Takin A Walk to the Ryman Auditorium with Nashville Singer/Songwriter Sarah Harralson

Buzz:

I’m Buzz Knight, the host of Takin a Walk-Music History on Foot. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And on this bonus Friday episode of Takin a Walk, we are here in Nashville, music city, Tennessee, a town filled with musicians of all types with a story to tell.

Sarah Harralson is our guest. She’s a Nashville-based singer, songwriter and producer, and she has a new project out called Blue Ribbon. And we’re going to take a walk to the legendary Ryman Auditorium where one day I hope Sarah Harralson will be playing to a sold-out crowd.

Buzz:

Well, Sarah Harralson’s so happy that we’re taking a walk right near the Ryman.

Sarah:

Yes.

Buzz:

This is exciting because the way I think about it is you’re going to be playing the Ryman in the very near future, and I could say I had you on an episode of Takin a Walk.

Sarah:

Yes. Let’s hope for the Ryman and the Opry.

Buzz:

All right, it’s there. So tell me, first of all, the current state of work that you’re up to. I know you’ve had some new releases as a singer-songwriter artist, so tell us what’s going on with that.

Sarah:

Yeah, so I just released a new single called Blue Ribbon on March 1st. March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, and I released a single in honor of my mother who recently passed away from colon cancer. She had it for five and a half years. So the song’s in honor of her, and I just want to bring awareness to this cancer. It’s one of the leading cancers right now. And I think people just need to be more aware of it, more aware of screenings for it. So it’s just a way to bring a awareness this month and also help people that are going through that cancer.

Buzz:

That’s so great. And I know that we talked about this, your mom before she passed, was certainly able to know about your performances and your work, and that must be special that she’s aware of what you’re up to.

Sarah:

Absolutely. And I wanted to finish recording Blue Ribbon. Last year, I knew she had little time left and I just wanted her to be able to hear it while she was still around, and she did, and I’m so grateful that she did.

Buzz:

So tell me about the work that has to go into being a singer-songwriter, creator in Nashville. Incredibly competitive at a time, certainly where music is certainly always important and critical and a force, but that nothing about it is easy.

Sarah:

Nothing about it is easy. And especially as an independent artist, you’re taking on so many hats, you’re doing so many things at once. As a songwriter, as an artist, if you’re doing your own booking, your own promotion, recording, I do a lot of production work myself and do a lot of vocal services too, just to keep my own music afloat. So I mean, even if you’re a a signed artist, it’s nonstop busy. Once you’re releasing one single, you’re going to the next. You’re already recording your next album, EP, single.

Buzz:

But this community is a welcoming community in terms of what creators like yourself are up to, right?

Sarah:

Yes, definitely. I’ve been here almost 10 years now, and it’s still a welcoming community no matter who I meet. Compared to places like LA, everyone just kind of brings you in with open arms. And even if you’re new to town now, people are willing to write with you, mentor you. So it’s great to see that as Nashville is growing, it’s still such a welcoming community.

Buzz:

So when did you know you were hooked on being a musician?

Sarah:

From a early age, songwriting was a way for me as a child to express my emotions when I felt like I couldn’t express it at all. It was definitely a therapy for me at a very young age. My granddad was a bluegrass musician, so he definitely influenced me getting into music, learned piano at 14 and taught myself guitar in high school and then knew I wanted to move from Knoxville to come to Nashville.

Buzz:

Was Knoxville a very compelling music community? Not obviously as much as Nashville, but is that a strong music community?

Sarah:

Yeah, it has I would say a smaller music community, but there’s still a good amount of bluegrass and country musicians, and I think that’s why I fell in love with country music growing up in Knoxville and just the storytelling aspect of it too. So even though it has a smaller Appalachian music community, it’s still very welcoming there too.

Buzz:

Think of some of the first music that you heard. Who were some of those artists that you heard maybe from your grandfather or from other aspects of being around there?

Sarah:

So I grew up around a lot of different music. My dad was always listening to country playing me the likes of Brad Paisley and the Dixie Chicks, and my mom would listen to pop and rock, and I listened to a lot of Elton John growing up with her. And then my granddad, of course played a lot of bluegrass and even polka music since he played accordion. So I was around a lot and I definitely fell in love with artists such as like Jewel and Alanis Morissette, and the Dixie Chicks, and I just loved kind of country full music and the storytelling aspect of that.

Buzz:

And as your work has evolved today, where do some of your other influences come from?

Sarah:

So even though my main genre is country, I have a lot of subgenres in my music as many artists do now, and especially pop. I grew up around a lot of pop growing up. Even just listening to modern pop, I like to incorporate some of that into my music sometimes. And I love rock too, so it depends on what kind of song I’m writing, but on my next project, people will hear a lot of that, some genres. I even recorded a bluegrass song recently, so my next projects really encompasses everything that I grew up listening to.

Buzz:

And do you still get nervous when you play live?

Sarah:

Sometimes, definitely not as much as I used to when I started here in Nashville. It’s more refreshing I think, when I get on stage now. But if I’m playing a new stage, a bigger stage or a different audience, I still get that nervous feeling. But once the first song starts, I just kind of fall in love with it.

Buzz:

I love that fall in love with it, for sure. Thank God. And when you think about the artists that you collaborate with, is the sharing enough where you can be open to each other in terms of learning new things or really just trying to be completely honest? Or how do you build a chemistry in a session?

Sarah:

Yeah, sometimes it’s strange when you’re in a co-writing session with another artist or writer and maybe it’s someone you haven’t met before and there’s just the assumption that you’re going to open up to this stranger that you’ve never met before in a writing session. And it gets easier as you get to know a writer, but it always just kind of feels like a first date and a little bit awkward that first time you’re writing with someone because it’s like a therapy session and you’re being very vulnerable about your life. So it always kind of has a nervous feeling riding with someone for the first time, but at the end, it feels like you’ve known them for a while once you have this work of art that has so much emotion and feeling to it.

Buzz:

And you have another vantage point to your career in terms of the work that you do for Warner Music. Can you talk about that?

Sarah:

Yeah, so it’s kind of different for me as an artist and songwriter because I’ve also supported myself working on the business side of the industry, working in artist royalties. I worked in music licensing too, so I definitely have a lot of knowledge about the business side of the industry that a lot of artists and songwriters don’t already have. So in a sense, it’s been so helpful to have all this knowledge to help my own career.

Buzz:

So from your knowledge and vantage point with that side of your career, what advice would you give to musicians as far as the business side that you’ve been have been exposed to?

Sarah:

I would say definitely educate yourself, whether you’re an independent artist or a signed artist or writer, get to know the business side of the industry. It’s so helpful now to learn about royalties, to educate yourself, making sure you’re getting paid, knowing what contracts you’re getting into as well, so it’ll help you in the long run.

Buzz:

And lastly, as someone who’s working toward your goals of building audience and building your career, to that artist that’s listening to this that maybe is questioning their mission, I’m sure we’ve all been there questioning missions. What advice would you give to those artists?

Sarah:

Yeah, we actually talked about this earlier about not comparing yourself to others. And that’s something I’ve always had to remind myself is it’ll always get you down when you’re comparing yourself to another artist or writer. Just be true to yourself, true to your craft and your art, and that’ll help you in the long run. And just always put out music that you like. If you’re putting out something that the label wants you to that you don’t like, who knows if that’ll get you anywhere, but at the end, it should be something that you love that’s going out into the universe.

Buzz:

Beautifully said. I want to wish you well on your mission. We’re standing in front of the Ryman. I expect to see you on the stage in the near future. I don’t want to put too much pressure on you; I’m just giving you all my good wishes, and thank you for taking a walk with me.

Sarah:

Thank you so much.

Speaker 4:

Takin A Walk with Buzz Knight is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Buzz Knight is an established media executive with a long history of content creation and multi-platform distribution.

After a successful career as a Radio Executive, he formed Buzz Knight Media which focuses on strategic guidance and the development of new original content.