We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Olivia Love a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Olivia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?
I was ten or so, walking around Central Park with my mom. We were visiting family and doing all the quintessential tourism stuff. We saw a violinist playing for tips at the mouth of a tunnel, and stopped to listen. I had been playing the violin for about three years at that point, and was in such genuine awe of how cool he was, and how effortless his playing seemed. When he finished his song, I approached him with some cash and shyly told him I also played the violin. He got a big smile on his face and asked if I would like to play a song. He then did something that I would frankly never do for a child and/or stranger, and handed me his violin. I played…something? An Irish standard, I think. As I played, people were passing through the tunnel. Most walked right by, a few stopped, and one dropped a dollar in the case. When I finished the song and handed the instrument back, the violinist handed me the dollar. He asked me if I’d ever been paid to play music before, and when I said no he said, “Well, now you have.” It was such an innocuous moment on paper, but it really affected me. The way it felt to watch him, and the feeling that I could be like him if I really wanted to. And I did want to. It was like a light went on, and it’s still yet to go out. I kept the dollar. I still have 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.
So I’m Olivia Love, my band is called Olivia and the Lovers. I write all our music, doing my best to marry traditional outlaw country/folk roots with a contemporary queer voice and perspective. I often say that my band makes gay cowboy music for gay cowboys. Cowboys have always been frequently secretly fond of each other, but it’s hardly a secret that in most spaces where our yeehaw-ass little genre is celebrated and performed, queer people are not safe to show up as they are; to dress how they want to dress, to dance with who they want to dance with, and to partake in a community that includes, honors, and protects them. We (our fruity little band) are carving out and holding space for people like us to not only celebrate the richness of this genre, but to see themselves reflected in it.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
There is so much catharsis in simply creating art about an emotion or an experience, but getting to share it and build community with people who connect with what you made…it’s truly profound. There’s nothing like it, and I’m so privileged to experience that feeling more and more as we continue to share our work.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
The most important lesson for me was that I’m not special. I had this feeling for a long time, that my career would happen _to_ me if it was the right thing/the right time/if it was good enough. But what’s true is that the only difference between me and people who were out there, creating and performing, was that they started and didn’t stop. They didn’t wait for opportunity, they created it. There will always be plenty of reasons not to make your art. It’s not finished, it’s not good enough, it’s not the right time, it needs to be perfect; shut up. Get out of your own way, and give yourself permission to make some bad art. Just start, and then don’t stop.
Contact Info:
- Website: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oliviaandthelovers/?hl=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OliviaandtheLovers
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ilXcun4Y9vTnPt673m2jS
Image Credits
Chris Nightengale
Victoria Marie
Josh Druding