Originally from Minnesota, Alannah McCready started out as a star college hockey player before a career in sports PR – but her love of music was always there in the background.
In 2015, she made the leap into becoming a singer-songwriter with her debut album ‘Love Hangover’. Now she’s back with her new EP, ‘Back To Me’ – which came out this May – and is taking the show on the road with a visit to the UK to play at Nashville Meets London this week.
I spoke to Alannah recently about her trip across the pond, how she approaches her songwriting, her latest single ‘Can I Call’ (a duet with her co-writer Will Gittens) and more.
Welcome to the UK!
Thank you. It’s my first time here.
How are you finding it so far?
I love it. I’ve been here for three days now. So we’re just doing the touristy stuff and enjoying being here – kind of a mini vacation [laughs]
You’re also here to play at Nashville Meets London at Pizza Express Live next week – what can people who are coming along to that show expect?
Yeah, I did Nashville Meets London last year. But it was just virtually, obviously, because of travel and COVID and stuff. And so it’s fun this year to be able to do it in person. And it’s going to be cool. I’m excited to see the other artists that are playing it that are from London and excited to play my new music and play original music finally, because in Nashville, they don’t expect you to play original music a lot. So I’m excited to do that and just play a show over here. It’s gonna be fun.
For people who may not have heard your stuff before, can you tell us a little bit more about your musical style and your influences?
Yeah. So I would say technically, I’m contemporary country, or country pop is kind of how it gets described. So I’m not your typical twang country, but there’s a little more soul in my voice than twang. But I think country music is all about songwriting. And that’s what I think drew me to it from the beginning. And I’ve just always known that I was going to do country music as a career. And so my sound is… I like that whenever people try to compare me to people, they can’t really figure out anyone that I sound like. And that’s what I’m kind of hoping to stay as. So I kind of have my own style.
Are there any songs that you’re particularly looking forward to playing live while you’re here, or that you’re particularly enjoying playing live at the moment?
Yeah, I’m just excited to play my new EP. I haven’t gotten to play it live a tonne yet. So to be able to play the whole thing is going to be nice. I’ve been playing kind of a couple at a time at different shows. So I’m going to play all five songs at this show.
I did want to ask you about the EP as I know you started work on that during the pandemic. So how was that experience of making music in those circumstances for you?
Honestly, I think it was kind of nice, because we were able to just shut in and just get everything done in one fell swoop. But really, before the pandemic, I was touring a lot, and just on the road all the time, and I didn’t even realise that I hadn’t put out original music in years. And so not being able to tour and play on the road all the time kind of allowed me to switch that energy focus and create. And so I’m kind of glad that forced me to do that. And then the EP came out of it. And it’s some of my favourite music I’ve ever written.
As you’ve mentioned, it’s been a little while since you’ve recorded anything new. So I wanted to ask you how you feel that the way you approach your music has evolved in that time?
I think the difference is more in my writing. I think I grew a lot as a songwriter in that time. And also, you know, life happens [laughs]. So I feel like I went through quite a few things and just grew up as a person and adult, and went through the things that I was able to connect with and other people can connect with. And so I think more on the songwriting aspect of it and being able to mature in that way is the biggest difference.
I wanted to ask you about your songwriting – do you feel that you’ve got like a typical songwriting process? Or does it kind of depend on the song or what mood you’re in or things like that?
Well, it’s obviously different for everybody. But for me, I don’t play an instrument well enough to accompany myself. And so I usually am lyrics first and melodies in my head. Or if a producer is going to send a track to write to, then that even makes it easier. But as far as the process, especially if it’s a co-write, it’s a collaboration of who you’re working with and how they work and you just meld together – whatever works in the moment. And it really just depends on the session and the song, how it just organically like flows out. Sometimes it’s music first, sometimes it’s lyrics first.
I also wanted to ask you about ‘Can I Call’ which is on the EP and which you’ve now released as a duet with Will Gittens. Why did you decide to turn it into a duet and how was working with Will on the song?
Yeah, so we wrote my whole EP together. And then the duet was the last song that we wrote for the project. And as we were doing the project, we always knew we wanted one of them to be a duet. And so when we got to that last one, Sterling, [Will’s] brother, actually, who produced the whole project, came up with the concept, and came out of the room, and he was like, “I had this concept”, and we were like, “this is perfect for the duet”. So we kind of took it and spun it in our direction. And I think it’s cool that I’m able to have on this project an array of everything.
There’s some upbeat, there’s some slow stuff, there’s some sad stuff, there’s some love songs, and then a duet. So I feel like we covered all of the bases. And writing with people that are your friends, they bring something different, like they know you better. So there are times where I would say, “oh, let’s do this”, and then Will would be like, “Oh, but how would you really say that?” Because he knows me so well. So I think it really helps make it more in depth.
When you were putting the EP together, were you quite clear about what songs you wanted to go on it? Or was it quite a difficult process to get it down to what it eventually became?
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Yeah, no, it was actually really smooth and easy. I mean, we each did one song per session, and then they sort of just came out organically. Since it was going to be an EP and a shorter project, I knew I wanted to have to touch on different aspects of myself as an artist and my voice and stuff like that. And so, in all my projects, I’ve always had an upbeat, anthemic girl power song and so I’m wanting to make sure there’s one of those and wanted to make sure there was a really intimate, vulnerable song and something uplifting and happy about love. And I just wanted to touch on everything that I like to have on my projects as an artist, but more condensed.
You were a hockey player in college and then you had a career in sports public relations before you went into music. Is there anything you’ve learned from that that you’ve taken into your music career?
Oh, absolutely. I feel like actually talk about this quite a bit. Because I feel like the mentality and the mindset you get from being an athlete at such a high level is really helpful. I mean, in any career that you move on to in general, but especially being an independent artist, I feel like the ability to self motivate and be organised and be mentally tough, especially in the music industry, because you can be on top of the world one day, and then there’s your lowest the next. And so I feel like the athletic mentality that I gained throughout my hockey career helps me stay really constant and not too up or down and really stay mentally tough throughout all the different things that have happened in the industry.
You played your first CMA Fest back in May. How was that?
I loved it. It was crazy because I’ve been to CMA fest a few times, and played other shows surrounding it. But this year was the first year being an official CMA Fest artists and doing meet and greets, and all the whole works of it. And it was really cool. It was really exciting. Hopefully next year, it’ll be double that, more shows, and more days and stuff like that. So it was super fun. And just to get to see people and CMA Fest is all about the fans, which I think is amazing. And so to meet people that had listened to my music and they wanted to talk about it – it’s just very cool.
What’s the one song you wish you’d written?
Oh, ‘Tin Man’, Miranda Lambert. Every time I play it, I’m like, “I wish I would have written this.”
What does the rest of this year looks like for you? Obviously you’ve got the EP and I think you’ve mentioned that you’ve got some tours coming up. So is that the main focus at the moment?
Yeah, just pushing the EP and playing it live and getting back on the road now that everything’s open and people are going to shows and the festivals are back up and running. And so just really getting back into the full swing of things and playing shows regularly. Because in Nashville, things haven’t really slowed down much. So I get to play every weekend there when I’m in town. And now getting being able to get back out on the road is the goal right now.
And lastly… after you’ve played Nashville Meets London, have you got any plans to come back over to the UK?
Oh, I want to for sure. I’ve actually had a couple of people. DM me and be like, ‘I can’t make the show, you’ll have to come back and play more shows’. I’m like, ‘OK!’ [laughs]
Alannah McCready’s new EP, ‘Back To Me’, is out now.
See Alannah live in the UK on Wednesday 27th July at Pizza Express Holborn as part of Nashville Meets London Presents!. Tickets are on sale now at https://nashvillemeetslondon.lnk.to/July272022
