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Singer/songwriter Savanna Woods - NBC's The Voice · Caught on the Mike...

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: The views of the thing expressed.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: The views are reciprocal energy that music provides.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, it's caught on the mic.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, you might know my next guest from season 20 of The Voice.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: I learned about her long before that due to my literal brother from another mother sharing her live feeds on Facebook pretty much constantly.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: She was on Team Kelly Clarkson gaining high praise from Nick Jonas and John Legend as well.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Savannah Woods, welcome to the show.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: You have been busy this summer.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: I've been very busy.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: I get busier and busier every year, but this summer's been crazy.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: I was looking at your show posters just before dialing into this, and I was like cruising Instagram.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, she has not had a break whatsoever.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: What's it been like for you?
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's been awesome.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I love the summer in the Pacific Northwest because the weather's gorgeous and it's mostly beautiful outdoor shows and are each different because I'm a lot of different groups.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: But um, I promise I'd get myself in shape for the summer's crazy shows, and I didn't, which led to me to injure my neck.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's still going on over a week and I'm still really injured.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: But luckily, I have I've had little pockets of two days, so I've been trying to lay low today, trying to heal up.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: But other than injuring my neck, the shows have been awesome, and yeah, it's super fun.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, best job ever.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of my audience is gonna know you from the voice, but I think we need to go a little deeper than that because I'm sure there's many layers.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just talking with Craig, how many music projects you've been a part of, how many music projects you're currently a part of outside of just the realm of Savannah Woods solo artist.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: So without any further ado, why don't you introduce yourself and let's talk a little bit about your origin story, how you got into music and everything that came after.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, um I my name's Savannah Woods.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: I was born and I'm still around in Stanford, Washington.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I was born into a musical family.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: My dad, uh singer, performer.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: So he got all me and um two of my sisters, three of us grew up singing together.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: So I've uh been singing since I could talk.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: I've been writing, I think I wrote my first song at like the age of four.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's just it's been my whole life of performing and writing and singing.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, kind of through schools, doing the choir stuff, uh, musicals just for the singing aspect.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it wasn't until I was probably shh, I don't know.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: I think I feel like I I joined my first band probably around 19, and it wasn't until maybe the age of 20 or so, 20 that I realized it was a something I could do as a career, because it was something that I was always just uh really naturally good at, and not anything I like put everything into.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: It was just it was just a natural talent I had.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: And you're also kind of raised in this society, kind of told that art is a hobby, uh, not not a career path, you know, and that was something I remember hearing a lot of like, you know, that's your hobby, but you don't want to be living in a car, you know, uh the starving artist, blah, blah, blah.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I tell you what, I feed myself real well.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Love it.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I I kind of just I realized the only thing holding me back from being a full-time musician was just the belief, um, the belief that I could do that.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so anyway, I put everything into music and it's it's like a process.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: You're not just hopping right into it and full-time, you know, making great money.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I think that's with anything that you're passionate about, it's not about the money.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so just start putting everything into music year after year, had to have side jobs, but eventually that was kind of my goal to where I just got so busy with music and I didn't need to do the other things.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: I started traveling a lot at the age of I don't know, 20 as well.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: So around the same time, I just sort of was like, F the previous system I've been a part of.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: I want to live, you know, make each moment really count.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: I spontaneously went to Iceland when I was like 20, and that's actually what sort of changed my life.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that came slightly before I decided to go full-time into music because I just felt a pull to go there and I went, and something about the place and the experience and being alone in another country just woke me up to life and the potentiality of how I could live.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: And it was like, I am so done doing anything that doesn't feed my soul.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: I want to live, you know, on the edge of creation and being a part of this whole thing and doing what I love.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I started traveling and doing music pretty much full time.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think that year alone, I saw 19 countries.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think I'm up to like 27 right now, a lot of return offenders.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: So traveling in music is basically my whole life.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but performing, you know, I could get bigger and bigger locally, but I sort of I hit the ceiling.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: How can I get to the next level?
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: How can I pop my career up?
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I have to get in front of a lot of people's eyes and ears.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: And then I got an email from the voice who was like, Do you want to try out?
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: blah, blah, blah.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: And um it was during COVID time, so you could just do a virtual audition like what we're doing here, and I just sing 30 seconds of a song, and it was simple.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: So anyway, I decided to do that.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: And by this time, I had known myself as an artist and developed my musical talent and skills um a lot more because actually when I was 18, I did randomly, like they came, I randomly tried out for the voice just on a whim, and I hadn't been performing professionally at all.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: It was more just like, I know I'm a naturally good singer, we'll just see what happens.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I didn't even make it past the first round uh because in things like that, you have to uh have a niche, you have to know yourself as an artist, you have to know what you want to sing, where you want to go.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: At that point, I had no idea.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: I was just a kid and hadn't started this whole career process.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: So anyway, fast forward to COVID, try it out for the voice, um, made it past the first round, second round, just kept passing through the rounds, and um by that time I'm I have kind of unbridled confidence.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's like that's the only way you get anywhere, you know, knowing your your talent and it's not just talent.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: I work my ass off, my butt off.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: Speak freely.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: I work my ass off.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, the because there's a lot of talented people in the world, but not a lot of them have ambition.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so you have to have equal talent and ambition to really make it anywhere.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so at that point, I'm like, you know, revved up and it's like, yeah, for sure, I I can do this.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I round after round, then I got the call, I was going to LA, which I was super excited about because everything was like on the fence at that point.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: Is it gonna be a virtual season?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: Because the season before was virtual from home, and that is not what I wanted to do.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like I didn't get an audience, but I wanted to go have an experience somewhere else, you know.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I was already doing the live streaming thing.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: Cause I guess that's that is when I met your brother during COVID.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: So before I even auditioned for the voice, I started doing uh live stream concert.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um because I feel like adaptability is the key to success.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: And if something happens, just roll with it, you know, instead of like, oh no, life will never be the same.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, damn straight it won't be the same.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'd do something about it.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of musicians were just like kind of, you know, what do we do?
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so I started live streaming because I realized I could start hitting a global audience, more people than I would in my physical area.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I started meeting people, finding these groups on Facebook that I could uh go live and that had like 300,000 people in them.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: So people like Craig and all these other people started finding me and connecting with me, and I started growing this awesome online audience, this like support system.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: It was so cool.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I started Patreon around that time.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like an insider's community way to support the artist.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I have this like Patreon family, these streaming family, and like I've really only met Craig, I guess, like twice in person.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but he's a huge part of my support system in my life, and so many of these online followers are, which is really funny.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: So this all kind of happened at the same time.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing, and that's that's a lot.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it's a lot in a short period of time, but I'm sure it feels like a lifetime in a lot of ways.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Also, getting to know yourself as an artist, I want to kind of reflect back to that because I think that's where a lot of people fall short, you know.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Commonly, and and I'm sure Craig shared this with you.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: I spent a lot of time in the music business myself, and I do get that work ethic.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like sometimes it's one of those things where talent will get you far, but talent without work ethic is is pointless, you know?
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: So uh who are some people that inspired you when you were younger that kind of led to that inflection point that you had whenever you went to Iceland and decided, hey, I'm gonna do this professionally?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's a good question.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because an interesting fact about me is I've I never really listened to music at all uh until about three years ago.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I yeah.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I I grew up not listening to anything.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um I mean, maybe the occasional, like when I was little, like Britney Spears or something, when you were really small.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: But like my growing up years, I mean, there was a couple random if friends would send me songs, but I listened to basically audiobooks and uh my thoughts.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: I have a very active mind.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: So that's loud enough.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so I listened to a lot of talking things, podcasts and audiobooks and uh stuff like that.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I guess that helped in one respect for me to form a style of my voice that wasn't based on anyone else's voice.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's really just like what's coming out of me and fielding the reactions from other people, what people seem to like.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: And um, but of course I absorbed some stuff growing up.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think my mom listened to someone like Norah Jones, Dido, that kind of stuff.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, dad was more of the older classics, and um, it probably had a subconscious effect on the songs that I choose to sing and uh things like that.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's a lot more of the older stuff.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, as far as looking up to artists, and especially when I'm developing my career in my artistry, I wasn't looking up to anybody.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I'm inspired by everything I hear.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like I was inspired by everything and nothing at the same time, uh, but nothing super in particularly.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but in a different way, this is a little off the woo-oo side, but it does have a big part to do with why I do what I do.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: I when I was like around that age of 20 in Iceland and all that, I had this uh mediumship reading, and it was so crazy because you just started off like talking about my dead grandpa and like naming people my all these personal things, and then she went right to like that.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: I have two uh two sisters that I grew up singing with and blah, blah, blah, and kind of brought up just dumped this on me that my purpose is to revolutionize the music industry, and I'm here to travel the world and play music and be a big part of integrating art, culture, spirituality, emotion.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's a big part of where our culture is going right now, and um just that just all of that, and uh my jaw just dropped because that's when I realized that it's just a belief holding me back.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh, I just needed to be told that this was possible.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: And um another level to that would be she I had some conversations in this reading with Prince, and I didn't know who Prince was at all.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh like I had heard of the name, and I told I was like, sorry, I and she's you know, he didn't ever listen to music either, he said.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a big part of like we just get our kind of channeling straight from the source, the world, whatever it is.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of this unfiltered.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um anyway, so like since then I'm really into like different guides and stuff with animal guides, but I also have like musician, dead musician guides.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and Prince has been a big one of that.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just little things, so like you know, songs coming to you, articles, whatever.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um but uh right now a big one's Amy Winehouse for me.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um so it's kind of funny.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: My inspirations from these musicians is not purely just the music they've put out, it's a lot of like their lifetime, but also their beyond lifetime.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's something I can appreciate.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm gonna point out something that's incredibly ironic, but it's amazing.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: So your episode is going to be sandwiched between a paranormal investigator that I just talked to yesterday and a medium that I'm talking to next week.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: And the paranormal the paranormal investigator and I, yesterday, we were having a really in-depth conversation about uh uh creating the energy that you want uh in the world, like manifestation, self-manifestation through your own thoughts and your own beliefs.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: So to hear you talk about that, it's like, oh my gosh, this is so serendipitous to have these three episodes in a row.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I absolutely love all of that.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: I I know you said it's kind of the woo-woo side of things, but I'm all in.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm all in and I'm right there with you.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, great.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: Because yeah, it's not just uh that's so funny and ironic because it's a huge part of what I do.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, my life isn't just like it's not like an entertainment, this like spiritual side of things.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like what you just said, like that's how I manifest my life is through like visualization and you know, belief and knowing, and you've got all these, you know, uh maybe metaphysical things beyond physical things.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: But a lot of what I do comes down to kind of what the medium talks about.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I've done so much of my own personal research with books and you know how my universe works and how I can use the law of attraction and all these things to my benefit.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, take a look, guys.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's like the proofs and the pudding.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's it takes some time, but I am doing like there's not one thing in my life that I'm doing that I don't want to do.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: And that I think how life should be like we shouldn't feel like we're slaving away at our lives.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: We're we all have something beautiful to give to the world, but it takes courage and guts to show the world.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I really think for all the negativity that's put out in the world these days, especially the past few years, I think there's a heightened collective consciousness right now, unlike anything that there's ever been in society.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: And as somebody that performs to audiences and you're constantly connecting with people, you're putting your art and giving your art to these people.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: How do you receive that energy back?
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's a big part of the performing aspect is receiving it's the it's an energy exchange.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that's why, like, if I'm playing to a bar and nobody's listening, it's still that's my job.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm there to do it.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: But it's so different to where, you know, even if one person is focusing on you, because you are feeding off of each other.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I got that even out of live streaming.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I felt it like when I go live and you can see how many people are on, I can feel that energy exchange.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's something so beautiful because I don't just do it for me, I do it for what I'm, you know, what I can give to people, and it's it's yeah, it's purely an exchange.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: And there's this term called um collective effervescence.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's where um where people's it's sort of like if you put a bunch of grandfather clocks in a room, they all start to sync up.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um similarly with our brain waves, so you know, if you're at a big stadium watching a game or you know, watching a show, you have this group of people, you're all in the same thing, focused on the same thing, and your brain waves start to uh entrain with each other's based on what the performer is giving you.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I basically am in charge energetically of a whole room of hundreds of thousands of people.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um so what I am giving out is what they are in training with.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I have a big responsibility to, you know, be in the moment, be outputting joy, healing, even if it's a sad song, it doesn't matter because they're it's basically people coming together and not feeling alone and realizing they're not alone, uh, that they're a part of something bigger.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just you get into this whole big pot of oneness and it's really awesome.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, that's why it's so nice.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very like raw with my emotions when writing.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: If you're sad, just fucking say you're sad.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um just say it and say how it feels, and uh people connect with that because it's like it doesn't make them feel sad, or they'll be like, oh, I felt that too.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: That makes me feel less alone in my feelings, and it's a step toward healing.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: And by me getting it out, it's a step toward healing.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's the whole creative process and receiving process, it's an exchange.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I love that.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: I love that, and you know, I can speak on my own behalf, and maybe it's it's a narcissistic trait for myself, but I remember when I was doing the music thing, and I always tell people the best shows were always the obviously this is a duh moment, but like the best shows were when the most people were there and the most people were interacting.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's like my all my bad shows.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: I never played a great show in front of an empty uh in front of an empty bar, you know.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: But I mean, it it wasn't that I wasn't putting forth that same amount of energy, it's just how I felt it in return, you know, talking about that person education.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it takes a lot more of your energy to perform to an empty room or a room where they're not paying attention because you have to give more than both of you being lit up.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about some of the current projects you're working on because you have a lot of irons in the fire.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: Eden is your rock band project, if I understand this correctly.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, Eden is my rock band project.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like rock, blues, pop.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's a little bit uh, I don't know.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: I would say it's my like best highest quality performing band.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we do a lot of bigger stuff.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so when I play with Eden, it's the same for musicians every time.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um I perform a lot under Savannah Woods as well, but if you're coming to see me, you don't know what you're gonna get.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'll usually put on my show poster like duo, trio, or full band.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but sometimes in that duo, it's you know, me and a cajon, a box drum, or cello or piano, saxophone, electric guitar, trio, same deal.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's like I kind of pick the um musicians for the gig.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what fits the venue, what fits people's schedules, what they're able to pay, all sorts of things.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: So within my name, I have a lot of different formations.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then I also am in a jazz group, sort of like uh jazz is a broad term, um, but we just went in the studio and did a few songs.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: We're doing it backwards to where we're uh recording before we're performing.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um so we just recorded a few songs and then we'll get out there.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: We've been working together for quite a bit, making music.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: I just finished we just put out our first album with Eden.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh love that it sounds really good.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's seven original.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: and and and zombie, which is people have been wanting to hear for a while stream it.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because that was my audition song on the voice.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: And kind of my that's my cover that everybody, you know, everybody's got a song.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: And people are like always play zombie.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of like my song.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: So now it's out.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, and I also just put out music of my own.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm doing a lot this year.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: I just put out a single last month and I'm about to put out another one.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: I have another album ready to come out of my own.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of music coming out this year, but I'd say like three main genre groups.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: And they all can intertwine just different feels.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: So are you handling a lot of the business end of this on your own as well on top of performing?
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: As far as the I do basically um everything except for luckily with so my band Eden, they were a group before I came in, their singer moved and they needed somebody to fill in for a gig.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: I filled in we ended up you know falling in love creating a new brand but they had already had a uh a booker who helped with a small portion of the bookings but she gets us into some places that um I wouldn't be able to and it's been so nice.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: So that was my first taste of delegation.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh because I I am open to delegating but the hard thing in the music industry is it's like where do you find these people?
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like through connections and knowing people and knowing people like for example on my tour I'm playing in a place in Omaha Nebraska because I asked Craig Craig asked you you asked somebody else like it's all word of mouth you know and it's who you know and friends and so to me music all about connections and that's why I love having like my online connection and in personal connection.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even remember you just asked me it is it is a it's a it's a symbiotic relationship.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: It is about who you know who they know and who they know and like working those in the right way and maintaining integrity too because it's no secret that you can't trust everybody in the music industry.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to kind of have them shields up while you're doing it at the same time.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: But so long as you're working in the interest of the art you tend to land on your feet in the right ways.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah for sure and I I feel like I don't know I feel like I'd be able to feel it but we'll see I haven't even met many people um who I could even work with like I don't know what it was like man musicmanagers.com like there's not places you can just find these people so that's what's been hard for me.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I do do everything myself but I also am kind of going about it in a way where yeah art first and when these people show up it's the right time and there's not much else I can do but to be careful with who I share my rights with.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: Because with the voice you're signing away a lot of your rights but I knew what I was doing and it was an exchange as as well with them.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know I'm I'm exchanging my momentary freedom musical freedom for mass exposure.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: So we were each getting things from each other.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's different if if you win the voice that's different.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's where I was going to go with it next is how did the process of being on the voice kind of change your perception or your perception of that trajectory?
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: It basically reinforced what I'm already doing and that I love what I'm doing and I love feeling a little bit more independent and in charge of things.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: Hollywood was fun, don't get me wrong it's just a it's a whole nother game it's a whole other world there and a lot of legalities and um but it also shows me what I need to get better on and like if I am going to be getting to the level I know I'm going to be getting to there are I'm gonna need I'm gonna need lawyers and managers and people to help with these things because it's crazy to see how many parts go into making this big machine work.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like the voice is huge and there are layers and layers and layers of employees and producers and so many things.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of what you have to do you have to start building a team.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I know I don't want to like be all that Hollywoody.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's fun and in a little spurts but it's kind of a lot but I also know that I need to find somewhere in the middle uh you know the grassroots thing gets you only so far.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: It'll get me so far but like even right now I'm I'm running my wheels off.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: I am so just between performing and booking and managing and promoting and like you know recording and getting like there's so many little tiny things to make each thing happen.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: And somehow I'm making it all happen but for the sake of my body being injured I keep getting like sick and hurting myself I'm like oh maybe I need to start building a team yeah maybe so maybe so maybe so I I'll tell you um one thing that I admire about what you're doing and kind of talking about your story specifically in the solo artist aspect you talk about how it's a duo or trio or like different configurations of instrumentation.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's very akin to what somebody like Prince would do and taking control of their artistry and watching shows like The Voice sometimes they try and paint you into a certain box or a certain perception of you're this type of artist or you're this type of artist to where you you're kind of every type of artist.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: You have a lot of irons in the fire.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I appreciate the fact that you learned a lot about the business aspect of yourself.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: I knew what was going on and I knew I was kind of a pawn in the game and we used each other.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: I knew that they needed a rocker girl.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't have one of those I know people go crazy for the wrath.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: So uh you know I tried to make myself marketable and I was fine to go down that path and I developed my voice a lot and a lot of people are like oh they made you into such a rocker it's like yeah who cares?
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: I don't care that's that's fun to rock out and then I know that's I know that's not all that I am um and I know I have a diverse voice and I like doing it all really and I was okay to give up some of my creative freedom you know they pick your songs they dress you they do everything and whatever it's just it's adaptability oh that's awesome that's awesome so you know with all of these things that you have going on what is your goal six months from now?
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm booked out for the next I don't know through October fully so with live performances so on that level gaining a lot more exposure connecting with more people locally and globally um but putting out albums and just basically keep grinding for the next six months because I don't know where that puts me month wise but I'm gonna basically be performing my butt off getting all this stuff done and then hitting the road October for a probably a five week cross country tour and then I'll probably maybe go to Europe.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: I usually get really busy and get a lot of and then I run away to Europe and take a little um short little sabbatical.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: But with six months I mean just popping up to the next level I really notice my band Eden gaining a lot of uh traction performance wise and um I'd like to find people to help me with promoting and marketing in the next six months.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's a big thing too without with putting out so much music it's really helpful to have somebody who knows that level of the industry a lot more as far as getting your music heard and having the time to do it, sending it to radio stations, getting it playlisted on streaming stuff, like sync placements, all these things.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I guess in the next six months would be starting to build my team a little bit more to get my music heard and honestly just keep doing what I'm doing.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm killing it and I'm having a really fun time.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: And things seem to be just like taking off on their own.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like I'm just gonna keep putting one foot in front of the other and see where we go here.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: Because I notice the more I try to control it, the more uncomfortable it is.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: At this point I feel like like this train's driving itself.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: I love that so I was gonna ask do you celebrate those small victories and do you feel those small victories after every single accomplishment like almost like a I've leveled up moment.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_01: I do and it's exciting every time like um like just the other day I just opened my phone and happened to see my album went live you know online.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: That means the whole world can hear it and it's like oh that's so exciting.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: And recently I got to perform I was asked to open for Dermot Kennedy who is a huge Irish artist and he was touring the North um North America and he's really big right now and I was asked to open for him at the Wamu Theater which is the largest venue in Seattle it's like attached to the Siak Stadium and really huge.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway that was like that was so exciting that was kind of like the voice like each time these little things pop me up it's like oh it's so exciting because you can know it.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: I can visualize it all I want and see it and be it but when it actually it's like oh you get to do this now for real each time I level up it's like it's really exciting and I definitely definitely celebrate it.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: I had a single release party the other day and so many people friends family came to support and yeah all the little victories are really exciting and that's the part of the journey man every every turn it's like so fun and exciting and who knows what's next.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes so what advice would you give to your younger self if you had a chance to talk to her right now?
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: Don't try to be like anybody else um just own what you like and what you want to do.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: But basically I guess just stay true to yourself and don't be so what's the word not self-judgmental there's a better word than that.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: Self-critical?
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah critical yeah yeah don't be so critical and I don't know childhood's hard I'll just tell her you know it gets better my my infamous wrap up question is always interesting because everybody from different walks of life gives me a different answer and I love it every time.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: What advice do you have to make the world a better place tomorrow than what it is today?
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: The most simple answer is love more but it's like uh spend more time doing what lights your soul on fire.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: Realize how valuable of a resource time is and where you invest your time um you know in the places that that light you up and you know make you feel love and others feel more loving.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: Just more it's really just about time, Cookie.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_01: Where do you spend your time?
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: Don't waste your laugh away do something that makes you happy because that most likely is going to make other people happy too which makes the whole world better.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen you can find Savannah at Savannahwoodsmusic.com check her out on Spotify or whatever streaming platform.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: This has been awesome I am glad we got to connect.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: Me too thank you for having me on oh my gosh and even more so I'm glad we're friends.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: The world's a much better place with you and it's likewise oh shit back to that once again I want to thank my friend Savannah Woods for doing the podcast.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: Please search her out Savannah music to all forms of media for Savannah for the micro force