Welcome back to our appointment with Independent Interviews.
Today I have the pleasure of hosting here in my column a great artist known both for her voice, but above all for her skill on the violin: Rachel Stacy.
Hi Rachel, welcome and thank you for your availability.
Tell us about yourself: where were you born and raised? When did you decide that you would become a professional musician?
I started music at a very young age (4 years old): performing, dancing and singing in pageants and then, at six years old, I started the violin.
By the time I was six or seven I dabbled in the professional world along with my mother who is a musician and singer herself, but went full professional in 2004.
I was born in Marion, Illinois, but moved to Oklahoma City when I was four.
I left Oklahoma to go to college in California and lived in Fremont, California and then headed to UC Irvine in Irvine, California.
After graduation I moved into Hollywood and I got my record deal and a pretty short time after that I went on an independent tour.
When I came back to Los Angeles, I was offered a deal and it was suggested I move to Texas to work that region more closely.
Your life, I read in your BIO, has been hard and intense: do you want to tell us about it? What made you change direction towards this new Rachel that we are admiring on stage?
I’m not shy anymore about my former drug and alcohol addiction since it molded who I am today.
I was raised with a pretty volatile childhood but lucky enough to get to do the performing arts and as crazy as it sounds, I am grateful that the abuse I endured gave me the life I have today.
I’m able to help others who struggle with childhood trauma by continuing the journey that I’m on and being an example anybody can fight addiction, no matter what pain experienced.
My goal is to also help and be an example for women that struggle with age and not chasing their dreams because society tells them to stop.
I have been told since I was very young to hide my age and I do believe a lot of my addictions came from trying to be somebody else, in essence try to be what everybody wanted me to be.
So if I can be an example to someone to fight childhood trauma, fight, society, norms, and become a whole person by seeking themselves in their dreams that I am doing my job.
I use all the pain I’ve experienced to write, perform, and play my instruments.
I still struggle with mental health and depression, but I take drastic measures with my solutions to life and seek recovery on all levels.
What were your major musical influences? What did you listen to and what do you listen to now?
Because my mother was also a skilled musician, singer, and writer, I grew up listening to many different styles and the classics such as Tanya Tucker, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton, Janis Joplin, Fleetwood Mac, Willie Nelson, Heart, Loretta lynn, Carly Simon, Karen Carpenter, Charlie Daniel’s, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and then my more current influences are still Dolly Parton, Lucinda Williams, Susan Tedeschi, Melissa Etheridge, Bonnie Raitt, Beth Hart.
Anyone that grabs my soul.
Songwriters I can relate to. I love all styles, so I can go from Dolly Parton to Metallica to Waylon to Kid Rock to Queen.
I love music that touches every aspect of my soul.
How did you come to the decision to play the violin? A difficult instrument, but exciting and wonderful.
My mother was a piano player, guitar player, and upright bass player and when I had the opportunity to pick up an instrument, I guess I was a lazy little kid and decided to pick up the smallest string instrument that I found.
But I fell in love with that.
I don’t think that was an accident, I think I was meant to play violin, it was just waiting for me to pick it up.
I feel like The Violin tells a story musically and vocally.
Since I began at a very young age as a classically trained violinist, I have all the great composers of my time such as Bach, Beethoven and so on in my wheelhouse, even though I play fiddle style now.
Are there any violinists who have inspired you? And who are the best in your opinion, apart from you obviously.
I remember being young and being inspired by Johnny Gimble e Bob Wills, but to be honest, that’s not why I picked up The Violin.
I’m telling you that instrument was waiting for me to pick it up no matter what I played on it.
I feel a deep connection to my violin in the story it tells.
I saw that you released singles in 2024, but you haven’t released a full album in a long time: are you planning to release more singles or should we expect a new Rachel Stacy album?
I have several singles that I have released and yes, I plan on releasing an album probably in the next 6 to 8 months.
My song “Beautiful” has been in the works and as I plan on doing a full record around it, life got in the way.
A lot of people know that I dealt with cancer last year, and although I’m cancer free, it slowed me down and now I’m back in business and will be focusing on releasing my records.
We are in the studio as I am answering these questions.
We recently saw you share the stage with the great Creed Fisher: how was your meeting? Did you join the band? Will there be a follow-up in the studio?
I did a short run with Creed Fisher and I love all the guys in that group.
Hopefully Creed and I will get to do a duet together one day and if not, I will cheer him on from the sidelines.
As I focus on Rachel Stacy and my brand, it’s always great to work with other artists to cross promote and help each other.
I had a wonderful time, sharing the stage with all of those guys and sharing the bus, but I needed to get back to work and get back to business with my career.
Emanuele is a dear friend of mine: what is it like sharing the stage with an Italian-Texan? And what is it like working with Creed’s band?
Emanuele is a wonderful human.
I met him years ago and have known him before Creed Fisher.
I always felt an instant connection to him musically and I felt like him and I on stage had such a good time, entertaining the crowd.
Kind of like a perfect match between a Croatian fiddle player and an Italian Guitar Player.
I’ll always consider him my brother from another mother.
My time will never be forgotten and I do plan on working with him one day again.
Hopefully! I fell in love with each band member, and learned so much from each of them. Everyone in that bus has a special place in my heart.
The life of an independent musician is hard, always on tour, always on the move: how do you reconcile this with family life? Is it more difficult for a woman to assert herself in this world?
I do believe that this life is not cut out for everyone and it takes a special female to be able to tour.
Since I have toured starting at a very young age, I am used to all of the downfalls behind the scenes that people don’t see, but it does not stop me from wanting to do my career.
Family life is difficult since you are on the move all the time, and it takes special couples to really work through the ups and downs of to our life.
We are either home all the time , or we’re on the road all the time, there is no balance, so you have to find balance all the way from how you live with your health, your relationships, how you are on the bus, be careful what you put in your body, get lots of sleep, plan trips home, call home, FaceTime, etc.
I do believe it is a little different for women on the road.
We have to get a little bit more prepared for each show, at least I do.
I love fashion and I love jewelry and I love hair and makeup so being on a bus, it takes a special area to be designated or you have to wait till you get to the venue.
But yes, like I said before this is not a life for everybody, and it does take a special human to be able to tour like this.
Relationships are hard when you are on a bus all the time basically in an apartment traveling through the country, but it is possible if each person stays positive and works on their lives individually.
It is a really cool life, and if you are cut out for it, you can experience so much and I absolutely love it.
I do miss HOME when I’m not at home, but I also love to be on the road. I was made for this.
You’ve done a lot of tours: which artist have you shared the stage with that has impressed you the most? And who would you like to play with maybe one day?
I still will have to say that the tour with Big & Rich was my biggest learning lesson.
They know how to put on a show, and would impress me.
The most is the show we did in Myrtle Beach to over 90,000 people, I was shaking in my boots yet they were comfortable and incorporated every aspect of entertainment to keep that crowd lifted up and they blew the night away, so it taught me that talent is great, and entertaining is an art itself!
One of my bucket lists among the artist I have traveled with over the years will always be Pink.
If I could do a duet with her or one show with her, it would absolutely fill my heart.
I have lots of musicians that I would love to share my music with and talents with, but I have a fondness for Pink and her independence, maybe it will happen one day and maybe it won’t come all I know is she is one of those artists I would love to play with.
What is your favorite place where you’ve played? And where do you dream of playing one day?
I have way too many places that I love that are my favorite. I cannot name one.
But it is a dream of mine and hopefully not a pipe dream to play a stadium concert in Athens, Greece.
I fell in love with the Stage there in Athens for their outside concerts and imagine my band playing there right there under the Parthenon.
What advice would you give to a young musician who arrives in Nashville hoping to be successful and make music her life?
I would say no, that you want to do the business.
It’s hard, it’s heartbreaking, it’s rewarding, it’s exhausting, it’s invigorating, but in the end dreams are to be worked on.
I would say never give up.
You can’t expect everything to come to you, so you have to go after it.
I’ve made a lot of mistakes in the music industry and one of them is getting distracted from my real direction.
My true direction in music is the songs I write, the songs I sing, and the music I play and the message I put out into the world.
I encourage every artist to seek their inner self and find what makes their heart happy and chase that dream no matter what it looks like.
I will chase until the day I die, I’ve gotten to do so much in my career that I could write a book about it and I feel truly blessed.
All the failures and all the successes are worth it.
My last piece of advice is just like Lemmy from Motorhead told me, one day in Los Angeles he gave me advice, and he said to me:
“Love what you do, stay off the casting couch, learn how to talk to your musicians, learn every aspect of the industry, And be a good human.“
I have been sober for 13 years now and I can tell you that if there is one piece of advice.
I would love to give young musicians is to be careful, don’t let addiction steal your dreams, because it might look like you are succeeding at your dreams, but if you are caught up in the fantasy of drugs and alcohol and addiction, life is too precious and I’ve seen too many of my favorite artist, lose everything, even their lives by being afraid of success and drinking and drugging to excess.
I hope the example I live every day by staying sober helps somebody else out there and hey, maybe that’s my purpose.
My dream is always been to get a Grammy, and to help other women, musicians succeed, but maybe my purpose here is to inspire others to follow their dreams and not get caught up in addiction, maybe that’s my message, I don’t know.
But I do know I will never stop chasing.
I love what I do. I love this industry. I love the heartbreak. I love the success, and I love, seeing others succeed by chasing their dreams and inspiring others.
I hope I continue to inspire others by my work.
Thanks for your availability, I hope to see you live in Italy one day!
Trex
