Cover photo by Alysse Gafjken
For our May issue, artists across the Blue Ridge talked with BRO about what it meant to make music in a year without in-person performances. For the next four weeks, we will be featuring each of those artists and taking a deeper dive into their creative process.
In many ways, Lydia Luce’s life revolves around music—from her emerging solo career and viola/violin work for artists like Dolly Parton and Eminem to leading Lockeland Strings, a community arts organization that puts on monthly showcases. Luce, who released her sophomore album, “Dark River,” back in February, spoke with BRO about finding joy despite the cancellation of in person events.
BRO: Heading into 2020, what were your plans, and what did your year end up looking like?
LL: We had initially planned on putting the record out in the spring of 2020. We finished the record in January and all these deadlines we had to make disappeared when the pandemic happened. I had initially planned for this record to be kind of like an introduction to try to solidify a booking agent and have some conversations. And then it just didn’t become a priority at all because of COVID. Now, it’s really confusing.
I’m sure all artists are going through this right now, but wrapping my brain around that, playing shows and touring, hasn’t been a priority for over the last year.
Having gone through the process of putting out an album before, what was the experience like putting out “Dark River” in the midst of the pandemic?
We finished the record in January, and then I still had to do music videos, photoshoots. It took a lot more planning to do all those things. Even the live streams and pre-recorded shows that we did for this record cycle took so much more effort.
The responsibility of trying to do a music video and have that weight of COVID be on your shoulders too, we did everything as safely as possible, but there’s still this, “I don’t know what’s going to happen.” Putting out a record is already stressful, and there’s deadlines. A lot of it’s really fun but there is a lot of work. There was the COVID layer that nobody had ever worked with or anticipated. The last record I put out, we had this huge show and I got to pick the openers and play the songs live with a full band.
All in all, I’m so grateful to have put that out this year because it got me through the year, personally, just having something to look forward to, having something to occupy my time, and having a creative purpose.
Your partner ended up illustrating one of your music videos, is that correct?
Yeah. He’s a full-time drummer in a band that tours most of the year. So he had to completely shift gears. He taught himself how to animate during COVID. My music video was the first music video, or anything he’d done, animating. He spent so many hours on it, and now he’s getting work for this. Now this is primarily his job because his band still doesn’t really know what’s happening with touring. He killed it. We worked on it together. I’d come in with some crazy ideas like, “maybe I’m flying on a bee.” And he’d be like, “cool,” and then he’d draw it. It was so fun.
Virtual shows took off in 2020. What were your thoughts on this shift from live shows?
I struggle with the live streams a little but. It kind of feels like you’re just singing into a mirror. Some people are naturals at it, but it’s difficult for me to feel that connection to humans. I know people are watching, but it’s hard to really feel that. With a live show, you get their energy. You’re feeding off of that energy. It’s a symbiotic relationship; I feel like the performer and audience, it’s an experience you’re creating together.
People did live streams way before COVID, and I wonder if anybody will volunteer to do that after a year of only having that as an option.
Now that you’re starting to schedule some smaller in-person shows, how are you feeling?
The summer is coming, so in my mind I feel like we’ll be playing a lot more outdoor shows. That feels really good. I feel like by May, things will look a lot differently. It’s scary to say that because we’ve been saying that for a year. But I really feel like that now.
In a year when we’ve all been pretty socially isolated and unable to do a lot of our routine things, what were some of the things that helped you get through the past year?
There’s been cycles of it. The whole thing started with the tornado [that hit Nashville in March 2020]. Around that time, I had a lot of anxiety and panic attacks. What helped me at that time was really therapy and talking about it with friends and my community. From that, we went right into lockdown with COVID.
Therapy for me, is something that is really grounding and keeps me grounded. I’ve only really been doing therapy consistently for the last two years, but that’s been something that gets me through everything. From week to week, things might change but having that consistent check in is really great.
I feel like finding joy in other things, and looking at it as an opportunity to do things that I might not have done before while I have this really busy schedule. My partner and I started a garden, and that got us outside with summer. We got a puppy, and that really helped with the joy part. That was something we both wanted, but we’re touring musicians so we never thought we could do that. We’re both really into hiking and spending time outside, having that quiet time to reflect, turn everything off, and be out of the house has been really important for me.
As we are starting to see some hope coming out of this pandemic, is there something from the past year that you’ve learned or experienced that you want to carry forward with you?
Cooking. I’ve never really spent time and took time to cook. I really do it almost every day now, which has just been such a great way to slow down and not look at a screen, disconnect from everything because you have to be focused on what you’re doing. It’s really rewarding because it’s yummy. I feel like cooking, and taking the time to create nutritious meals, I would really like to make time to keep doing that, even when things get busy.
