Episode 461 - Musical Guest: Avila - She’s Too Good

Welcome to Voices in My Head, the official podcast of me, Rick Lee James. I'm a recording artist, a singer, a songwriter, an author, a worship leader, and an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene. The Voices in My Head podcast is where I discuss music, movies, books, pop culture, theology, and more with friends, colleagues, and sometimes just by myself. Now make sure to let me know what you think of today's episode by leaving me a review on iTunes or by tweeting at me @RickLeeJames on Twitter. And please join my mailing list at RickLeeJames.com where you can receive an email every time a new episode is released. By the way, in case you're interested in a daily dose of kindness and encouragement beyond this podcast, I also run the Twitter account @MrRogersSay where I post daily quotes from Fred Rogers, one of the voices in my head. Well, I guess that's it for the intro, so sit back, relax, and listen to the latest episode of Voices in My Head.

Welcome back to Voices in My Head.

As always, I am your host, Rick Lee James.

Rick Lee James, and I am so glad that all of you listening can be here today, partially because I get to introduce an artist that I am really excited about. Her name is Avila, and she has a great new single out that we're going to be playing for you at the end of the show today. Um, just a little bit on a personal note that I want to share with all of our listeners, because of my association with the Recording Academy and the, the Grammys and all that, that's the way that I met Avila. She She was my, I guess we'll say, mentee is how it was. But, you know, I learned as much as her as she hopefully would learn from me in a situation like that. Well, I had got to hear, had the chance of hearing some of her early demos just beginning over the last year whenever we would meet together 2 or 3 times for our mentor program. And I was so excited to find out that she had just released one of those demos as an actual real honest-to-goodness single, and it sounds great. The single is called She's Too Good, and we're actually on a call today over Zoom for those of you listening today where she is in London, and, and not London, Ohio, which is down the street from me, but the actual real London, England. So I'm really excited to talk to her today. So, Avila, welcome to Voices in My Head.

Hello, thank you so much for having me.

Well, it is, it is a real privilege, and I, I just, you know, I've told you this before over email and stuff, but I just want to tell you how proud I am of you and how amazing your new single is. I've been like jamming it in the car and everywhere I go. I, I, um, was listening to it with my son, taking him to school a few days ago, and just kind of crazy. Yeah, I was like, I, I was like, I know her, and he's like, you know her? It's like, yeah. And I was playing it for my wife, and it was, it was like that scene from that You do, you know, where they're all excited and running around. I don't know if you've seen that movie or not, but you know, they're excited when the new single comes out and they're jumping around. So I was just excited for you. It's a great single. So everybody's gonna hang around and listen to it at the end of the podcast today, but we're gonna have links in the show notes today where everybody can just, with one click, wherever they listen, whether it be Spotify or Apple Music, or if they want to go to YouTube, any of those places, they'll be available with a single click from listening to the show today. So first things first, um, how in the world are you?

I am doing so good. I cannot complain at all. I'm making music, I'm traveling. I'm so lucky to be in London at the moment when I'm usually in Nashville. I mean, it's, it's, it doesn't get better than this, really. So I'm doing really good.

Now, now, you're a student at Belmont, and that's a great, great university, especially for music there in Nashville. And so this is part of— is this part of your senior year, uh, that you're getting to study in London?

Yes. So, um, yeah, I'm in my senior year at Belmont, and I just decided to go abroad just because I could. That's great. And do music at the same time.

Yeah, that's great. Now, what are you having a chance to study specifically while you're in London? I assume there's something there that, you know, you're getting that maybe you couldn't get in Nashville where you are.

With the— with how specific my program is to Belmont when it comes to commercial music and stuff, I'm not actually doing a lot of music classes out here, so I'm— okay, I'm doing just like your general education.

Oh, okay, great.

Out here, but I mean, it really does allow me to— it gives me the room to, um, be creative, uh, and just exist in, in a city with so many other creative people and, and be inspired without being too stressed about the academics that I'm in. So I wouldn't change it.

That's terrific. That's great. Well, tell us a little bit about sort of the music scene there. Most of us listening, I assume, are not in that part of the world. Most of my listeners are in the U.S. So just tell me, you know, kind of the difference in music. I know every region— I know when I traveled to Africa, for instance, like the music there, not, not just the way it was presented sometimes, but even like the feel of it was completely different, the timing was different. So I was able to broaden, you know, kind of my whole category of even what music was, thinking, you know, I, I know music, but they presented some new things to me that I'd never learned before. What's some things that you're finding, just personally for you as an artist, that you're finding exciting, um, just about being where you're at right now musically?

Um, I think the thing that's excited me the most Recently, especially, it's just been the art of live music. And I mean, especially it coming back, but also just to see young people be so fearless and bold on whatever size stage they're on is something that's so inspiring regardless of the genre that people are performing.

And—

sorry. People are performing and writing. And whether it's covers or original music, I think it's really something that's spectacular. I mean, even buskers on the street, like, they just have such like a— and I absolutely adore it, no matter what genre I've stumbled upon. Yeah, I think something that's really cool is just like how many young people are into rock, and I think that's something that's so cool, and it's just, it's very diverse. It's a very diverse genre, and It's, I don't know, it's very unifying and exciting thing to witness.

Well, two things that you just said that I want to hit on, and one you cut out just a little bit, and it's probably my connection, not yours, um, but when you were talking about the buskers on the street, and, and I assume that that's, that's not something I see every day, uh, in my part of the world, you know. I don't see people on the street corner playing music, and I don't remember even when I lived in Nashville even with all of the, the music. Sometimes I would see that downtown in the touristy areas, you know, you would see some people. But that seems to be really like more of a, an actual thing that happens in daily life, isn't it, around there? I mean, from what I've heard, and especially in European areas, that's a big deal for, you know, people to get out on the street and just share their music. They're literally broadcasting it themselves, you know, like, absolutely.

They bring the speakers, they bring the microphones. I mean, they— and it's, it's very much a part of like a metropolitan city life where everything's very close. It's a part of your commute, and it's, it's very integrated into people passing by and people a part of it and stuff like that. It's really actually very cool.

That's amazing. Well, the other thing you mentioned was, you know, how much the young people are into rock music. And if we can say anything about your new single, it's a rocking song for sure. And it has this real, um, I, I don't know how I want to describe it exactly. It's It's just straight up rock and roll. And I remember when we were talking about in sort of our mentor-mentee meetings online, when we would chat about things like this, and I don't know if you remember this or not, but we talked about, you know, like with your first single, what kind of image you want to kind of project to the world and trying to think about something that's really strong right out of the box. First of all, not that the song necessarily is specifically about you, but I think it could be, um, you know, with the— she's— the she's too good, you know, type thing. Um, it's, it's a great piece of marketing, first of all, because it's your, you know, like, here's my introductory single, and I'm not just gonna, you know, put a heart-on-my-sleeve ballad out there first thing. I want people to kind of know, no, I rock, you know. So first of all, you know, I kind of you know, I'm like swelling with pride. It just like, yeah, she did it, you know, like the, the first song to come out, She's Too Good. And that, and that just is such a great like, uh, single title, but it's great for marketing. It's great whenever somebody, uh, puts a piece out, you know, it's an easy title if somebody writes an article about the song, you know, this new artist, she's too good, you know, type thing like that. So it just works on so many levels. And, uh, so, um, anyway, I'm just really proud of the way that you you know, have put all that together. And, and it really projects, I think, the image that fits you very well, um, as an artist. So, um, now what listeners are not going to know is I got to hear some more of your music too. And, and you're just such a good songwriter, and you're in, you're in an early phase right now. I mean, you've not even graduated yet from, uh, from college. So, um, to me, I just see like this whole new world in front of you that you know, I'm excited for you about. I can tell you for sure that your first release is much better than mine ever was, probably better than anything I'm putting out ever since, you know. Um, so, so it's a, it's a wonderful thing to be able to hear. Let's talk a little bit just about some of the fun things I like to talk about with other musicians. Um, tell me about the recording process, um, like where it was done, how you did it, um, because, because I'd love to know, especially in the times we're in due to the pandemic in large part that has, has been going on, that thankfully, fingers crossed, we're starting to finally come out of a bit. Um, but I, but I was— I'd love to know, like, did, did it take place remotely? Did you send it to a place here and another musician added stuff on? Were you all like in a studio together at once? So just tell us a little bit about the process, and, and, and if you could, you know, any, any cool things you picked up in that process, because we're always looking for, for new and exciting things about the recording process, right?

I mean, from the time that the song was written to the time it came out was just under a year. Okay, so this song was written back in June of last year, um, with my co-writer Sarah Bears. She's amazing. She's also based in Nashville. Everybody that I worked with on the project So my producer Reed Sorrell is just amazing, and so we were able to do— can I wait? Can you— is it—

is it getting noisy?

Can you hear everything?

Oh yeah, sorry. That's okay, that's okay. I understand, uh, Avila is recording at a place that is a little bit noisy, so it's quite all right.

My apologies.

No, it's okay. And you know what, unfortunately it's my connection again too, probably. You, you cut out just a little bit, but I think you were saying, you were saying that everyone is there, uh, in Nashville, uh, that was part of the project. And you had mentioned your co-writer, and we heard that. And then you started talking about your producer as well, right?

Yes, my producer is Reed Sorrell, um, a childhood friend of mine, but we both ended up going to college for music, so it was just like a dream come true to work with him, um, on my first song. And so the recording process happened in his studio, his home studio. And so we were very lucky to have, you know, a controlled environment and knowing where people were going and stuff like that. So it was, it was in our control. Um, I'd say our first session and our second session were a couple months apart just because of scheduling, but overall everyone was healthy and safe and it really went off pretty seamlessly. We had musicians that would come in, also Nashville-based. We had our drummer Sean Presley and our guitarist Eli Spotts came in on different days and I got to see them track stuff and Reed was there the whole time and it was just, it was really cool. Really, really cool experience. But no, there was never a day where all of us were in the same room together, which is— so we never had like the guitar player, the drummer, me, and Reed all going at once ever, um, which is just so crazy to me. Yeah, together in pieces. But I do, I do think that the way that we did it was, was perfectly fine. It was amazing.

Yeah, it sounds so tight. I mean, everything is really good. Again, the— and not just the production quality is very good, but I love the arrangement. Um, I mean, the way that, um, you've put together— like, there's, there's even a little bit of a musical break. It's not exactly an instrumental part, but like between the chorus going into the next verse where it kind of swells and gets big and then, you know, like leads you into a place. So there's— I mean, even just um, the arrangement side of things. I think a lot of young artists when they're first starting out, they're not always thinking about the full arrangement of the song when they're writing it, you know. And, and they're coming to it as, um, well, I've got these lyrics and I've got the song and I'm just gonna play it. Um, this just feels already, you know, miles ahead of a lot of like first singles when they come out, just from all of those aspects together.

So yeah, I think that was something that Sarah and Reed really brought out of me in the writing process. I, there were ideas that I'd throw at Sarah and I'd just be like, "Does this sound even right?" And she was like, "If you believe in it, like, you can make anything sound right." And then I'd be like, talking to Reed is like, I'm producing, I'm like, "Okay, well, Sarah and I wrote this and this is the energy I had behind it and I want it to be really big." And Reed just made the word big exist, like, in the song. I mean, he gave it a sound. That is so important with a producer and to just be able to have that kind of communication where you— they're there to translate your sonic language to an actual, you know, WAV file. Yeah, just so good.

Yeah, and I imagine there was a lot of emotion when you finally got to hear it, you know, all together. Yeah, all the instruments jive. There's just nothing better when it all comes together the way it's supposed to. And, uh, and it's— and it just turned out— I, I'm sure— I, I imagine in, in your mind probably what you wanted it to sound like. I, I, that's, that's the—

that and more. Yeah, absolutely.

That's the, that's the magic part of the music making that I'm not sure people quite understand, is, is getting it out of your head and your heart, kind of where it's playing, um, oh yeah, on a loop in your mind and the way you want it to sound and then to actually hear it come out in that form, um, it's, it's just such a, uh, it's such a boost. It's, it's even— it's hard to describe unless you're a musician and you, and you've done it, you know, to go like—

for sure. I mean, I had never had a song that had made it that far into, yeah, into production or anything. And so even going into it, I was like, I don't know how people get from like point A to point B and then they end up with a song. Like, I'm so frustrated. Like, I feel like I don't, I don't have the capability to do it. And then like you get through this big project with the people that have worked so hard on it and really put everything into it, and you get to the end of it and it's just like, oh yeah, like this really spectacular thing just happened and it's so special.

Yeah, well, and I love that you're, you're getting, um, you're understanding something it took me a little while, um, as an artist to to figure out. And that's the importance of good collaboration and like good co-writers and good producers and people that— it's really, even when you're a solo artist, it's really not all about you. It's about this group of people that come together.

Oh my gosh, no.

To make something great. And I think that's wonderful that you're grasping onto that early. And I used to have this thing you know, when, when I was younger and maybe a little more prideful of, of like, no, no, I don't need any other guitarists. I just want to be the one to prove I can do it all, or, you know, I want to be the sole songwriter or something. And, and what I didn't realize in doing that was like, man, you're, you're missing out on the richness of, of what can be added that maybe something you can't do that somebody else can, or maybe they hear it differently, play it differently. So, um, I'm just, I'm really glad that you've you've already figured that out. So, you know, like I said, you've learned things that took me years to learn just at this point in the project. So, well, with that in mind, and I don't want to make people wait too long to hear, so we're going to wrap it up pretty soon and play the actual song for people to hear today. But, um, just a couple more questions before we head out of here. Um, the first one being, do you have any more songs in the works that you're planning on releasing in the near future? You don't have to give us a date or anything, but I just wondered how it's going with other projects.

Yeah, absolutely. I started two songs in the beginning of this process of getting She's Too Good together.

Great.

It was this and another song, and they're very different from each other, which is what I love. I, I wanted this rock kind of like, you know, like exciting, like high energy song. And then I also wanted to show that I have diverse abilities and the music that I make, like, although I want it to be rock inspired, like I also want to be able to have those, you know, like rock ballad kind of things. And so the next song is very much like, instead of like anthemic, like she's too good, it's very much like a— it's a very humble rock ballad song. It's my song to the universe. Yeah, it's a song that I, I'm very excited about. And so I'm, I'm thinking of releasing that in the next month or so. But there's definitely more songs coming. They're just being released as singles.

Good.

Well, we will definitely look forward to hearing all that. Now, the one thing— I'm not sure if it's exactly a question or not, but there's something that a lot of times songwriters who release music, authors who write books and release it, people who make movies, you know, things like that, there's something about when release day comes and goes, and it's both exciting and disappointing all at once. Because on, on some level, you're like, I've released this thing to the world, everybody listen to it! And then there's like, there's silence because, you know, like, are people listening? You know, right? In that way. So, um, I wanted to say, you know, I'm sure you, you probably were prepared for all that, but I'm guessing you're probably getting some good feedback now that it's been out for a short time. And, um, so I'm just wondering what kind of, uh, what, what are people saying or what are you hearing about the new song?

I would say I'm— I was so excited that people just listened. That was so cool, like having on release day especially so many people like snap— not snapping— Instagram like story that they're listening to the song. And then I get text messages from friends and stuff like that, the ones that had my number from Europe. They, they were able to get in contact with me. And I had one of my friends, um, she was like, I listened to this on a run this morning and it made me run faster. And I was like, that's the coolest thing ever. That's the coolest thing I've ever heard. Um, and then some of my friends that didn't even know I did music were like, this is not what I expected, and this is so cool. And it's just like, I don't know, part of me was always too scared to to release or write music that was rock influenced. I didn't think I was cool enough to do it. And so I just, I had so much fun doing this project, and to see that other people see that I had fun with it and are also as excited as I was about it is something that is so special to me. Um, so that's, that's really cool, is to do something that I don't see a lot of people around me doing. The moment, like the way that I'm doing it, which is I think all you could ever want as a creative person is to find your own lane and, yeah, you know, not compare yourself to the people around you. Because I'm surrounded by a lot of very talented people and it gets, it gets to me sometimes. And so to find something that I identified with as my own person made me excited. That was so cool to see people that were excited for me about that.

That's terrific. Well, I'm glad, and I'm glad people are listening and that audience is just going to continue to grow as time goes on. I have no doubt in my mind. And I agree with you, one of the greatest compliments is when somebody hears your song and they either say, "It makes me want to get up and run," or, "It makes me run faster," or something like that.

Yeah, even you said that. You were like, "I put it on on my run." I was like, "People were running to this song." Yeah, right.

Yeah, it's great.

That's amazing.

That's a sign of a good upbeat, well-made song. Good rock song because people don't put on like slow ballads when they're at least, at least I don't. I can't, you know, I wonder what I could put on to make me run slower today. Uh, you know, that's— you want something that's going to fill you with energy and kind of charge you with life. So the song does that. Well, we're not going to make anybody wait any longer to hear. We're going to close out our conversation today, but I do want to say thank you again and just tell you again how proud I am of you. I can't wait to hear more music as it comes out from you. I feel honored to be in somewhat of an inner circle a little bit for this beginning phase of this, and I'm grateful that you were able to take some time all the way from London. Apparently my dogs are excited too because they're running around and barking in the background right now. But anyway, as, as I say to my guests every week on this show, I get to say it to you proudly Avila, thank you for being one of the voices in my head this week.

Oh, thank you. Thank you so much.

She's got black trousers and editorial eyes. For half the guys in the city, she'll be their demise. Every train tries to catch her, but she runs on time. A holdup at the station, and they wait in line. She's a woman in a man's world, making it known. Dances with the devil whipping round and round. —goes down into the street and every day she knows the name. She's too good, too good for the game. She's too good, too good for the game. To the pie, surprise, she's got a book of her style. Wall Street Bandana, she can kill with her eyes closed. Romanticizing vices over glass at the She's a lover, a fighter. You don't know her damn soul. She's a woman in a man's world, making it known. Dances with the devil, wearing her pride and crowns. Stomps into the street and every taxi knows her name. She's too good, too good for the game. To change her —Or break her! Say what you will; You can't tame her! Try to change her; try to break her! —Say what you will; You can't tame her! She's a woman didn't think so... world making known. Dances with the devil wearing Prada clothes. Stamps into the street and every taxi knows her name. She's too good to live for the king. She's too good to live for the king. She's too good, too good for the king.

Thank you for joining me here this week on Voices in My Head. I hope you'll visit me on my website at rickleejames.com where you can find out more about me, get my music on vinyl and CD, follow my blog, and even schedule me for a concert or a speaking engagement. Better yet, even a book signing in your neighborhood. You can find all that and more at rickleejames.com. Also, it would mean a It would mean a great deal to me if you could write a review of this podcast on iTunes. The more positive reviews that we receive, the more visible this podcast will be online. And now for the benediction: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. God bless you, and thank you for listening. Listening to voices in my head.