An Interview With The Americana-Alt Singer CASHAVELLY MORRISON!

Photo Credit- Heather Evans Smith

Get to know the Americana-Alt singer-songwriter, Cashavelly Morrison! 

She just released her sophomore album, Hunger. From female body image to personal responsibility and empowerment, Hunger is an album that’s brimming with music that resonates on both an individual and a societal level. Throughout the album’s journey, Morrison explores many of today’s most important issues, weaving stories in her signature mountain ballad confessional style.

Her debut album The Kingdom Belongs to a Child, was highly celebrated by the likes of Huffington Post and No Depression. The album even earned her an Independent Music Award for best Alt-Country album in 2016.

LINKS:

Glide Magazine premiered “Hunger” video

The Boot premiered “Gunmaker” single

More info on Cashavelly + the new album: http://cashavellymorrison.com

Learn more about Cashavelly Morrison in the following All Access interview:

Thanks for your time today! Where does this interview find you now? 

In a quiet house on a sunny and windy Monday in North Carolina.

Now that 2019 has started, what musical goals do you have yourself this new year? Did you make any new years resolutions?

I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions because I’ve tended to use them to somehow punish or restrict myself. And that has never worked out. Daily though, I look to a list I’m constantly revising of what I need to get done to make things happen for the following month or next few months ahead. With two kids, I have very little time so I have to be very efficient.

Growing up, how important was music in your life? Can you recall the moment when you decided that you wanted to be a musician? Was it an easy or difficult choice to make? Was there ever a time when you thought about doing something else?

My brother’s room was below mine and he would play music so loudly that I could feel the vibrations through the floor. He really modeled a love for music, that music could teach you how to go to new places within yourself. He made mixed tapes for everyone in our family. They were carefully curated experiences, and the ones he made for me were my introduction to nearly every kind of music. I guess I secretly wanted to be a musician since listening to those first tapes around 9 or 10 years old. I wrote songs from the time I was 18, but I didn’t have the guts to actually do it until I was 29 years old. That’s when I realized I needed to do music more than I cared whether or not I made a fool out of myself.

What has been the biggest surprise so far about making music your career? What has been an unexpected or welcome challenge to it all?

A surprise is how much I seem to want to scare myself to death, like by doing something new in performance that I truly don’t know if I can do. Once I do it though, I’ve proven to myself I can, so then I start conjuring up the next thing that scares me. As for a welcome challenge, it’s all challenging, but most of the time, I just try to stay focused on creating, creating music and creating new relationships.

How do you think you and your music have been influenced by your hometown and where you live today?

Every song I write lives in the landscape of West Virginia where I grew up. I don’t even try to do that–it just happens. It’s very much my creative soil, and rich with how my imagination mingled with the bits of stories I picked up as a kid.

Let’s talk about releasing your recent album, “Hunger.” What did it feel like putting it out into the world? Did anything surprise you about the overall process of putting it together?

I had a baby in the midst of making that album, so I was so happy to finally get it out. It felt like I had two babies, but the album had twice the incubation of my daughter. The surprise was that I was able to muster the energy to do it while taking care of a newborn and hardly getting any sleep. It was hard on my body, but my spirit was so fulfilled and happy. I wanted both those babies and proved to myself I could have them both, not without tons of help from generous and loving family and friends. I owe them a lot.

How do you think you have grown as an artist since your debut album, “The Kingdom Belongs to a Child”?

I’m much more sure of what I want for instrumentation and production.

What has it been like keeping up with your social media accounts and all of the different platforms? Is it hard to stay up to date on it all? What would you say is your favorite way to connect with your fans now?

I love following my favorite artists, like Valerie June and Rhiannon Giddens, and they just seem to be so authentic on their accounts, very relaxed about it. So I try to do that, yet let everyone know what work we’re doing. I love Instagram personally the best. It’s aesthetic is the least mind-sucking.  But I’m a sucker for Facebook because it’s where I get to most share projects I love, artists I love, and articles that I’m reading about issues I’m passionate about. But I love to connect with fans in person at shows the best!

Who are some of your favorite artists or rather, what musicians have continued to inspire you and your music? Who would you absolutely still love to work with in the future?

Well, the two I mentioned above, Valerie June and Rhiannon Giddens, would be dream collaborators! My two life-long main obsessions are Bob Dylan and Patti Smith. I consistently study folk artists like Jean Ritchie and Leadbelly. I adore Angel Olsen, Jason Isbell, Amythest Kiah, First Aid Kit, Lera Lynn, Leon Bridges, Oumou Sangare, Kelsey Lu, Big Thief, Aldous Harding, Ryan Bingham, Nick Mulvey, Martha Wainwright,  Kaia Kater…too many to name.

If you were going to be stranded on a deserted island forever, what musical item would you take with you and why? 

It would make sense for me to say the guitar, but I have a celtic harp with tones that just reach every corner of my inner self.

If your music was going to be featured on any TV show that is currently on right now, which would you love it to be on? Or if you prefer, what is a movie that you love that you wish your music was featured in?

Any gritty HBO show. Please! I’ve always felt Hunger would fit for a show about some rebel female.

What has been a favorite show of yours in the past? What do you think makes an ideal show for you? Do you have any tour dates you would like to tell our readers about?

Our favorite show has been at The Ramkat for the Hunger release. The Ramkat just opened last year and it has a really good energy in there, incredible sound, and the friendliest people. Our next show is on Mountain Stage in Charleston, West Virginia on April 14th. To play that stage will be one of the greatest honors of my life. Take me home, country roads…

At the end of the day, what do you hope your fans take away from your music? I’d like to know more about how you want your music to be timeless?

I guess, what I wish for is that the music offers a path for deeper connection and thoughtfulness with ourselves and each other. I think the songs are about conflicts that boil down to struggles we all have to face, so I hope in that way the songs are universal and will survive time.

Is there anything else that you would like to share with our readers about yourself or your music?

Only that anyone who loves and listens and supports music is a pretty awesome person and I thank them profusely.