Me at the Pine Tree. It’s a collection of love songs that I gave to my husband over 8 and a half years ago, and I’m finally ready to share this vulnerable part of myself with the world at large. Would love if people have the chance to check it out and listen!
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Well, it would be really great if music artists and songwriters could be paid more for streaming royalties. Another great step would be to have more funding for grants at the local, state, and federal levels. But the key to securing more funding, I think, lies in lawmakers and the general public changing their perception of music, to help them more fully realize its innate value, as well as the value of musicians’ lives, of what they bring to society and the world; that musicians deserve to be paid for their work. It would also be great if people could more fully recognize that art and music are not just for the talented, but for everyone. Music and art serve as pathways of expression, can aid individuals in becoming more aware of themselves and help people find meaning in their lives. These things are incredibly valuable, yet our society doesn’t prioritize them as much as other things such as productivity and societal accomplishment. It would be wonderful to see more integration of music and art into people’s daily lives, allowing people to more fully recognize that we are all creatives, shaping our lives moment by moment, choice by choice. If people were less afraid of making ‘bad’ art or music and instead saw it as a vehicle for self-expression and self-discovery, there could be greater appreciation for art and music, and in experiencing the value of it, there could potentially be more appreciation for artists and musicians who choose it as their profession and life-calling.
Expanding on this, other ideas that could support the creative ecosystem include offering more drop-in music classes for people of all ages. Similar to how there are yoga studios, there could be yoga + music studios, oriented towards creating community and supporting health, seeing music as a tool for taking care of one’s mental/emotional well-being, as well as a way for people to feel connected to each other. I recently saw a poster for a drop-in choir, where people could just drop in and sing together, with a different song each week. I think that type of thing is really cool. After high school and college, there are fewer opportunities for the average adult to participate in creating music just for the fun of it, not because they have to become proficient at it. I think it would be great to see more opportunities for people to make music together purely for enjoyment, without the pressure to excel.
On a more unconventional note, I think about all these stores that are in pretty much every major town and city, for example something like Target. What if these bigger corporations, with their larger budgets, supported local artists and musicians through a weekly concert series? How would that make the shopping experience more interesting and enjoyable while also supporting local musicians? I understand it might be a little far-fetched to imagine this as a possibility, and that it might not be the best fit for some artists, but imagine if these types of corporations could also focus on improving their local communities, creating local ecosystems that support creatives; if there were a local artist section and they also hired musicians to play throughout the week. Or a smaller TargetLocal store that featured only local artists/creatives. Or what if there were live musicians at the grocery store? I know it sounds kind of weird, and I’m sort of just brainstorming here, but I think it’d be interesting to have music in places you normally wouldn’t think to have it. I think it could bring more beauty and enjoyment into people’s lives, help people understand its value, as well as support local musicians and artists. I don’t know if larger corporations would consider such initiatives to improve the quality of life of their local community, but I think it would be an interesting experience and a way for music and art to be more integrated into ‘normal’ life experiences. I do think it’s in these corporations’ best interest to support the communities they live in, as on top of just being a good thing, it could also create more general community engagement with their stores and improve their brand image. Another aspect of this could be if our government offered some type of tax incentive to businesses to hire local and regional musicians.
Additionally, helping local musicians and artists have a more of a clear role and place in their local community could help musicians feel more valued and supported. Of course we are now in an online world and that’s important to share and find your community there as well, but I just think about my experience living in this small town in New Mexico in the mountains, and just how supportive and appreciative people there were towards me and my art. There was active interest in supporting the arts and it really made me feel like a valued part of the community. You don’t have to be super super famous to feel and be ‘successful,’ and I think it would be great if there were more events centered around community connection through music and art.
I think about when I was in Scotland, and I was at this pub, and there was a ukulele/guitar jam. Me and a bunch of strangers were just hanging out, singing, and playing together for the joy of it. Some songs had the whole pub joining in, and it wasn’t weird; people weren’t self-conscious, they were just connecting through music. I think it would be cool if we had more spontaneous moments of music like that here in the US. But how do we create that kind of culture? Making music more accessible to all people and shifting the perception of it being about performance, and instead about connection with each other, I think that could be a key component to helping more creative people thrive.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
I would say the goal or mission of my artistry is first and foremost to come to know myself more deeply, to awaken to deeper aspects of myself, and to learn to love all the parts that make up who I am, and secondly, to share those stories and journeys with others, with the hope that it might also help them in some way. Music and healing have always been intertwined for me. Healing, “to make whole,” through songwriting is my way of letting all the parts of myself have a space to exist, to recognize and bring all these parts back into “wholeness,” to hold these parts with loving awareness. For me, music is the external reflection of my inner transformations and journeys that I go on as I walk through this life trying to be the truest version of myself I can be, as I work towards awakening to and remembering my innate wholeness, through honoring the parts that might feel a little ‘broken’ or unheard / unseen/ unloved. My writing comes from a willingness to feel what I’m feeling, to be honest with myself, and to express it and translate it. Music is my pathway for understanding myself and the world I live in, for processing emotions that I can’t put into words, and I use it to express these deeper truths and feelings, to bring my internal experience of reality into a form. Music is the way that I bring the unconscious / subconscious aspects of myself into my awareness. Music provides more depth and context and meaning than words alone. Music is an extension of a piece of myself into existence, a way for me to exist in a deeper, truer way. Music is how I make sense of things, and my hope is that through sharing my voice, I give more permission to others to feel more free to be themselves too, to feel what they’re feeling, and to feel less alone in the feeling. I share music with the hopes that it can help create a more beautiful, brave, and kind world.
Contact Info:
- Website: hannahlouwoods.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/musicofhannah
- Facebook: facebook.com/musicofhannah
- Youtube: youtube.com/musicofhannah
- Other: Hannah Lou Woods Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1pyNviNd9ynV412ssDL8y7?si=4uhkgKriSYWGCGA9N9Cl5Q Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/musicofhannah Bandcamp: musicofhannah.bandcamp.com We Saw Lions Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1BBKQjR7zHHlrdOZ6wEGpM?si=_x2Y1KJHSNOipA0XoACbyw The Arrow & the Bow Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0wO4r8UvTi8uS8Rp3Dq5aN?si=KIHb0TjuR1abw8Kn5MzjSA Spotify Playlist of all the music I’ve ever released: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6BEDfWGyPvvxBFumAArxdI?si=13ebd94613024633
Image Credits
Elizabeth Evans – Nature Goddess Photography Kaden Demer – Atomick Productions Jeffrey Woods Alexis Politz