Aubrie Sellers Lets Her Music Speak for Itself
After releasing her debut album independently, Aubrie Sellers is ready to bring her music to the masses via Warner Music Nashville.
One of the most talked-about albums of 2016 is Aubrie Sellers’ New City Blues. The singer-songwriter released the album on her own to much acclaim this past winter, and now with Warner Brothers Records in her corner, the singer tells Sounds Like Nashville that it’s very much a perfect fit. “It’s obviously really exciting for me. The reason I did it independently in the first place was so I could have the time and the creative freedom and not have anyone involved in the process. I felt like that was really important to me and that way, if I did find a label that wanted to work with me, I would know they were serious because they took the album already made and put it out.” With John Esposito and Warner behind her, she says the arrangement works. “I felt lucky to have everything happen this way. I’m very excited to be taking it to a larger audience.”
Still, one has to marvel at what Sellers has been able to make happen on her own in 2016, as she has been all over the road, somewhere she knows well. “I’ve been in a band for two or three years, so I’m used to travelling around the country, and we got to play The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and I got to make my Opry debut – all of those experiences have been crazy. Everything happened faster than I thought it would, and I’m very grateful for all of it,” she says.
Of course, Sellers had a front-row education about the music business as the daughter of Lee Ann Womack and Jason Sellers. What advice did she gain from her parents? “The greatest thing about my parents is that they have always told me to keep it about the music. Both of them have always been one hundred percent about that. So, that gave me a very good perspective to make an album and have it all about the music. I didn’t worry about things like ‘Where is this going to fit?’ and they just said to ‘do what you do’ and everything else will follow. I grew up witnessing that first hand,” she says, offering that she also saw moments where the artistic process might have been compromised. “I think the business made me a little cynical because I got to see how labels would intervene in the creative process, so I was able to kind of stay away from that on the front end, and hunker down and get into the studio and make something unique.”
New City Blues – with two unreleased bonus cuts – offers a little something for everyone. One can call it Country, Rock, or Americana, and you wouldn’t be wrong. How does Sellers see herself musically? “I’m a Country artist for sure, but I have some of those other influences that reach out and connect with other people,” she says. “I think that’s why we get opportunities like Bonnaroo. I played there and the CMA Fest in the same week. It’s pretty interesting to play for different crowds like that. It’s all different experiences. It’s been good to branch out that way. I got put on some Spotify Rock playlists, as well as Country, so I think it’s interesting to be able to do that.”
Does her multi-faceted sound pose a problem, mixing up the type of venues or festivals? Sellers says she just lets the music speak for itself. “I think that you do take into consideration the room each night. I may not do my hardest Kinks cover if I’m playing a listening room, but I pretty much just do what I do. My songs are what they are, and there’s always going to be a good band out there. We play live. We don’t play to tracks,” she offers. “It’s a very musical experience when you come out to watch, no matter where it is.”
One of the highlights from the album is the revealing “Magazines,” which Sellers says is very personal, as the lyrics deal with the somewhat vain -at times – behaviors that take place backstage. “I grew up around it in the entertainment industry, and I think I became very cynical about it and seeing how people behave when someone they think is important is in a room as opposed to when they’re not. People don’t realize that as a child, you’re in the corner of the room watching. I think that definitely influenced my writing, and is something I touch on in the song. I kind of call out things like that which I’ve observed that really piss me off,” she confesses, while saying she always wasn’t that way. “I think when I was younger it was exciting to see that kind of stuff, but now I’m at a point that I don’t like it. It’s very shallow. It’s not honest, so I just have a cynical view of it.”
One thing that Aubrie Sellers isn’t cynical about is her upcoming gig – opening up for Miranda Lambert on her upcoming 2017 Highway Vagabound Tour. Rather, she’s thrilled with the opportunity. “I’m so excited, and wasn’t expecting that at all. I just got the call out of the blue that I was offered the whole tour. It came by surprise, but I think it’s going to be great. I can’t think of someone better for me to tour with in the modern country realm, because she is an artist who has always stuck to her guns and isn’t afraid to be in your face. We’re similar in that way, and I also think that she also sings very honestly, and I try to do that as well. I’ve never played arenas or anything like that, so I am beyond excited!”
New City Blues is available for purchase HERE.
