We recently connected with Alice Hasen and have shared our conversation below.

Alice, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

My mother, Anne, has been a professional flute player in the Vermont Symphony Orchestra for over 30 years. Even before I was born, I was surrounded by music almost daily. I grew up under the wing of the entire orchestra, with musicians of all backgrounds playing a part in my experiences backstage and at rehearsals and concerts. Mom was always very honest with me about what it would take to make it to the level of being a professional musician, often reminding me that there were easier paths in life. She paid for all my violin lessons, made sure I practiced, coached me through my first auditions and kept my standards high. Though I ultimately chose to pursue music outside of the classical world, this upbringing was essential for my foundations of technique and discipline that brought me where I am today.

Being a professional musician is not without its doubts, and there are days when I wonder if I made the right choice to go down this road. But because my mother chose to make music her career, it makes it easier for me to accept the same ups and downs of the job. I know that she sees music as a worthy calling, and this has blazed a path through the trees for me.

In recent years, Mom has decided to transition her focus away from music slightly, taking a job at Sugarbush Ski Resort. Though she still plays in the VSO, she has shown me that there is more to life than simply being at the pinnacle of one’s career. In a competitive field where it’s easy to feel like one’s work is never done, Mom has demonstrated a willingness to put happiness and health before status. She is the person who has pushed me the farthest, but she is also one of the people who keeps me the most grounded in life.

My dad, John, bought me my first real violin and is also a lover of the performing arts. (My parents actually met in a production of “Brigadoon,” with Dad on stage acting and Mom playing flute in the pit!) Throughout my life, while Mom provided the drive, discipline and focus, Dad has showered me with the love and support of being my biggest fan. Though he led a very respectable career as a lawyer for the state of Vermont (with my brother also becoming an attorney), Dad has always regarded my unconventional career with the deepest admiration, interest and respect. He follows every twist and turn of my journey, sometimes discovering a new photo, post or review before I do! Along with Mom, Dad affirms and grounds me, reminding me of how proud he is of every accomplishment. As many people who follow an artistic calling know, this is NOT the attitude of all parents! I feel incredibly lucky to be the daughter of two people who believe that the most important thing in life is being happy and pursuing one’s dreams.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a Vermonter, born and raised. When I was four years old, my mother, a professional flute player in the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, asked me not whether I would like to play an instrument, but which instrument I would like to play. Since the violins sit in the front of the orchestra, thus being highly prominent in the eyes of a four-year-old, the violin is the instrument I chose. I had no idea that it could be so challenging, versatile and beguiling.

Though I participated in a few fiddlin’ circles in my youth, my early musical education was primarily a classical one. I participated in the Vermont Youth Orchestra and played the flute in high school band, auditioning for seats, solos and accolades. I got into Yale University and played in the Yale Symphony Orchestra, and for a while, found my tribe. When it was time to look for jobs after graduation, I applied to Teach For America, and got a placement in the Deep South in the fall of 2012 – teaching high school band in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

I had never been to Mississippi, tasted fried pickles, heard of an okra or drank anything but “unsweet tea” (I had just called it iced tea up to this point). Let’s just say it was a huge culture shock. My first year teaching at Coahoma County High School was tempestuous, with some of the other teachers placing bets on whether I’d last till Thanksgiving. On top of coming home in tears every other weekday, I was without a single classical music outlet. My violin, fresh from my senior recital, stayed in its case for months. I felt like a limb was chopped off. This continued until the fall of 2013, when my roommate invited a few local friends over for a living room “jam session.” These friends, Seth Stroud and Walt Busby, both played guitar and happened to be friendly enough to invite me to jam with them on Beatles tunes, Led Zeppelin and The Band. I contributed cautious, soft notes. I knew some of the tunes from my dad’s CD collection, but I wasn’t used to playing without sheet music to guide me.

Fast forward a few years, and our band, now called the Blackwater Trio (after the mighty Mississippi River, canonized in a Doobie Brothers song) was one of the hottest acts in the Mississippi Delta. We were playing every restaurant, wedding, country club, small festival, Christmas party, and even in a few of the more exclusive blues clubs (on rock night). We had a few originals on a demo cd, the labels of which I printed out in my band director’s office after hours. We had zany stories from the road, a gaggle of fans and band drama that occasionally flared up. I left my teaching position in the spring of 2015 to try out a new life, sleeping in until 11 am or later, then staying up playing the rockstar. I fostered two puppies and adopted a kitten. But the boundaries of a small town started to creep into my peripheral vision. I decided to move to Memphis.

In the fall of 2016, I packed up my belongings in a U-Haul with the help of my Clarksdale friends, and headed for a new life in Memphis. At first, I didn’t know anyone, but after going to the same bars every night (the helpful advice of a friend) I started to make some new musical acquaintances. Soon, I was booking the Blackwater Trio in different spots around town. But some invisible box was still hemming me in. I began to experiment with writing songs that were just for me, not necessarily for the Trio. After a few attempts, I gathered a few friends together and we started to bring a new sound to life. In October of 2018 I had my first solo show, which I called Alice Hasen & the Blaze. I hemorrhaged money for a while, making sure my new band mates were paid, even when we lost money on the door. My boyfriend, Brandon, kindly shot some free video.

Now, four years later, Alice Hasen & the Blaze is an established act in Memphis, and I diversify my musical portfolio as a side fiddler, instructor and recording artist. I’ve played some of the biggest festivals in Memphis, Mississippi and Arkansas, recorded with amazing artists, traveled up, down and sideways through the US, and even appeared – for a few seconds – on national television. I’ve released an album, as well as several singles and music videos. I still play the occasional gig that doesn’t pay – or even costs me money after expenses – but now I know what my calling is.

It took this classical Vermont violinist a one-way trip to the Deep South to find herself. There, a few friends “turned me to the dark side” and unleashed a new creature who carries a purple electric violin, wears leopard print and plays the music in her heart.

I like to allow myself total freedom in song structure, style and the option to take any song in a new direction during its performance. In general, I try to stay outside the boxes of the established fiddle traditions like Country, Bluegrass, Celtic, Western swing, etc. I make sure that my “fiddle-powered groove band” stays rooted in the Memphis heritage of funk, rock and jazz, but we can stray into pop, hip-hop and even reggae territory. Perhaps fitting for someone who has spent a lot of time near Robert Johnson’s famous crossroads, I feel the most at home at the crossroads of genre, pushing the traditional sounds of violin and fiddle out of their comfort zones. I use a loop station and pedalboard to expand the capabilities of the violin.

I heavily focus on environmental issues in my songwriting. A native Vermonter, I grew up walking in the woods, hiking Mt. Mansfield and swimming in Lake Champlain. Only after moving away from these places did I truly understand how special they, and all natural places, really are. I write about conservation and climate change awareness because we only have one earth, and it is clear that we need to act now to save our home.

As far as services, I’m available for the following:

Live performances, from a solo violin to a five-piece band, playing original songs and covers, both in the South and on tour

Recording work, both on-site and remote

Arranging work – string sections, string quartets, trios, etc

Fiddle workshops and private lessons

Weddings, parties and other events, from solo violin to five-piece band

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Short answer? Not having a conventional workweek, getting to wear whatever crazy outfit I want, and all the attention.

Just kidding – those things are great but not the MOST amazing part of being an artist! There are so many rewards to following one’s calling. I think that the greatest one, though, is the knowledge that you are spending these fleeting, quicksilver moments of life doing the one thing you can’t live without. You will never have to have a “What if I could do it all again?” moment. At the end, you will know that you followed your dream.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Two books that come to mind are “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield and “Letters to a Young Poet” by Rilke.

“The War of Art” was recommended to me by another fiddler, a friend who, like me, often finds it hard to create. The book is about naming, examining and ultimately overcoming “Resistance” – the fear that keeps us from pursuing artistic creation. I’ve always had a hard time getting myself to write songs and still do, but reading this book puts a face and origin to this fear, and pretty much gives you a “tough love” pep talk. It’s a must-read for anyone who always is finding their creative work getting pushed to the bottom of their to-do list.

I read “Letters to a Young Poet” in college. It’s a short compilation of letters between Rilke and Franz Xaver Kappus, a 19-year old budding poet who wrote to the older, wiser poet asking his feedback on his poems. Rilke writes back with all sorts of wonderful pieces of advice, my favorite of which goes something like this:

Allow your art to exist in the world without judgment for a period of time. Let it breathe before it is subjected to scrutiny.

I think this is a beautiful idea, almost like treating an artistic creation like a living thing. So often, I find myself coming up with a new lyric or melody, only to immediately tell myself that it’s no good. That’s not fair to either of us; give art time to breathe and just exist. It’s a beautiful, vulnerable concept.

Contact Info:

• Website: alicehasen.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alicehasen/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AliceHasenMusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/musiccongo/videos?app=desktop&view=0&sort=dd&shelf_id=0

Image Credits
Jamie Harmon, Chuck Mitchell, Bo McAninch, Zephyr McAninch, MizStefani, Stan Street, Daneel Ferreira, PhotographyMiyabi