We caught up with the brilliant and insightful April Kry a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
April , appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I think I somehow always knew I wanted to do music. As a child I would sing with my dad and sister all the time. In church…in our home and whenever my parents would have friends over I would always want to perform for them. I will say that the first time I really knew that I could probably do music as a job was when I had my first real “gig”. I was around 11 or 12 years old and I was asked to sing “God Bless America” at an auction for the local homeless shelter. The keynote speaker was Jermaine Jackson of the Jackson 5. I can’t tell you how many times I practiced that one song over and over. After my performance, my mom and I went up to get Jermaine’s autograph and he asked my mom for her number so he could keep in touch. He said I had something really special and I will never forget that moment. From that day forward I had my heart set on pursuing music as a career.
April , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I got into music because of my dad. He has always been my biggest inspiration and he still is. He was the worship leader at our church growing up and also was in a CCM band called Eastgate. After watching him branch out of the church and dive into his music with his band, I saw how dedicated he was to it. They ended up touring around some, and opened for Jars Of Clay and Sixpence None The Richer at this big outdoor amphitheater in our hometown. I still remember sitting at the merch table watching my dad in awe thinking to myself, “I’m going to do that one day”. Once my dad saw my love and passion for music, he refocused all of his energy into helping me achieve my dreams. Right after high school, and a fallen through management deal back home, I started going back and forth to Nashville to write and record. I fell in love with the city and the culture. I moved out there soon after. I started out in Pop and was primarily in that genre for my first few years in Nashville. After putting out a few pop projects I started to do more country writing sessions and got very involved in that scene. I soon got signed to an independent record label called Metric Records and began my journey as a new Country artist in Nashville. In some ways I did feel comfortable in the country genre but deep down I knew that it was never my home. After four years with the label we parted ways and I was completely independent. I had to relearn everything I thought I knew. I had always had a team of people doing everything for me behind the scenes so I could focus on my art. It was a HUGE reality check for me at the time. I had to schedule my shows, book my rehearsals, hire my band, finance my records. Slowly but surely I built myself back up and started to realize who I was and why I wanted to do music in the first place. I started writing for myself and no one else. That’s when I started to find my voice. Fast forward to 2020…right before the pandemic hit. I had saved up enough money to put out a full length album and was ready to go record it when, the entire world shut down. It stalled everything. Two years, and a baby later…here I am finally releasing that record. I had a plan and God surely laughed. I am so excited to share this record though. It’s been labor of love…literally. I had my son in the middle of making the album! But all good things take time and this album is all about growth, which is why I named it “Krysalis” ….no one talks about the the chrysalis growing stage the caterpillar needs to go through to become the butterfly. So I made a record about it.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding part for me is seeing how my music impacts people’s lives. Never would I have dreamed that someone would get my lyrics tattooed on their body…but it happened and my mind was just blown. I’ve had fans reach out to me and tell me that my music has brought them out of a really dark time in their life. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. To be a light.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
I think there are a lot of old laws and practices in place that are hindering artists, and songwriters especially. It shouldn’t be as hard as it is to generate an income by releasing music. Streaming services are truly robbing creatives by giving them not even pennies on the dollar for a stream. So I think reform needs to happen…and it happening but very slowly. I applaud the songwriters and lawyers on the front line fighting for us. But on the flip side, for consumers, it is relatively easy to support artists in today’s day and age. If you are using a streaming service…pay for premium. We get more $ per stream that way. And please, PLEASE for the love of all things….if an artist you like asks you to pre-save their single or album, pre-save it and send it to everyone you know to do the same. Pre saves help build up hype around the song or songs we are releasing and help us get on playlists and/or chart. Its super important for us ad I don’t think people realize how easy and FREE it is to pre save a song. And lastly, support us by liking, commenting, sharing our stuff on social media, coming to our shows and tipping us. Reaching out to us and letting us know how our music has impacted you. It means SO much more than you know.
Contact Info:
- Website: aprilkry.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/aprilkrymusic
- Facebook: Facebook.com/aprilkry
- Twitter: twitter.com/aprilkrymusic
- Youtube: YouTube.com/aprilkry
Image Credits
Libby Danforth