BY LESLEY HASTINGS
Nashville-born Alyssa is a true transatlantic artist who splits her time between music city and London. Having graduated from the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA) she has made her mark not only as a performer but also as a formidable force behind the scenes, and this year alone her successes include co-writing the No. 1 hit “Getaway Car” for The Shires and producing the chart topping album “All On Red” for Kezia Gill. Those with a keen eye may also have noticed her name as backing vocalist on Jackson Dean’s most recent album.
With her own long awaited album “America’s Backroads” due for release next Friday, June 5th, and a string of UK dates kicking off the following week, there was a lot to chat to her about!
So, Alyssa, you wear so many metaphorical “hats”, do you enjoy the different challenges each offer and do you have a favourite?
“I do! Somebody told me once I do too many things, and I replied that they must not ‘get me’ then! I have to do all those different things to stay creative. Whether that involves creating for another artist (it was such fun bringing Kezia’s project to life) it also gives me tools for my own creative endeavours and inspires me.
I don’t think I could choose one hat! Like fashion, there’s different hats for different things! On stage I wear a big hat to be a bigger version of myself, while off stage I wear caps”.
Next I wanted to briefly congratulate her on being invited to play the amazing Royal Albert Hall as part of Highways Festival….a fairly last minute invitation, where was she when it came through?
“I know!!! I was in Nashville when I got the call, I’d planned on coming to the Festival to see Randall King as I love him and I’m wishing him all the best as he cancelled all his dates. So when I got the call to fill in I was like ‘are you kidding me? This is insane!’. It’s been a bucket list venue of mine for ever, and tho I’ve played Highways before it was in the Elgar Room. So I finally got to step onto the main stage!”
Moving on to her new album….a long time in the making for a variety of reasons….how on earth did she narrow the song choices down to just thirteen?
“Well you know this project is something I’ve been wanting to do for years. I actually had a project that was almost finished and I scrapped it, it was old songs that I’d been working and working on, I just couldn’t get them right from a producer’s standpoint. So I started fresh, went into the studio with my favourite musicians in Nashville and just recorded! Which is actually how we recorded Kezia’s record (which was recorded after mine).
We cut nine songs in a day, live, and in a world of AI my favourite artists are those who can record that way….artists like Chris Stapleton who I’m a massive fan of.
So when I thought about the songs I wanted to do, I gave Jedd Hughes (a dear friend of mine since we were kids, we had the same manager in Nashville….he’s an insane guitar player and writer) a list to bounce ideas off him. And I also asked my parents….my Mom said ‘why haven’t you ever recorded America’s Backroads, it’s my favourite song you’ve ever written!’. So that’s one reason I named the album after that song….but also because I grew up on the road with my parents, from three weeks old I was on a tour bus, that was my life and is to this day! I wanted to capture those memories in one song.
A lot of these songs were ones I had in my catalogue but never got to cut because I was in another band. And a lot of other artists have cut songs I’ve written…..Morgan Evans had a number 1 song in Australia with ” I Wanna Go”, and then “Circles” was cut by Jana Kramer. That song has a whole new meaning for me now cos I’m getting married. Plus I love playing electric guitar and a lot of my songs are played on acoustic, but I play electric throughout this whole record. It’s been really fun to step into this new era and find songs that tell my story as an artist”.
Were any songs written specifically for the album?
“Yes, ‘Life Is A Road’ and ‘Old Friends’ ….they were actually written in London with David Sneddon (a great writer for Lewis Capaldi among others) and Theo Hutchcraft who is in a band called Hurts. We wrote eight songs together! The others may be on the next album!”
Great forward planning!!
“Oh and ‘When You Move to LA’ was written especially for the album…..Dallas Wilson and I (Dallas has written a lot of big hits for Lainey Wilson in the past few years and is one of my best friend, I’ve known him a long time) wrote that song on the phone in three minutes! It was a title he had, I spent a lot of time in LA when I was in the band and there’s a lot to say about what it feels like and you often move there on a dream. It’s one of my favourite songs in the album“.
Was it always a no-brainier for Alyssa to record the album in Nashville as opposed to London?
“Yeah, I think I’ve got such an interesting story coming backwards and forwards. Born in Nashville and I’d travelled around the US but I’d never been out of the country so being at college in Liverpool really opened my eyes to the world and I fell in love with the UK. And people appreciate music here in an honest way. But when I wanted to record the record , the people I wanted to bring their talents to it were all based in Nashville. Also there’s a sort of energy there you can’t replicate anywhere else”.
The album has been teased with the release of four of its tracks, most recently “Small Town Tuesday“, a song about chasing your dreams which gave me Sheryl Crow vibes! Alyssa asked fans on her socials what their big dreams were….what sort of answers did she get?
“I’m a big fan of Sheryl’s! Thank you. Her and Joni Mitchell I feel have spearheaded female guitar players as well as being amazing songwriters…..
Anyway I feel like my fans are pretty deep (like me!) and I got this one fan who said she’d been battling with depression the last few years but she’s now in a really good place and her dream is just to be happy and go back to work. I thought that was such a beautiful thing. I love connecting with my fans, that’s the most important part!”.
And of the nine remaining tracks, which is Alyssa most excited/intrigued to get fans’ reactions to?
“All of them! But ‘Old Friends’ has a British sound to it and I’m excited for people to hear that side of me. It’s very inspired by my time in London but also I’m a big fan of the 90s, the prog rock music that came out then, bands like The Cranberries and The Sundays, and 90s rom coms so that track is a bit nostalgic in that way and I love how that turned out…so I’d say that one”.
Turning to the tour (two dates sold out already)…..what can we expect? Full band I gather?
“Yes this is my first full band solo tour which I’m really excited about! Touring isn’t easy or cheap, so I’m really investing in this record with the tour and want to show people what I can do with a band. It’s a different animal! In my heart I always want to bring people the best show ….in a world that’s crazy all the time music is the one thing that can take people away from the chaos. They can come and get lost , meet new people too …..music is supposed to bring people together, I don’t like being political or anything like that. I’m just so grateful that people from all walks of life show up at my shows. So that’s what you can expect….just get lost and have fun for an hour and a half! And sing along!!
And it’s cool that my fiance Steve is in my band….when we started dating he’d never done a tour before even though he’s a great musician and singer. And another cool thing is my friend Adam Feeny (apologies if that is incorrect spelling!) who I went to LIPA with is in my band, so we’ve known each other for 20 years ….he plays drums. My tour manager is also my bass player. I’ll be playing electric and acoustic. It’s going to be awesome!
I’m getting some new merch sorted….hats and a tour t-shirt, plus some cool posters ….and obviously I’ll have my vinyl (baby blue!) and CDs. We’ll try to sell as many as we can to hopefully chart the album!
Which songs from the album are going to sound the best live?
“I think ‘Life Is A Road’ is such a fun song, I played that at ‘Country on the Common’ last year and I’ve just been looking at a bunch of videos to post on social media and came across some people doing a line dance to it so I feel that’s going to be a real fun one.
I’m going to play the whole record but also sprinkle in some of my older songs, and take a moment to do a broken down acoustic section. And me and Jackie Lee will probably do a song together….he’s a good friend of mine who’s opening for me, he’s never been to the UK before but the best way to see it is on the road!”
So who looks after her beautiful dogs when she’s out in the road?
“My mom and dad….they are family dogs! We are getting married over there later this year so I’m in the midst of planning that as well as putting out an album! I don’t know who decided that!!”
Ha, my final question was going to be how the rest of the year was shaping up and I gathered there was a small thing called a wedding in the mix….
“Yeah, I’ve been deep in wedding planning which has been crazy but exciting. It’s extra hard being ‘international’ but we’re pretty much sorted. So I can now focus on my tour and I’m playing some festivals this Summer ….the ‘Together Again Festival’ in July and ‘Country Calling’ in August . Then I’m back to the States and will be there through our wedding. I’m so excited!”
I can’t wait to hear the album, and I have my ticket for the London show …..thanks so much for a really great interview, Alyssa!
(Our conversation then turned into a discussion about our mutual love for tap dancing but I’ll spare you that part…..!!)
Pre-order/pre-save ” America’s Backroads” and buy tickets for the tour here https://bio.site/alyssabonagura
