Songwriter's Tale with Alexis Knight
In Nashville, Tennessee or as many people call it, the Music City, songwriters are a dime a dozen. In my hometown of Joelton, every other person you meet plays and instrument, is in a band, or has a book of originals songs to share. Even with a town packed full of musicians and artist, no two stories are the same. That is the true beauty of this city. Each songwriter has a different tale to tell. This week's featured tale is with artist, "Alexis Knight".
When I first met Alexis, my initial thought was sunshine. That's exactly what you get with her bubbly personality and megawatt smile. The first questions I always begin with when talking to songwriters is, how long have you been songwriting and working on music? This question will give you immediate insight about the artist but also helps you to gain understanding with how this artist was affected by Covid.
For Alexis, she stated, "I was always writing lyrics and singing but when I went to college for music in 2016, I started writing my first songs with music. I was learning to play keys to play chords along with my lyrics to put my first full songs together. I put together my first album more with a pop feel and that came out in 2018. Then in 2020 I moved to Nashville and in 2021 learned to play guitar. I began writing more in my current style at that point and now I write with guitar instead of just a few chords on the keyboard."
The impact of Covid on musicians was catastrophic. Public playing times commonly referred to as gigs, went from daily to nonexistent. For Alexis, "It was hard with COVID, and everything shut down for a while, so I wasn't playing gigs till a year or so after moving but it caused me to learn guitar and be able to work on music in a different way."
Songwriters meet-ups are a great way to network and get to know other songwriters. Alexis and I met at a writer's round, but the thing about meeting at a round is that each artist handles the energy of the stage differently. For me, I used to get terribly nervous and stand off to the side mute! When I had the opportunity to get to know Alexis better at a mutual friend's songwriter meet up, I grabbed at the chance to work on a songwriter challenge with her. Luckily when asked about a highlight of the musical world, Alexis stated, "One of my favorite parts has been meeting so many awesome songwriters and getting to share music with them and see how they have grown in their journey. It's awesome getting to share music with so many people going through a similar journey."
"One show in particular that stands out is playing at the Blue Bird Cafe a few years ago. Even though it was during COVID and was an open mic it's a historical venue to Nashville and I felt honored to get to be up on that stage!" The infamous Blue Bird Cafe is such an honor for all songwriter's so I can understand this being a career highlight.
As songwriters, we are storytellers at heart. One of my favorite questions to ask is, What's one story about your songwriting adventure that you never seem to get tired of. Alexis' response, "One story I tell a lot is how I learned to play guitar. In 2020 for Christmas my fiancé and I had COVID unfortunately so we both missed work and couldn't see our families. He works at guitar center and for Christmas got me a month of guitar lessons. Ever since then I still take lessons weekly and now it's a few years later and I've come a long way since then!"
When I asked Alexis what her future plans are for her musical journey, she stated, "I would love to play out more and to play longer shows more frequently. The dream would be to have someone love one of my songs and cut it and to be able to start a family and still be a writer and be successful at it. I am hoping to record and put out more songs and write with more people in the next year or so! Currently though we are planning our wedding which has been a focus and a big financial investment." I of course followed it up with, who would be on that dream list for artist to get a cut (write a song for) and Alexis stated, "Megan Moroney, Ella Langley, or Lainey Wilson"
Latest from Alexis Knight include, "Tennessee Tornado was my latest release back in October! It took a good few months to put together and get the final song, but it was a team effort between the writers, and production and the song really blossomed from where it started in the writing room! It's still one of my favorites to play out" When asked what the process was like for this song, Alexis stated, "I wrote this one with Bobby Ray and Steve Brown. And my fiancé Kevin actually came up with the original idea one night when having a beer. I love how the song came to life and it was my first song I recorded with a full band production! Jessie Savio killed it on that song and going from the initial scratch phone recording to a full band playing on my song was incredible!"
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