Stacy Antonel’s music speaks to the outsider in all of us, the part of us, deep inside, where we feel like we just don’t fit in. While her album, “Always the Outsider” (out June 17, 2022), is resonantly personal, it transcends that to become something remarkably universal, serving as a profoundly relatable collection of songs. While predominantly Americana and classic country in flavor, the album is laced with delicious jazzy bits and pieces, with a tinge of singer-songwriter folksiness rounding out the musical proceedings and Antonel’s gorgeous vocals winding through. It’s a snapshot of someone who pulls no punches, telling it like it is, with plenty of gritty twang also keeping things grounded and real. Each song is a winner, and, taken as a whole, the album is stellar and nothing less than top-notch from start to finish.
Amplify Music Magazine is pleased to premiere the album stream here today for fans to take a complete first listen. We also sat down with the Nashville-based Antonel recently to talk about the album, and you can read our Q&A below while you listen.
Your album is really fantastic. Tell us how you came to gather this collection of songs together.
Thank you so much! I’d written a few of these songs prior to 2020, but much of the album came out of experiences I had during 2020. I went through an intense romantic relationship during that time, which was made even more intense by the weirdness of the world around us. All the time off gave me a chance to process everything that had happened in my life since moving to Nashville on my own in 2017. Taken together, the songs had a spacey, alien, outsider-y vibe, in part because I incorporated a lot of stuff I was learning about karma and past lives.
Your album is really fantastic. Tell us how you came to gather this collection of songs together.
Thank you so much! I’d written a few of these songs prior to 2020, but much of the album came out of experiences I had during 2020. I went through an intense romantic relationship during that time, which was made even more intense by the weirdness of the world around us. All the time off gave me a chance to process everything that had happened in my life since moving to Nashville on my own in 2017. Taken together, the songs had a spacey, alien, outsider-y vibe, in part because I incorporated a lot of stuff I was learning about karma and past lives.
What was the recording process like? Did it go the way you expected? What was your favorite moment or moments in the studio?
It was great, but really fast: we did 12 tracks in three days with two short rehearsals beforehand. We recorded at Singing Serpent Studios in San Diego, with Ben Moore producing and engineering. With the exception of my Nashville guitarist, Paul Sgroi, Ben put the band together, and I’d never met or played with any of them before. It was a new and nerve-wracking experience for me to go into a studio with strangers and a ticking clock, but fortunately they were all really cool people, in addition to being great musicians. Favorite moments include the studio’s kombucha tap and the celebratory shots of tequila.
Do you have a favorite song on the album? What makes it stand out for you?
My favorite song is “Planetary Heartache.” All of my favorite elements from the album exist in this one song: jazzy chord changes, torchy vocals, alien subject matter, and spacey production (thanks to a huge kick drum and cosmic pedal steel playing). It’s also the most emotionally resonant song for me, and I never tire of singing it.
What do you hope listeners get from listening to this album? What would you like the message or messages to be?
I guess I want the listener to feel some sense of shared humanity. I write music for myself, without a listener in mind, so all I can hope for is that my very specific personal experiences resonate with others. The message I’m currently taking from the record is that being an outsider is valid. Having said that, it also doesn’t need to be a permanent state; the life lesson that gave birth to a lot of these songs is that I want to experience more of the joy of being in community with others.
How would you describe the music that you make? How has your music changed over time? What makes this album different from or similar to any of your previous music?
I would describe this release as vintage country jazz with cosmic vibes. My only other release was an EP in 2019 under the name Ginger Cowgirl, which was more solidly classic country. I love that EP, but I feel like this release is a truer encapsulation of who I am. It’s jazzy, it’s thematically unusual, it’s rooted in classic country but explores a lot of adjacent genres. I’m still quite new to songwriting, so my style is evolving really quickly. I want to explore and put my spin on every genre that I love; my plan is for my next release to be a vintage soul record in the vein of Sam Cooke and Solomon Burke.
What’s coming up next for you once the album comes out this week?
I’m on tour in California right now, and I’m super excited for my West Coast album release party in San Diego on June 25th. After that, I’m headed back to Nashville for a hot second, then leaving again for some dates in Colorado. I’ll be releasing a really cool music video for “Always the Outsider” in July.
