About this episode

Annahstasia discusses her journey in music, influences, and creative process.

Annahstasia is one of the most exciting singers and songwriters in the modern folk space. Originally courted by major labels in her youth, she found herself drifting away from the bedroom pop and R&B genres where music business execs thought she belonged. Drawn to folkier material, she emerged in the 2020s with a sound that blends the soul jazz of Terry Callier with Nick Drake’s hushed chamber folk, her magnificent voice way out front in the mix, sometimes recalling the fullness of singers like Odetta or the jazzy sway of Hejira-era Joni Mitchell. In March of this year, she released a live album, Live at Glasshaus, recorded at the Brooklyn studio and performance space. Drawing her full discography, Annahstasia and her band re-imagine the material and present in a fresh and intimate way in front of a limited audience of only 100 attendees. On this week’s show, Annahstasia joins us to discuss the spaciousness and quietude required to get into a creative zone, the influence of Terry Callier, blazing her own trail as a self-described “Black girl playing her guitar.” We also get into her earliest memories of listening to her parents CDs, the most frequently cited book on…

People in this episode

Host: Aquarium Drunkard

Guest: Annahstasia

Topics covered

• modern folk
• songwriting
• creative process
• music influence
• live performance

Keywords

• Annahstasia
• folk music
• live album
• Terry Callier
• Nick Drake
• creative zone
• music industry

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Live at Glasshaus, The Mysticism of Sound and Music

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