We recently connected with Angie Petty and have shared our conversation below.
Angie , appreciate you joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?
I’m extremely happy as an artist! It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and I feel as though I’ve really come into my own in this career path in the last 2 years. I’m doing things I could only have dreamed of 10 years ago. But it’s not all roses, there’s days I question if this is something I can do long term and continue to make a living. I constantly get in my head about again and what that will mean, especially as a woman. I’d like to have kids…one day but I don’t know what this career will look like for me as a mom. I always wonder what it would be like to have a “normal” job with steady income and a 401k and all that. But, I’m happy and I take it day by day. As long as I’m happy, that’s what matters most. Until music doesn’t make me happy, I’ll keep at it.
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’ve lived in Salt Lake City my whole life. I’ve lived a wonderful life (so far) with the mountains as my foreground and background. I grew up in a very musical family. Pretty much everyone in my family has some sort of musical ability if not a career in music. I grew up on a stage performing since I was little. Whether it was with singing groups, competitive dance or fronting a band, its been a normal part of my life. I’ve been a professional performer/musician for about 10 years now and I truly love what I do.
I’ve had many iterations of what I do in music. I’ve had eras of singing in wedding bands, jazz bands and staged performances but the current era I’m in is my artistry era. This is my favorite era so far. In my artistry, I write and release songs, band lead and play solo shows with my guitar. This is a phase of my career that has completely brought me independence and fulfillment in ways I never imagined.
The thing I’m most proud of right now is my guitar abilities. I bought my first guitar 2 years ago and have been playing solo shows with it since then. I learned really fast taking various lessons from other musicians in SLC and teaching myself…and a lot of Youtube tutorials.
Have you ever had to pivot?
I truly love singing in front of a band. I love the live collaboration playing with other musicians can bring. Its truly something special when you and your bandmates lock in and transcend the music you’re playing. But, relying on other musicians to back me up so I could sing was actually holding me back. I’ve had a lot of opportunities come up in the past to play a show but I had to say no because my band wasn’t available.
When I decided to learn guitar and start accompanying myself, it was mostly so I could become more independent as a singer and accompany myself for shows so I never had to miss an opportunity to play, whether I had a band or not. What I didn’t know was how much playing guitar was going to expand my musical vocabulary and help my voice develop in new ways. Its been a steep learning curve to be able to play guitar while singing but I put in a lot of practice hours and refused to give up. I’m so proud of myself for sticking with it because being able to play solo shows has opened up a lot of opportunities and new endeavors that have furthered my career.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
I recently read The Creative Act: A Way Of Being by Rick Rubin and that really inspired me coming out of a winter driven rut. Every chapter is short (which I love) but packed full of tips how to get over yourself and just creative. A difficult part of being an artist is getting in my head about some of my original music, thinking its immature or worrying that if I put it out, other people will think it’s stupid. This book has quite a few chapters about how to get over that ego and release your art into the world because there might be one person, even just ONE that needs to hear it. And that’s enough. I’ll leave with one of my favorite quotes in the book: “Anything that allows the audience to access how you see the world is accurate, even if the information is wrong.”
Contact Info:
- Website: angiepetty.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apettymusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/apettymusic/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2Fapettymusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXA0bR91fwSrjOtaaWcs40Q?view_as=subscriber
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7DNasRbH23UhGQvJZ3B9Lx?si=NZe1J654RD6zf_d1zpOmTA https://music.apple.com/us/artist/angie-petty/1492572036
Image Credits
@maylormadephoto @cass..lyn