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

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

Probably watching SNL. I discovered a lot of my favorite bands from seeing them perform as musical guests on SNL. That show in general made me want to perform professionally in some capacity, whether it happened to be music, comedy, or something similar.

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’m from a really small, rural town in East Tennessee called Tazewell that’s located in the middle of Appalachia. It was a very isolated environment and I knew from a young age that I didn’t really want to live there for the rest of my life. Thankfully, my parents worked really hard to take my sister and I on small vacations here and there to see what’s outside of Tazewell. My parents made sure to make us aware of good music and pop culture, so I eventually used music, writing, and movies as my escape while I dreamed of the day I left Tazewell. It’s a very cliche origin story, but I think there’s a lot of kids out there who still benefit from hearing these things. It always gave me hope hearing about artists I admired being from similar circumstances.

I started playing guitar at 9 and quickly became obsessed with trying to write my own songs. I would spend hours in my room just tinkering with guitar or writing stories, and eventually realized I could sing in high school. It took me a long time to get the courage to actually start pursuing music, but my husband really gave me some much needed courage, and I’ve been doing it nonstop for the past 6 years.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

As bleak as it sounds, fear kind of drives me the most. Because I know that if I don’t at least try to pursue my artistic goals then I’m going to be left with a life full of regret, and that’s my biggest fear.

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

It’s just really fun to experiment and see what your own brain can come up with. The most rewarding part to me is how you can surprise yourself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lbbeistad.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lbbeistad/?hl=en

Image Credits
Phantom Cat Productions