Interview: Lucie Silvas

'It's so good to be back!' Lucie Silvas beamed this past Wednesday, in a packed out Oran Mor. The feeling was most definitely mutual.

Since relocating to Nashville nearly ten years ago, Lucie has kept busy over there writing new music and touring with the likes of Chris Stapleton, Kacey Musgraves and Little Big Town. It's been a while since she last toured the UK but the songstress made sure that the wait was worthwhile with an hour and a half long set that left the crowd hanging on every note.

The set was mostly comprised of tracks from new album, Letters to Ghosts. It didn't seem to matter much that the album was only a few days old (in the UK, at least), the crowd still knew all the words just like they still knew all the words to tracks from her first two albums, which were dotted in between the new stuff. 

Fans demanded an encore and were treated to a final three songs, including the immensely popular 'Breathe In', before Lucie and her wonderful band took their final bow with the promise that they'll be back 'soon'. For everyone in the audience, 'soon' can't come soon enough.

Before the show, Lucie was kind enough to take a few minutes to chat with us about the new album, living in Nashville and more.

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You had your first show last night, a sell out in Manchester. Could you have asked for a better start?

I could not. It was unbelievable. It’s the first time in however many years that I’ve been back and it was such a warm crowd and I was nervous. I knew that I would see familiar faces, I knew that I would have a good time but it was the first show back in the north of England for a while. And this [Scotland] is very special as it’s a little bit of home.

You said that you were a bit nervous. Were there also any nerves about releasing an album after so long?

I wasn’t nervous. You do get bouts of that when something is about to happen, like ‘okay it’s coming out today’. I get nervous in those moments but I don’t get nervous at the overall picture because I made an album that I love. The process was so on my own terms that doing that in itself made me so happy that nothing could possibly ruin that.

The album is quite personal. Were you nervous to release something that was so personal?

No, because they’ve always been that way. I think that The Same Side was very much that way. It’s funny with songwriting because I feel that people, songwriters, creative types or whatever, they know what’s inside their heads more than they realise. I’ll write things, like on the second album even, I’d realise later how apt and how true to life it was. With Letters to Ghosts it was the same way. You write it and then afterwards go ‘wow, I clearly needed to get that out’.

You moved to Nashville and obviously there’s a country sound to the album. Was that intentional or did it just happen naturally?

Just naturally. When I moved to Nashville, it wasn’t about country necessarily. It was just about being in a musical environment. But everyone was in close proximity. Everyone wanted to help each other. Everyone aspires to what each other is creating. I took in my surroundings, started to play the mandolin and then you write that way and it becomes more of that sound. My sound touches edges of pop and Americana and country so I never really thought about it. I just did something that I enjoyed listening to.

There’s so many great songwriters in Nashville. Who have you had the privilege of working with?

Some of my favourites are people like Barry Dean, who has co-written some amazing songs with Little Big Town and Carrie Underwood, and Busbee. There is an amazing guy who I got to write with, Allen Shamblin who co-wrote ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’ for Bonnie Rait. She’s one of my heroes so it was lovely to get to work with him. Artist-wise, I got to write with Miranda Lambert recently which was an amazing experience because I’m such a fan of her and we seem to connect on lots of levels.

Did you listen to country before you moved to Nashville?

I did but there were lots of people who I didn’t know. I didn’t even know who Vince Gill was before I moved there and now this guy blows my mind and I couldn’t believe that I had missed out on years of listening to him. My mum would listen to Merle Haggard and Dolly Parton. I knew Hank Williams, Willie Nelson and all that stuff. But more of the pop-country that exists these days, I didn’t know a lot of those artists because it wasn’t something that had crossed over to the UK.

Would it be fair to say that country music is expanding in the UK now?

I think it’s starting to. I’m not here all the time so it’s hard for me to know how it’s doing but I see C2C is building and I know the Nashville show is taking off. I think its such an amazing genre because I think its one of the truest forms of lyric writing and music there is. It’s very reflective of the lifestyle. I really hope that the rest of the world can embrace country as much as they’ve embraced pop, gospel, blues and RnB. I think it’s an amazing genre that is the most truthful of them all.

You recently played the Opry. What was that like?

I’ve been in Nashville more or less on and off since 2007 and when I played the Opry, not only were my parents there and, because I’ve been living in different countries for ages, it was the first time that they’d seen me perform on stage since 2008. So they had come in from New Zealand and were in the audience. I had done so many things in Nashville, worked with lots of people, performed at the Ryman, opened for Chris Stapleton, I had done loads of different things but when I performed on the Opry stage, I got this feeling that I must have made it in Nashville. That’s when, after all those years of watching other people and my heroes play the Opry, I thought I cannot believe that I was on that stage. I felt embraced by Nashville.

So definitely a career highlight?

Absolutely.

So the album only recently came out here in the UK. Was there a reason why there was a year between the US and UK releases?

It was just because that I didn’t plan any of it. I was doing it independently. I made the album without any backing, which was hard but it was fun because I got to do everything. I didn’t have an A&R person, I didn’t have a manager when I was making the album. I didn’t want to wait for the music industry, I didn’t want to wait for a record label. I had music that I wanted to release. I didn’t have a promo team, I didn’t have radio play so it’s amazing to see what the album was able to do by itself and gain support. Then Decca suddenly came along and said that they wanted to put this album out commercially and that they wanted to hear me on the radio. It’s very hard to cut through on your own, as an indie artist and I felt like I was definitely starting to but this was an opportunity to reach wider.

You talked about being an indie artist. Do you prefer the sort of freedom that being an independent artist offers? 

Because of the point that I signed my deal at, I feel like I’m in a certain mind-set that I can’t change now which is a good thing because I’m like ‘this is how I’m doing it’ and they seem to understand how I operate, that I want to make music and live a happy, balanced life. I’m not after the pop scene of fame, I just want to make music and tour. I still feel that I have a lot of freedom.

Have you started work on the next album?

I have. I’ve started writing it and in the new year we’ll start recording. But I want to give Letters to Ghosts a really fair shot first.

You’ve played the Opry, released your new album…what’s next?

Next is, after these dates which have been a long time coming so I’m going to make the most of this week and enjoy myself, I’m going on tour with Brothers Osborne in November and December. Before then I’m playing all these festivals across America. It’ll be all touring and then we’ll see in the new year, hopefully I’ll be back in the UK again.

And finally. What advice would you give to upcoming artists, especially country artists in the UK?

Do what’s authentic to you. You’ll have people tell you ‘this won’t fit here’ or ‘this won’t fit there’. If you really love what you’re doing and you really love the music you’re making, you need to stick to your guns. Keep your head down and work hard because there’s plenty of talented people in the world. Your work ethic and how humble you remain as a person are two of the most important things in this business.

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Lucie plays Birmingham tonight, London on Saturday (as part of the C2C Social) and Bristol on Monday. Her brand new album, Letters to Ghosts, is available in the UK now.