We were lucky to catch up with Lisa Mitts recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lisa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

While I love songwriting, recording and performing just for the sake of the creativity and artistry itself, I started advocating for survivors of human trafficking by doing benefit concerts that were also opportunities to educate the community. My first benefit concert was back in June of 2012 having released a music video we produced specifically for this cause. The video (Where Has Love Gone?) was an original song I had written that year with R&B artist, Allen Stone right before he was signed to Capital Records. The video continues to grow on YouTube and in the last year exploded from 39K views to 410K views as of today. Since then I have done annual benefit concerts in Washington State, Florida and now Arizona for the last couple of years. Our recent concert this past Oct. 22nd was the best we have had to date with many city leaders attending as well as survivors sharing their powerful overcoming stories. I have my full band performing with me and for the last two years, my producer, Brandon Bee has flown in as well to be part of 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

While I was raised in music and theater as a young child all the way through my first year of college as a piano performance major, I put all that aside after my first year of performing in front of juries and decided I didn’t want to be a classical pianist. Instead I majored in Broadcasting Production and went to work for one of the NBC affiliates after graduating. However, then I got married and raised a family – I put everything aside to support that priority and worked alongside my husband in healthcare and business. It wasn’t until 2010 when my youngest was 10 years old that I felt like I really wanted to revisit my music but this time writing and recording Christian worship songs. I had led worship for several years at that point, but I wanted to do something more professional. I was able to work with Allen Stone when he was very young and just breaking into the industry…he produced my first three albums and actually co-wrote my 3rd album “You Found Me” and brought in some of his band at the time to record it.
When that album released in Oct of 2011, he went on Conan Live and I knew that was the last time I would be able to work with him. But I continued to write new songs and I was introduced to Canadian artist, Jon Bryant who started to produce and record my 4th album, Songbird. However, circumstances prevented him from finishing the album and through some contacts I had, doors opened for me and I was able to finish recording the album at the renowned Castle Studios in Franklin, TN. Several well known Nashville musicians, such as Gordon Mote, Joel Keys, Chip Davis and Spenser Ward recorded on a few of my songs.
After that project I worked locally in the Seattle area again with another producer and eventually I was able to meet a producer and artist Brandon Bee, who I had heard about for 8 years, even from Allen Stone. I started working with Brandon in Oct of 2019 on a new EP called The Breakthrough. It was appropriately titled for me because in 2020 I received the International Singer Songwriter Association’s Gold Album of the Year.
Since then I have co-written many singles with Brandon, several of which I received awards for from different music organizations, and he went on to produce my next two albums, Fly Away (the title cut music video received the 2022 Winter World Songwriting Award for Best Video) and my latest album, Where Did It Go, of which I am most proud. I really love all the songs on that and the style of music reflected on the project.

I believe that my story is one of hope and encouragement, which is why I write so many songs about not giving up and holding on to hope, bringing light in the darkness. With so much craziness in the world today and so much division, my music is inspired to give that kind of encouragement and hope. I also am an example that it’s never too late to go for your dream! Having not really pursued my music professionally until in my 40’s, I always encourage everyone to not give up and to pursue what makes you feel alive and with purpose.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I think that many non-creatives might look at us creatives as those just doing a hobby…in other words, not a “real career’…but what they don’t realize is how hard we work. As a music artist and songwriter, I wear about 7 hats that cross over into many fields of work. For example,, I have to raise all my funding for my music projects, which cost tens of thousands of dollars…so I have had to learn how to really build my tribe of supporters and patrons, which includes a lot of communication and finding ways to reward them. Once I finish the creative phase of writing and recording in the studio with my producer, I also have to work with my photographer for a cover photo and with a graphics designer for the text and formatting for both digital distribution and hard cover CD’s. I also wear the marketing and promotion hat on social media and through my email list of supporters. Then there is the booking manager hat I wear which is countless hours of sending in my bio, press kit to venues and festival managers for performing. The songwriter and recording artist hats often get pushed aside if we aren’t careful because we are trying so hard to build our solid following of loyal fans and listeners in a huge sea of independent musicians and artists today. Many people aren’t aware that there are about 40K songs that get uploaded everyday to Spotify – think about that and how hard it is to make a living from streaming today – it’s pretty much impossible unless you have millions of streams, which as an unknown Indie Artist I don’t have…so I have to work extra hard to book performances and enlist patrons. Those of us creatives know exactly what I’m talking about.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Part of my resilience has come from being encouraged by other artists to keep going…I remember feeling really kinda discouraged and like ‘what’s the point?’ in 2019 right before I met my current producer…I was wondering if it was worth all the investment of finances and time. Then I had a change of mindset – I realized ‘hey I’m not doing this to be famous or for everyone to love my music’…rather, I realized this was my passion. This was the gift God gave me and I wanted to share it with whoever resonated with it. It was shortly after that, that I received my first significant music award for Album of the Year for my EP, The Breakthrough. I also recently have had these epiphany moments when I am performing – I feel so alive and passionate about the music…and I can see it in other people who are there listening. For me that continues to build my resilience and purpose as an artist and songwriter.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lisamittsmusic.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisamittsmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LisaMittsMusic/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/LisaMitts
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC59HoVZipYAWTgTnyQwhEfQ

Image Credits
I have rights to all the photos