The Tales, Trials, Truths of Kristin Rebecca

I grew up in the suburbs of Columbia, Maryland and had always been involved in different art forms from the time I was little. I dabbled in dancing, acting, and drawing but didn’t really start music until my pre-teens. When I was 12, the church I attended had a youth band that played for the confirmation classes. I thought the bass guitarist was really cute and noticed that the electric guitarist stood next him. So, I decided that I needed to learn play guitar. My parents bought me my first electric that same year and I started taking lessons with a local teacher. By the time I ended up joining the band the guy I had a crush on had left, but my passion for music and performance was already ingrained.

When I first started I was completely baffled on how to find venues to play in my area and even regionally. After lots of searching I found two databases that were really useful for booking gigs. They are: www.indieonthemove.com & www.undiscoveredmusic.net . Another piece of advice is don’t be afraid to make cold calls or emails. It can seem a little weird picking up the phone and calling a venue, artist or potential team member who probably hasn’t heard of you before, but some of the best breakthroughs in my career have come from taking the risk and picking up the phone or sending out an email. As mom use to tell me “It doesn’t hurt to ask”.

There are two lessons I was taught early on from my music teachers about what to do when mistakes happen. 1) if it’s a little mistake just keep going. People are either not going to notice or will forget quickly. Just make sure your face doesn’t show that you’ve made a mistake. 2) If it’s a series of mistakes in a row that you can’t recover from easily, it’s ok to stop and start again. You can either begin again from the area you are in, or just start over completely if you are near the beginning. Make sure to laugh it off when this happens; your fans realize it’s a live show and mistakes happen sometimes.

I started touring about two years ago and it’s been a lot of fun. I’ve gotten to travel all over the place, meet incredible people and make life-long memories. One memory that stands out in particular was a festival where a little kid, who couldn’t have been any more than a year old, was in the audience watching me perform. I started signaling for the audience to clap along during one of the songs, and the child took his right arm and extended it so it was straight out to his side and then did the same with his left. He then brought his hands together as hard as he could and a look of pure delight crossed his face. I think it might have been the first time the child had ever clapped, and it seemed to make him really happy, because he kept doing it through the whole song.

All my albums have been recorded in professional studios. I recorded at Tonal Park in Takoma Park, MD for my most recent album, and it’s such a beautiful studio, with equipment I could only dream of owning.

I took my marketing cues from watching how labels promote their new artists. One of the key things they do is to make sure that their up and coming artists are seen everywhere. While I don’t have a budget like the major labels, I try to make myself visible in many ways. I use social media, perform as much as possible, reach out to other artists, make industry connections, and most importantly keeping connected to the fans. I've also started booking radio interviews, podcast appearances and on-air performances.

This is a tough question because there are many talented artists to choose from. But Eileen Ivers is definitely top of my list. Her album, “Crossing the Bridge” showed me how someone could take a traditional instrument and use it in modern music. For her it’s the fiddle; for me it’s the folk harp. My venue of choice would be Merriweather Post Pavilion in my home city. A lot of well-known acts have graced that stage and it would be wonderful to play there someday.

I’m going to promote my new album, “Tales, Trials, Truths,” like crazy through press and touring. I’m looking to add some team members for this year. After that I’ll probably start planning the next record. I have the next album’s sound and title already in my head.

I knew no matter what I did with my life there would have to be some level of creativity involved. If I hadn’t gone into music I probably would have gone into marketing.

I’m planning on doing a large amount of touring in 2018 around the USA and maybe some international shows as well. I'm also spending a lot of time getting my team together.

Definitely a shout-out to Charlie Pilzer, who was my recording engineer and co-producer of my new album, “Tales Trials, Truths,” and to Exposed Vocals for doing this interview. Also, to all the fans, thank you and I hope I get to meet each one of you!