q&a: kirsty akers
Not many people can say they’ve recorded three albums, even fewer can say they’ve done it at the age of 23…but such is the feat of Kirsty Akers!
With a few exceptions, country music has typically been a rather insular genre: there are country superstars that non-avid fans never hear about. But between her duet with Bob Evans and a new LP teetering on its release, Kirsty Akers is about to join the ranks of the household names!
She chats to lip about selling her house, not giving up, and Dolly Parton.
What is it that you really love about ‘In Spite of Ourselves’?
I always grew up singing it around the house when I was a kid but not actually knowing what it was about at the time. Then when I got older, I finally realised what the words meant and I liked it even more! It’s just a really great, fun song I guess.
Why did you want to work with Kevin Mitchell (Bob Evans/Jebediah)?
I used to hear this song called ‘Hand Me Down’ in a shopping centre that I go to, and I never actually knew who it was by. And then I was at the Keith Urban concert a couple of years ago and Bob Evans came out and sang that song and I was like, oh, so that’s who sings it! So that’s when I became a fan of Bob Evans, and when I went to record this song, he was my first choice, and I really didn’t think he’d be into it or say yes and luckily he did, which was great!
How has your songwriting or recording process evolved with time and experience?
Well this album’s been totally different. This one’s my third album but it’s actually the first album I’ve done independently without a record label so it’s been totally different. I didn’t have a record label saying yes or no to certain songs and making me work to a deadline, so I spent 12 months writing the songs and about six months recording the actual album, so about a year and a half all together it took. Which was great, because most of the time, you have about six months to write the songs and get them out recorded so it’s kind of rushed I guess.
This is the first album I’ve actually done that’s a whole album nearly full of all my songs, there’s only three songs on the album that I haven’t written so I can’t wait to get this one out and see how people take it and hopefully they like it.
You seem to have quite a positive take on working independently, have you found at any point throughout the process that you’ve second guessed being independent?
I think it’s great being on a label when you first start out because getting your name out there as a brand new artist is very hard and it was great to work on my label on two albums, and I actually sold my house to make this album! So I’ve gone through a lot to get this one out, but hopefully it all pays off and everything goes alright otherwise I might be living in the gutter!
So what made you decide to release it independently?
I actually went through a stage where I was signed to my label still and I think I’d just released my second album and things weren’t going how I wanted them to go. The songs that I was recording weren’t exactly the songs that I wanted to be representing me as an artist. I actually went through a whole stage where I thought about throwing the towel in and giving it all up and I actually did take about six months break and went and got, I guess you could say, a “normal” job. But I soon woke up to myself about six months later and realised how lucky I was to be able to do what I do and that’s when I decided to go independent and thought, if I really am going to have a crack, I need to have a go at it by myself and if things don’t go right then, then maybe I will go back to a 9 to 5!
Was there an artist or a moment when you were growing up that made you want to pursue music?
It’s always been Dolly Parton. She could release an album full of nursery rhymes and I’d probably still think it was amazing. I’ve been a fan of hers my whole life, and I grew up listening to pretty much only Dolly Parton, I was brainwashed with it by my family, so I think she was my biggest inspiration growing up and I wanted to be just like her and dress up like her and shove the tissues in the bra and everything!
Do you think it’s more challenging being a female in music than it would be being a male?
I haven’t really seen that side of things myself, there probably would be a lot of artists that say so, but I’ve been very lucky, and especially over here in Australia I guess, it’s pretty equal. The very first time I actually went on the road was with a guy called James Blundell and we were pretty much on our tour bus with about 12 guys and I think I was the only girl…they all made me feel very at home and were great to work with.
Is there a question that you’ve always wanted to be asked?
If someone would give me a million dollars, that would be a great question!
Kirsty’s album, Naked, will be out this Friday, July 22!
In the meantime, check out Kirsty’s duet with Bob Evans, ‘In Spite of Ourselves’ below.
