We recently connected with Alisa McCance and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Alisa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I have known that I wanted to pursue music since I was 6 years old. My elementary school announced that they were having a talent show. So I brought home the form and announced to my parents I was going to sing the song ‘Tomorrow’ from the movie ‘Annie.’ And that was the beginning of being hooked to performing! My life revolved around more talent shows, musicals, performances, basically if there was any chance I could get on stage, then I was there……Talent shows back then were a contest, which I have mixed feelings about today. The contest aspect kept me on my toes and made me work harder because I wanted to win. Ironically, it was always another girl and me battling it out between 1st and 2nd place. She got 1st way more than me and I really struggled with accepting that. I saw winning as the only way to validate myself. It has taken me a long time to accept that was not true at all and by it being a contest, it really hurt me. Over time, it wore me and my confidence down. At the same time, it gave me the determination to not stop pursuing music. However, I am glad to see that talent shows are not contests as much now. My daughters’ school just had a fun talent show. Nobody was turned away and it was the most beautiful room full of love and support for all of the children. That would have been wonderful to have when I was growing up.

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

I grew up in a small town in Georgia where I sang for anyone who would listen and also learned to play the piano and violin. Knowing I always wanted to be on stage, it wasn’t until college that I realized I could play my violin in country bands as a fiddler. So I started taking lessons to transition from classical violin to fiddle, began songwriting and joined some locals band in Atlanta (including my own headlining band). Soon after that, I started making trips back and forth to Nashville. Quickly realizing I needed to live and breathe the scene in music city, I made the big move after Rich Eckhardt encouraged me to do so. He’s the lead guitarist for Toby Keith and back then I had just opened on a side stage for Toby. Once I got to Nashville, I began songwriting more, playing fiddle for a lot of different artists and projects and trying to get a record deal. What am I most proud of with my music? That would have to be singing and playing fiddle with friend/producer Radney Foster at the Grand Ole’ Opry and at the Ryman Auditorium. The Opry and Ryman are those bucket list things you only dream about doing when moving to Nashville. I hope and pray to get back on those stages someday!!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I have had some health struggles along the way. One of them was having voice surgery back in 2008. Because I was playing fiddle so many hours a day, my neck muscles became tight which caused strain on my vocal chords. Eventually I developed a cyst on one of my chords. But it took a long time for doctors to figure out what was causing my hoarseness, etc. I would wake up in the morning and my voice would be gone. One of those mornings was when my duo partner at the time and I were supposed to have a label meeting with the label Warner Brothers. Needless to say, we couldn’t go to the meeting and it was devastating. When the voice center at Vanderbilt found the cyst, I was scheduled for surgery and it was a long road of recovery including vocal rest, vocal and speech therapy and physical therapy. There were times I would sit in my car after the appointment crying and thinking I would never sing or perform again. But I put in the hard work and came back from it, just took a lot longer than expected. I also developed asthma as an adult and had to figure that out. It also causes hoarseness and I have had to learn to put my health first, which is something I am still learning to do.

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

Deciding to start a family is definitely a time that I had to pivot my music career and life. The music industry has not always accepted women once they start to have children. I remember a friend losing her publishing deal because they found out she had a child. So I was very nervous about adding children into the equation. Now I cannot imagine my music or world without them! It has required major adjustments, as anyone with kids knows. The birth of our second daughter was very traumatic. She was born not breathing and blue due a condition I had called placenta previa. Then I had a hemorrhage. Meanwhile, we did not know if our daughter had lived for quite a while after being born. She did survive and is thriving. But it was all so terrifying and the worst thing I’ve ever experienced. My body took a long time to heal after her birth. I ended up back in the hospital with a blood clot, then struggled with postpartum depression and anxiety. Everything shifted and pivoted for me and I have learned to keep my health and family the priority. However my passion for music and being on stage has never gone away. I think it is a very exciting time for women in the music industry because more are showing that they have families, that you can have a career and kids. And many of the women are having success at what was once considered an older age for women in music. I’m grateful for the support of my husband and family that I get to continue chasing this wild dream.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.alisamccance.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alisamccance/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alisamccancemusic/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlisaMcCance
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alisamccance
• Other: Finally opened a tiktok, but haven’t done much to promote it! https://www.tiktok.com/@alisamccance?lang=en

Image Credits
Some of the photos are by Jeremy Ryan Creatives