SAVANNAH CONLEY

Hi Savannah and thank you for taking the time out to speak with us at Musicology. Congratulations on your new album Playing The Part Of You Is Me. Is there an overarching theme to your record and if so would you describe it as one derived from recent or past experiences?

Thank you so much! I wouldn’t say that there is an overarching theme exactly besides all of the songs being very literally based on my own life experiences. I’ve always been pretty autobiographical when it comes to writing. Sometimes that feels pretty heavy, so I’ve also always had some envy toward people who more readily gravitate toward more fictionalized stories in their songs. Realistically, the most overarching theme of the record is just living your stupid little twenties.

Can you describe your formative years, how music became such an important part of your life, and how the path that has led you to produce Playing The Part Of You Is Me unfolded?

I grew up pretty surrounded by music and art, with a couple people in my family doing different art mediums professionally. But mainly my family made art to express themselves and make life a little easier, which was always very inspiring to me. My dad is a musician, so a lot of my early taste was informed by him, but I also had the classic older cousin who would show me all the cool bands. Those bands really became the foundation of what inspired me to this day. For this record, those early influences played a huge part in the production. Jeremy Lutito (the producer for this record) and I both decided to let the most root influences inform the record even down to the embarrassing stuff you like when you’re like 12.

There is an eclectic mix of tunes on this record. From the rocky and threadbare ‘Don’t Make Me Reach’, to the restrained, cold wave ‘More Than Fine’, through to the orchestral and county-tinged ‘I Love You’. Was this array of styles a coalescence of disparate experiences and sounds or a more carefully woven use of diverse songs and genres for a greater listening range across the entire album?

I like to think that we were very intentional about each song, giving each of them what they called for. It was such a seamless and easy experience working with Jeremy, and because of that we were really able to just sit in the songs and how each sentiment needed a different type of production.

Equally, the very same three songs have their own video clips. Each shows a different facet of Savannah Conely we see on screen. What was it about yourself that you wanted to portray in each of the video clips and do you feel that what was envisaged from the outset was faithfully reproduced in the clips?

For the visual component of the record, I wanted to really try and create an alternate world for it to exist in. The songs are super vulnerable for me, so it almost felt necessary to separate myself from it just a tiny bit. If the visuals would have been something like just me in my home with no makeup, I think I would have felt so stripped bare it would have been too much. But, also the record as a whole just felt a little bit story-bookish to me so I wanted to lean into that. We ended up going to France to shoot everything with me just giving the director (Jacq Justice) and creative director/photographer (Sophia Matinazad) some light inspiration guidelines and letting them totally run with it. They built this whole world that we got to just live in for a while, and now the record gets to live there forever.

Currently on tour and supporting The Brook and the Bluff across North America. How have your experiences been so far and can you share some particularly memorable moments with us?

It’s been so great! Playing shows/touring is my favorite part of all of this. It’s the part that makes me feel the most fulfilled, getting to travel with people I love and play music, so all of the memorable moments have really been because of that. We haven’t really had many crazy stories so far on this run, besides going to a 100% haunted old house that used to be owned by a person with the last name of ‘Batman’. Legit. But, we’ve just really had a great time.

Can you describe the feeling of taking these very personal and intimate songs to then performing them live to thousands of people?

I try not to think about it too much, just because it wigs me out. But then sometimes it will kind of smack me in the face while I’m singing some ultra private thing about myself to people I’ve never met. But that’s the nature of it I guess. You can’t truly connect without opening up first.

In working with those around you, have any moments occurred or words of wisdom been spoken to you that really resonated with you and in turn altered the way you approach your craft?

I think it’s been less in words and more in actions by those around me. I have never felt so truly supported by my team and group of collaborators than I do now. Jeremy made the recording process so comfortable and fun and truly allowed me to take the pressure off and just make a record on my own terms which had never happened before. There’s been a level of acceptance of who I am and what I am that I’ve never felt before. Celebration even! It’s wild, and I couldn’t be more thankful. I hope they all can feel the celebration with me as this thing rolls out.

What were some of the challenges in writing and recording Playing The Part Of You Is Me and conversely, what were some of the pleasant surprises throughout the process?

Writing is always a little challenging for me just because it’s not exactly the most enjoyable process. Recording, historically hasn’t been either but it was this time. Some highlights? London with Jack Garratt who I had never met before and allowed me to silently sit on my computer for over an hour writing the lyric to ‘I Love You’ and didn’t look at me like I was a crazy person. Also bringing ‘Tango’ to Jeremy, and both of us knowing there was something there but not how to get there. The second he switched the time signature to 6/8, we both breathed a sigh of relief and knew we had it.

From your native Nashville, where do you see the musical line between your home state and the sound it is known for converge with a broader sonic landscape, and where do you see those musical lines in comparison to other states diverge?

Country and Americana will always inform both the view of Nashville and the music coming out of it, but honestly I just rarely think about it. There is so much going on that is outside of that scope, or on the edge of it, or blending it all together. There are not supposed to be any rules in music, and I’m looking forward to the day the industry figures that out, because the public already has.

Nashville has such a strong musical heritage and has given so much to the world but personally what does music give you that nothing else does?

There is nothing that fulfills me like music does. There is nothing that makes me feel more connected to people and the world either. I have felt every cliche there is to feel when it comes to music, and there’s just no getting around that once you feel it and know it to be true. It’s pretty fucking awesome.