Backstage with: Alana Springsteen

Country on the Common hits South London this July

It isn’t just her soulful voice that makes Alana Springsteen one of country music’s most compelling emerging storytellers; it’s the authenticity, depth and emotional intellect of her lyrics, woven around irresistible melodies that don’t just demand your attention, but deserve it.

The artist behind the music is equally as captivating: Alana is warm, introspective and genuine, with an increased confidence as she navigates her “healing era” of life and music. She’s an artist that isn’t chasing trends - she’s carving out a lane that’s entirely her own.

We caught up with Alana backstage at CMA Fest ahead of her appearances across country music’s biggest celebration of the year and talked about everything from following up her incredible debut album, 'Twenty Something,' to writing “the most honest, vulnerable song” she’s written yet and the connection with her fans that fuels her.

NB: Alana, it’s so great to see you again – thank you for taking the time.

AS: It’s great to see you, my girl – I’m so glad we could make this happen.

NB: Me too – I appreciate it, I know you’re busy: you’re back at CMA Fest, you got a few things going on over the weekend, including playing the Riverfront again – what’s your favourite thing about being part of CMA Fest?

AS: The fans – hands down! I feel like everybody probably says this, but I feel like the country music fans that come to CMA Fest are the best: they just go so hard, and they bring the best energy. I’m getting to play the CMA Close-up stage with my boy, Mitchell [Tenpenny] and Tyler Braden, Ty Bentli’s hosting; just playing some songs and getting to have some really cool conversations about the intention we put into the music. How we write it, how we produce it – a lot of the creative stuff that I nerd out about, but I don’t always get to talk about, so I’m really excited for that show, and then Riverfront, of course – it’s my third time playing the Riverfront – I’ll be playing some new songs that are coming this year, which I’m really excited for, just to feel that fan reaction and get some new stuff out there. It’s probably my favourite stage at CMA Fest, honestly; I love how close the fans are, I love being on the water, it’s just good vibes. I’m also hosting for BBC 2 Radio at the stadium every night, so getting to talk to the artists that come through – it’s been a really good week so far; we’re just getting started.

NB: That’s awesome. I didn’t realise you were doing that. I gotta say, I loved you co-hosting C2C in London last year with Bob.

AS: So did I.

NB: And who knew that would work so well? It was like the duo none of us knew we needed.

AS: The duo no one expected. I really learned a lot. I feel like hosting with Bob – obviously he’s a legend and arguably the biggest champion of country music and has kinda spearheaded it in the UK. And man, I talked him into getting tattoos – I feel like he’s gotten a couple since then – sorry Bob; you’ve caught the bug!

NB: You started a tradition for him.

AS: I think I did, yeah. He’s one of my favourite humans, and that kinda led into this really cool relationship – I got to co-host the station with him through C2C, so now we’re doing it here in Nashville. It’s a lot of fun.

Alana & Bob Harris at C2C 2024 (London). Photos by Tricia Yourkevich

NB: The last time I saw you was like a year ago in Vancouver for Coast City Country.

AS: Yes!

NB: But man, the things you’ve accomplished in this last year alone. Just to name a few: your first gold record, your first #1 at radio, you played the Ryman for the first time, dude you played Tiny Desk! Alana – can we just take a second to acknowledge how cool those two venues are? How did it feel to be playing your music – that you pour everything into – in those iconic spaces?

AS: Oh my goodness! Well let’s talk Tiny Desk first because I grew up watching Tiny Desk; I mean, the artists that have come through and played there.

NB: I know, right: Lainey Wilson, Stapleton, Taylor, Adele, and now you’re up there holdin’ your own with all of ‘em.

AS: Ah, thank you. And right, I’ve watched my heroes on Tiny Desk, I’ve discovered artists on Tiny Desk, so walking into the space – it really is a desk, like it is just a desk. There’s literally people working around the corner in their cubicles just doing their 9-5 everyday job, but it’s still intimidating! You walk in there and there’s no frills, there’s no edits – it’s just raw talent. Whatever happens in the room is what you hear, and I think that’s what makes it special; there’s just no filter, it’s just you and the music and the writing and reinventing the songs. Like I loved getting to do ‘Ghost in my Guitar’ with a cello and flip things on their head and play ‘Twenty Something’ the way I wrote it just on the piano. So it was really fun to get together with my band and just come up with these really unique arrangements, and it’s a moment I’ll never forget, so that was iconic.

And then, The Ryman, I mean I’ve grown up going to that venue; I’ve seen so many incredible artists there. It’s just kind of holy ground; walking onto that stage, you feel the impact of all the people that have been there before you, the legacy that it has, the reverence. And I just wanted to cement that moment in time, that’s why I wanted to have my first ever live record be from The Ryman; getting to capture it for fans that weren’t there, or have fans that were there be able to relive it the way I relive it. Listening back, I still get chills and it just puts me right back in that moment, and it was truly special. I can’t wait to go back and headline there one day.

NB: I honestly don’t think that day’s gonna be too far off, and you know I’ll be flying back out for that one.

AS: Hell yeah, Nikki – let’s go!

NB: I was gonna say, I love that you released ‘Live at the Ryman,’ and that you released the Tiny Desk live recordings for streaming because you are such a live artist, right – like there’s such an energy about your live show, and as a fan, you do feel that listening to it back. I mean, talking about the cello on ‘Ghost in My Guitar’ – I didn’t think it was possible for me to love that song more.

AS: Aw, thank you! And man, Gideon Klein is an incredible musician; he plays the cello and steel guitar, and probably many other instruments that I don’t know about, but cello has always been one of my favourite instruments, so I’ve kind of always dreamt about bringing the song to life that way. Something about a cello just makes me emotional; I’ve always wanted to learn – I tried to learn during Covid – but it’s one of those instruments where you sound like shit until you sound okay, and I couldn’t get through the shit period [laughs].

NB: [laughs] You tried though, that’s what counts, right?

AS: I tried! Maybe I’ll come back to it eventually?

NB: Well, whether you do or not, it sounded beautiful and really elegant.

AS: Thank you.

NB: And ‘Live at the Ryman’ really does capture that synergy, that heart and connection that you have with your fans when you play a show. What’s your favourite part about playing live, or what feels the most special to you?

AS: My favourite part, gosh, I just think it’s like you said, the connection itself; there’s nothing else like it in the world. You know, growing up in a small town, I was raised a little bit in a bubble: I went to a really small church, I was home-schooled for most of my life, my circle was my family and man, I remember the first time going to a concert was when I was like, nine years old – it was Taylor Swift, Speak Now, and it was in an arena and I had never seen that many people coming together for one purpose: just because they loved music, they all connected to this artist and their story and were screaming back every word. Just the energy I felt in that room was like nothing I had ever experienced before, and I think that that moment changed everything for me. I just remember going, I have to be a part of whatever this is – whatever this feeling is, I wanna be able to feel this feeling for the rest of my life, and that’s what inspired me to start writing songs and I caught the bug for performing. And being on stage and feeling the energy from that many fans coming at you, especially when it’s a headline show where they’re your fans or they’re there because your story, your writing, your music resonated with them and made them feel just a little bit less alone! Man, I will never take that feeling for granted, and it’s the most safe I ever feel, it’s the most seen I ever feel. I wish I could bottle that feeling; it’s so special.

NB: I remember you said on socials at the start of the year that you were missing being on tour, and you’re well and truly back out on the road now for pretty much the rest of the year with Keith Urban’s tour – after everything you just said, I’m guessing you’re feeling pretty good. You’ve been dropping new music into your sets too – what’s the response been to those?

AS: It’s been incredible! People are filming it, posting it, sending me videos; just getting hype about it, and it feels so good to have that kind of reaction. I’ve spent most of the last six months just holed up in a studio writing and working on this next chapter of music, and I had so much to unpack. I’ve lived so much life in the last two years and learned a lot about myself and gone through some of the best, but also some of the darkest moments of my life; I’ve been in therapy, been in writing rooms trying to put it all into words. It’s been healing in a lot of ways and I am dying to get these songs out in the world. What fires me up is talking about the hard stuff; talking about stuff that I’m scared to talk about because somewhere deep down I know that if I’m feeling it, somebody else out there feels it too, and they need to hear it. This next chapter is just all of that growth, all of that healing, all of that change I’ve experienced kind of boiled down into songs. There’s one that I’ve been playing live called ‘Same God’ that’s probably the most honest, vulnerable song I’ve ever written, and it still makes me nervous to play, and it’s one that people have already started coming up to me going, “That song – I love that song! Please release that, I need to be able to listen to that,” and it just makes me more excited for this next chapter. As scared as I am to put some of these songs out, just because of how personal they are. I know it’s what I need to do, and it’s my purpose, and I’m just really excited for this next chapter, for sure.

NB: I’ve seen that you’ve been including ‘Same God’ in your recent sets – honestly, I’ve only heard the teaser one time and I’ve been avoiding it online ever since because just from the teaser, it just felt like the kind of song that - for the first time I ever hear it - I wanna be right there present while you’re singing it, so I’m excited for that one, now even more so after what you just said.

AS: Thank you.

Same God: Live on the Riverfront Stage at CMA Fest

NB: I did, however, hear ‘Sad Hour’ in full for the first time on your live last night – it’s another one you’ve been playing live and teasing a lot on socials – is that likely to be your next single?

AS: It’s coming really soon, I can confirm that. I loved writing that song; I wrote it with Nicole Galyon, Sasha Sloan and Mark Trusell. One thing that I’ve learned over the past year is how to make friends with my feelings; I’ve spent most of my life just kinda burying them and just wanted to appear really strong, and kinda viewed emotion and vulnerability as weakness, and I’ve learned you can’t really beat emotions – if you don’t express them, if you don’t process them, they’re gonna come out in some way. Probably in a much worse way [laughs] so learning to sit with hard feelings, and not only to sit with it yourself, but open up to people about, to not feel like you’ve gotta be alone to cry, and ‘Sad Hour’ is a bop, it’s a fun song, but ultimately it’s about learning to process your feelings and going, ‘we don’t have to do this alone.’ We all go through hard things; whatever you’re going through, whatever you’re dealing with – it’s safe with me. If we’re gonna be sad, let’s at least be sad together.

NB: For such a deep song, it does have a really upbeat melody – I love the juxtaposition of that – someone on the live picked out the line ‘when it rains, I pour’ and you said that’s your favourite line in the song. Is that kind of word play something that comes naturally to you as a songwriter, or something you and your co-writers actively search for in the writers’ room, because it’s something we see a lot in your music?

AS: Thank you. That’s one thing I love about country music, and always have loved, is just how clever the lyrics are. Those word plays that just make you lean in and hang on every word the artist is saying; really pull apart a lyric and dissect it. I love a song like that; it’s always been a goal of mine to have that in my music, so I will spend time trying to think of things like that and then writing it in my Notes app, but I also just love writing with people that that’s their strength. I have a lot of writers that I love and I’m just like ‘I see you. You’ve got bars for days.’ I would say my strength as a writer is melodies, even more than lyric. Usually a song comes to me first in melody and I’ll be like ‘how does this make me feel? And what’s in there that needs to come out?’ and I’ll just start mumbling and words will come to me that way, so a lot of time I’ll write with people who I know are lyricists, like that’s the way their brain works and we work really well together.

Sad Hour: Live on the Riverfront Stage at CMA Fest

NB: ‘Twenty Something’ was such a massive record for you as a whole – literally, it was 19 original songs if you include ‘Just a House’ from the deluxe version – and it really was such a great introduction to your music and what you have to say as an artist. When you started shifting gears towards thinking about this next record, did it feel intimidating to think about how to follow up a record that did open so many doors for you?

AS: You know, it did. I think too, as you’re coming up in this industry, you hear ‘oh, sophomore album – it’s so hard. Can they do it?’ And it is, there’s a lot of challenges that come up. You spend your whole life writing your debut album, picking your best songs from your whole life and putting it into a project. I remember walking into this season, coming off of Twenty Something; it was a wild year. I had a lot going on, I was touring non-stop, I was just so exhausted by the time Christmas came around, and I was already thinking about starting the next project in January. Like we gotta get back in, we gotta do it again, and I was just so tired and depleted. I was like, ‘I feel like I have nothing to give,’ and that’s the side you don’t see; an artist releases an album and then they’re touring it and they’re busy and they’re all these places and it’s so hard to start working on that next project immediately, and I just remember praying that God would show me what I needed to say. That he would give me the words, that he would inspire me, and kind of guide that next record, and careful what you wish for [laughs] because I feel he did just that – he was like ‘okay, bet,’ and all of a sudden I went through all these changes, learned so many lessons, started unpacking and healing my inner child. That kind of stuff in therapy and it was a rollercoaster, so careful what you wish for, but I really think I got the inspiration I needed in such an unexpected way and I lived a lot of life and I’m truly so proud of these songs and this music and I’m dying to put it out, so stay tuned!

NB: Love that – it feels like a good place to wrap, but before I do – just quickly, it’s been a minute since you were last in the UK, but you’re coming back this summer. You’re playing Long Road again. You have a lot of fans in the UK & Europe; how excited are you to be coming back?

AS: Oh my God! [Writer’s note: I couldn’t possibly love Alana or her music more, but I will say her attempt at a British accent that comes with these next four words is a little questionable! Sorry, Alana – please let me still come to your shows].

Absolutely buzzin’ [laughs] I’m buzzin’ – no, I cannot wait. The UK fans have quickly become some of my favourite in the whole world, so Long Road is gonna be amazing. I can’t wait to get back there and hopefully do a headline tour really soon – we’re working up to that, but Long Road’s gonna be awesome. I’ll be playing a lot of new music – get ready!

You heard her y'all - get ready - to keep up to date, hit the links below to follow Alana's website and socials, and click here for our review of Same God and Sad Hour.