Lindsay Lou is not afraid to work. The Michigan-born and now Nashville-based singer-songwriter, who you’d file under the catchall genre of Americana as she digs into twangy pop, bluegrass and roots-heavy soul, comes with a get it done work ethic. It’s a much-needed principle for an independent artist; a punk rock inspired, do it yourself tenet that’s necessary when you’re at times the roadie, tour-router, driver and business manager as well as the talent.
Lindsay Lou and band, which features a sturdy rhythm section, another member switching between electric guitar and fiddle, and Lou on acoustic guitar and perhaps some banjo, will perform Tuesday at Animas City Theatre.
If you go
WHAT: Lindsay Lou plays roots, folk and Americana; opening is Emma Rose.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday.
WHERE: Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Drive.
TICKETS: $28.54 advance.
MORE INFORMATION: www.animascitytheatre.com.
When other duties as necessary is part of your musical job description, clocking in is necessary.
“I love putting my nose to the grindstone and doing the work and getting out there,” Lou said. “It can be grueling, but I’ve been doing it for so long now, I’m in a healthier place with it, and I’m always honing in on the process and the whole journey, you know?”
As a kid, Lou had dreams of the music biz, and dreams of changing the world. Music does in fact remain a business, however, after falling into the no-pressure, front-porch picking bluegrass crowd, she figured she could make music work, despite the unpredictability of a steady paycheck, a never let money get in the way of making music attitude.
“Somebody told me the music business is 90% business and only 10% music, and I was a punk-rocker, and I was like, ‘I’m just going to play music for myself and my family and my friends, and I’m going to be a doctor and change the health care system.’ I went through college, and I have a degree in human biology, and I met this band called The Flatbellies in college and they were playing bluegrass and meeting them kind of felt like finding a family away from home, because I could just get together with them on our front porch” said Lou. “Because of bluegrass you just instantly have a whole repertoire of songs you can sing harmonies on, and it helped me hone-in on my chops a little bit, and I realized around that time that I could make the same amount of no money touring that I could working as an undergrad assistant in labs at Michigan State University. So we just started doing that.”
Lou is eyeballing a new album that could drop in the next year, while also still heavily promoting her 2023 release, “Queen of Time.” She’s not interested in a “fast food world of singles and hits and 30-second reels,” referring to a world of force-fed art, as she believes in the entire album as a piece of creativity.
She also believes in the work. The before and after hustle that goes into that time on stage is the necessary evil of the business; it’s a package of work where the payoff is the time on stage.
“We’re on call working basically 24 hours a day, for the whole time we’re out. You wake up, you schlep the things, you drive to the place, you schlep the things, you sound check, you play. You get like two hours of music, and then you schlep the things, and you drive to the place you’re going to sleep, and you schlep the things again. It’s a full-time job and it’s a small percentage of time that music is actually happening” Lou said. “But I think that golden nugget of time that the music is happening, you drop into that meditation or have that connection with an audience, or with your bandmates, or with your own self. It makes everything worth it.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
