We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Callie Young a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Callie , thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

The day I wrote my first song, I knew I would be writing songs for the rest of my life. I started my musical journey at the age of 9, taking vocal, drum, and guitar lessons. As soon as I learned my first guitar chords, I started coming up with my own progressions, then immediately started playing around with lyrics and using this as an outlet for my emotions. I’ve been writing my feelings and experiences into songs since before I was 10 years old, so songwriting has truly helped me through most of my life.

Callie , 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?

My name is Callie Young and I am a 23 year old singer/songwriter. I grew up in Colorado on my family’s cattle ranch, and have been inspired by music, art, and dance from a very young age. I have released two singles since the beginning of 2023, “say to me” and “color of my heart,” which you can find on all music streaming platforms! I began my musical journey at a young age in the footsteps of my older brother, Garrett Young. I started singing at local venues with him and began to fall in love with performing and writing music from that point on. My brother and I then decided to come together and form a four-piece band, The Garrett Young Collective, where we have played countless shows throughout Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and California. Following our tour through Texas, where we opened for Mike Ryan at Antone’s nightclub, my brother and I were chosen to perform with Chevel Shepherd (winner of Season 15, The Voice!). We toured as her band for 8 months, opening for Little Big Town, Lee Brice, Brothers Osborne, and more!

I have also studied songwriting through Berklee School of Music Online, where I have earned a few certificates, including my Advanced Professional Songwriting certificate, and I was recently awarded Favorite Female Crossover Artist on the Independent Music Network. My goal in the music that I write is to be fearlessly sensitive and write my experiences and feelings as honestly as I can, to not only help myself heal but in hopes of helping others heal or feel related to.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is when something that came from my heart and life experience touches someone else. I write songs in order for me to heal and make sense of my experiences in this life, and if the words that I write can also help someone else to cope or feel less alone in their experience, that is the reason I do what I do. My greatest love is songwriting, but there is also no other feeling like being up on a stage getting to perform my songs for people.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

As an independent artist, you are in charge of writing, recording, distributing, promoting, and everything else that goes into making and releasing music. I think the easiest way to help support artists is to engage on their socials. Every single follow, share, stream, or comment makes a big difference. One of the hardest parts of being an independent artist today is having to constantly work on growing social media accounts, on top of trying to build a name for yourself. If you see an artist you like, hit the follow button or leave a comment! Some of the most helpful ways to show support are sharing an artist’s content or music on social media platforms, creating a video using that artist’s song, adding an artist’s music to your Spotify playlists, pre-saving an artist’s song before it’s released, or just spreading awareness by telling everyone you know!

Buying an artist’s merch is another extremely helpful way to support because it is a form of advertising as well as a way to make money for independent artists, who are funding everything themselves.

You can also support independent artists just by listening to their music! I think a lot of people don’t know that an artist gets an average of $.004 per stream on their music, so artists need a lot of streams to start making money. Also, the more streams, the more the analytics work, and the higher chance for that song to end up on playlists for more people to hear it!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://callieyoungmusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/callieyoung_music/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/callieyoungmusic/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/c_young_music
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3bTg10JffZUzL-TFbmb8MA
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@callieyoungmusic?lang=en
• LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/callieyoungmusic
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3zEK5NoON5ktCNi7DimyNd
• Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ca/artist/callie-young/1604957457

Image Credits
Grace Cacho, Gary Vandenberg