Recently, I attended AmericanaFest in Nashville, a gathering for musicians, record labels, radio stations, festivals and agents to keep the Americana genre alive and thriving.
During the week, I sat down with several musicians at a studio for conversations and for the intimate, stripped-down performances you'll hear on KAXE.
Amythyst Kiah
Amythyst Kiah's new album, Still + Bright, features collaborations with SG Goodman, Billy Strings, Avi Kaplan and Butch Walker.
Kiah is also a member of Our Native Daughters with Allison Russell, Leyla McCalla and Rhiannon Giddens.
We caught up with Kiah before the new album was released. She said the album reflects her personal growth and reconnection with spirituality.
After the challenges of launching her debut album during the pandemic, she said she took time to reevaluate, focusing on aligning her head and heart and cutting out distractions.
"It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and the achievement-based society that we live in," Kiah said. " It's easy to just stay in your head and just think about getting to the next thing and never really appreciating or being present in the moment."
She said she now approaches life and music by balancing personal achievements with mindfulness and gratitude, drawing inspiration from meditation and philosophical books like the Tao Te Ching.
She spoke candidly about feeling the imposter syndrome and the pressures of social media, which led her to reevaluate her sense of self-worth and focus on what truly fulfills her outside of external expectations.
Take a listen to the conversation above.
