"It starts with a single note" Beckwitt says, "to change a person’s life, influence one’s soul." Everything that made us must be brought out into the open, transformed through song, poetry, art, "we end up creating the things that we needed in our darker times." In her song “One More,” Elisabeth sings about her struggles with addiction, now, five years clean, Beckwitt says "it will always be a part of my life, but all I can hope is that through talking about it and through music I can help anyone who might also be struggling, and continue to heal myself." Having come through a great many things, Beckwitt has found that by creating with the difficulties of our past often we touch the lives of others, giving them something to hear and hold onto in their own dark times. "Then We Do" elisabethbeckwitt.bandcamp.com/album/then-we-do Beckwitt's new album, is an indie pop record packed to the brim with heart, charm and honesty. Inspired by Ingrid Michaelson and Sara Bareilles, Elisabeth makes a noble and lasting contribution to the songwriting community, and lucky for us listeners who long for songs we can relate to, we find plenty to appreciate here. AHC: What has this journey in music, so far, been like for you, the highs and the lows, and what life lessons do you feel you've picked up along the way? Elisabeth: It starts with a single note, a single phrase or a single melody to change a person’s life and to make art an introspective influence to one’s soul. For me, music has been a constant in my life since day one, since the first notes I played on keyboard. Music has always been there for me when I needed it most. I want to write the music that I needed in the darker times of my life, because when I went through them I discovered that you can't do it alone. Throughout my teenage years, I struggled with severe anxiety and depression stemming from childhood abuse. My struggles led me to seek professional psychiatric assistance, where I was eventually diagnosed with a mental disorder. With the help of the people in my psychiatric care specifically my therapist, I was able to make it through a difficult time in my life. It is my hope that by being open about my past and my BPD, I can help to erase the stigma that is oftentimes associated with mental health, and continue healing others and myself along the way. Music has taught me that there is nothing that shouldn’t be talked about, no matter how uncomfortable. What matters most is that you are taking care of yourself and others while healing, growing, learning, educating, and sharing as much love as possible. AHC: What first drew you to music and what was your early musical environment like growing up? Were there pivotal songs for you then that just floored you the moment you heard them? Elisabeth: At age eight, living in my hometown of Lexington, MA, I discovered my love for performance when my parents, my older brother, and I began putting on small concerts for our friends and family. With my mother on violin and brother and father on piano, my love for music, specifically for singing, started to bloom. We had a rule in our house that you always had to play an instrument, so I tried on a few hats before I finally settled on the keyboard to accompany my voice. My parents were heavily influenced by classical music, and my mother was a fan of old-school musical theater. I remember seeing West Side Story as a kid and thinking how beautiful the storytelling was; the music, the acting, the dancing, all coming together to make you feel connected. From that moment on I knew I wanted to use the talent and knowledge my parents had given me to tell my story. AHC: Do you remember the first song that you ever wrote or played? Or that first moment when you picked up a pen and realized that you could create whole worlds just by putting it to paper? Elisabeth: The first song I learned to accompany myself on piano was “Keep Breathing” by Ingrid Michaelson. This song has always been a source of comfort for me. It’s a reminder of the simple fact that sometimes, all you can do is keep breathing. When I turned 18 I tattooed those two words onto my wrist so I will never forget. The first song I ever wrote is a different story…I’m pretty sure I rhymed “you” with “you” and didn’t use any words with more that 4 letters. Growing up as a vocalist, I was always self-conscious that all I could do was imitate other artists, and that I didn’t have a story worth telling. Near the end of my college career I finally started to find my own voice through my own songs, and I fell in love with the possibilities. My ‘breakthrough’ moment in songwriting happened in a parking garage late at night while I was in the middle of a deep and fulfilling cry. The song started pouring out of me, and I remember whipping out my phone and cursing my fingers for not being able to type all the lyrics down. I opened voice memos and recorded my slight idea for melody, and then sat in the car for a couple hours, letting my emotions run wild. That song, “Corner Pieces,” made it onto the 4-song EP (“Back to August”) I recorded before leaving Boston and heading to Nashville to further pursue writing. AHC: Which musicians have you learned the most from? Or writers, artists, filmmakers, teachers/mentors Elisabeth: Ingrid Michaelson has been my biggest musical inspiration. She has a beautiful ability to tell stories with humility, while still maintaining her awkward and quirky personality. She constantly is trying to find light in the world, a quality I strive to have in my own life. I studied Vocal Performance at Berklee College of Music and it wasn’t until my second year that I found the voice teacher of my dreams, Alli Beaudry. I am forever grateful to Alli for showing me that imitation didn’t have to be erased from my voice. I had to learn how to embrace the qualities that made my own sound unique. She was the first person to hear one of my original songs, and she helped encourage me and shape me into the writer I am today. AHC: What do you think makes for a good song, as you're writing and composing, is there a sudden moment when you know you've found the right mix, that perfect angle of light, so to speak? Elisabeth: I always begin a song with lyrics. Growing up I loved creative writing and poetry. I love being able to describe something simple in a new light, and learning new words to expand my personal writing dictionary. I love the excitement of writing a lyric that sends a shiver down your spine. Sometimes the lyrics pour out all at once, like “Corner Pieces” from my EP, or the second song on my debut album entitled “Call Me Chameleon.” When sitting down to write “Call Me Chameleon,” I was looking back at all the relationships I’d had in my life, and I noticed how much I changed aspects of myself to become a mirror image of each person. To better fit into THEIR world. I pretended to take up smoking for a guy, I became obsessed with Joni Mitchell for my first girlfriend (one day I’ll thank her for that!) and then switched to 90s indie rock for my next ex. As I was writing these stories, the Chameleon metaphor fell into my lap and rounded out the song. I finished the bridge with “how many colors will I try, is any of me really mine?” and instantly felt proud. That’s what songwriting is all about for me, being proud of your art. Telling your story, or someone else’s, in a meaningful and relatable way. Not all songs come together that easily; some are long and painful processes of labor and love, but I know I’ve found the perfect angle of light when the story starts writing itself. AHC: Do you consider music to be a type of healing art, the perfect vehicle through which to translate a feeling, a state of rupture/rapture, hope lost and regained? Does the writing and creating of the song save you in the kinds of ways that it saves us, the listener? Elisabeth: Music has always been a healing process for me; a way to showcase an emotion or a struggle, to connect on a basic human level with the people around me. I love when writing helps me process a memory; when I’m able to step outside of the situation and observe it from a different angle, sometimes the memory turns into something else entirely. The song that was hardest for me to write is track four on my album, “One More,” about my struggles with addiction. When I finished writing the song I tried to play it all the way through and had to stop because I was crying too much. I am 5 years clean this year and am so proud of how far I’ve come, and so grateful for all the support and love I’ve received. Addiction will always be a part of my life, but all I can hope is that through talking about it and through music I can help anyone who might also be struggling, and continue to heal myself. AHC: What are your fondest musical memories? In your house? In your neighborhood or town? On-tour, on-the-road? Elisabeth: When I was little I used to make up little songs and run around the house singing them. Most of the time the songs centered around my name, repeating “my name is Elisabeth” on various melodies. My dad likes to remind me of this from time to time, joking that those songs were some of my best work. It was so comforting to live in a musical household; to listen to my father playing beautiful sonatas on the piano, to hear my mother practicing for her orchestra concert, to watch my brother grow as a musician. Whatever hardships we faced, music was always a common thread tying us together. Even now, as we are all living separate lives, I love being able to make music for a living and thank them over and over again for instilling this passion in my heart. I released my debut album, “Then We Do,” at the end of 2016 and celebrated the release with a party at The East Room with family, friends, and a few of my favorite Nashville artists. Aaron Patrick opened the night with his piano-based contemporary country style, followed up by Abigail Flowers smooth jazz and gorgeous melodies, and finally Cierra Louise and Sean Trainor performed together in a mesmerizing set. Seeing how passionately they performed only increased my musical high as my band and I took the stage. We performed the entire album, and I was in a state of joy and gratitude for the entire night, a feeling and experience I will never forget. AHC: When you set out to write a song, how much does 'where the world is' in its current moment, culturally, politically, otherwise, influence the kinds of stories you set out to tell? Elisabeth: It’s impossible to not lose hope in the face of where our world is right now. There is so much hate, so much intolerance, so little understanding, and because of where technology is today, it is all laid out right in front of our faces. It is a fact of life that there will always be suffering. Music is the best way I know how to spread love, and to shed light on some of the issues that people would rather ignore; Addiction, identity, sexual orientation, and hopelessness to name a few. These are the issues that I most closely relate to, but that does not stop me from seeing the bigger picture of suffering. Sitting down to write I am constantly feeling the weight of the world, the failing system that is steadily unraveling. All I can do is hope that my little piece of insight into the world, and how beautiful it truly can be, will help broaden the mind of someone who is closed off. AHC: Do you have any words of advice for other musicians and singer-songwriters out there who are just starting out and trying to find their voice and their way in this world? What are the kinds of things that you tell yourself when you begin to have doubts or are struggling with the creative process? Elisabeth: This business is not easy. There are endless moments where I want to give up, where it would be easier to walk away. But the fire inside of me, the one I got from my parents, refuses to let me. If you are lucky enough in this life to find something you are passionate about, something that pushes you to constantly be bettering yourself, hold onto it as tightly as you can. We all experience moments of doubt, but those are the moments that define us, that make us human. Writers block happens; sometimes the words refuse to come and time keeps moving on which can feel overwhelming. There is so much pressure to generate content, for instant gratification, that sometimes the joy in music making can get lost. When this happens, I take a break. I listen to music that I love, I spend time with my family, I lose myself in another hobby, and then suddenly inspiration strikes. Timing is everything. AHC: Recently you released your debut album "Then We Do" back in December, could you talk about this project and about what lies ahead for you?
Elisabeth: “Then We Do” was an extremely fulfilling and enjoyable project to work on. I worked with an incredible team of producers at Big Punch Music in Nashville, as well as a phenomenally talented band led by guitarist Denny Joist. We approached Tommy and Rob at Big Punch studio in early 2016 with the 11 songs I had been working on for two years, and they genuinely were excited to work together. From the first brainstorming session, I knew this was going to be a project I would be proud of for the rest of my life. We brought the band into the studio and I was blown away by the immeasurable amount of talent and life they brought to my songs. It is an indescribable feeling; hearing the songs I wrote on piano come to life. I couldn’t be happier with the final project, and I am forever thankful to my team for making it a reality.
In anticipation for the album release, we released two music videos for my singles “Kiss Her” and “Not Your Nashville,” both filmed by Randy Alan Shaffer of Vibe Entertainment Nashville. We had so much fun recording both videos and are currently working on a music video for “One More” staring a dancer friend of mine. She choreographed a hauntingly beautiful piece, and it will be released on April 14th, 2017. I will be embarking on my first tour to support the video from March-June, and am very excited! We will be hitting a lot of the Midwest, check out my website for details and hopefully we will be playing a city near you. I have also started working with an artist development company here in Nashville, AGD Entertainment, and am thrilled that we are working together to make 2017 my best year yet! For more visit www.elisabethbeckwitt.com/ Photography by Kate McGaffin Comments are closed.
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December 2023
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