We had a chance to sit down with Sarah Davidson during the 2014 CMA Fest…check out what the “Private Lives of Nashville Wives” star had to say!
Q: Besides your recently released EP (out in March) and starring on “Private Lives of Nashville Wives” on TNT, what other projects are you working on right now?
A. Well I’m working my single at radio right now, so I’ve been visiting radio stations, big ones and little ones in the middle of nowhere, and just kinda playing my music for the DJ’s and the Program Directors and kind of begging them to play my music. It’s been so much of a learning process but it’s just really fun to finally be able to go out to radio. Ya know, travelling is expensive, and so to finally have somebody that’s willing to support that and to put me out on the road to work the single is so exciting, and to get to meet these people, I’ve been such a huge radio fan since I was a little girl. I used to listen to the radio all night long and my sisters would beg me to turn it off and I wouldn’t. It’s just really rewarding and such a huge blessing, so doing that, playing shows, trying to book as many shows as I can, and then obviously working on a full length album. Ya know, my EP is out right now, and that’s been so exciting to finally get my music out there on a bigger scale and to be able to connect with people. I’m really excited about getting the full-lengthed album ready and getting it out.
Q. How’s the feedback been from radio?
A. It’s been great! Everybody’s been really positive with their responses, “Drink You Up” has gotten really great reviews, it was written by really brilliant songwriters…I didn’t write the song. I’m a huge fan of the song myself, so I think it’s amazing and everyone needs to hear it on the radio! I think the response has been really amazing.
Q. What’s something that you’re really passionate about outside of music?
A. Oh man, outside of music? Ok, I was gonna say, “well making music.” Ya know, I don’t really spend a lot of time doing anything outside of music, ya know…what time I do spend is probably in like, doing something in fashion. Ya know, I love to style myself for any events, red carpet events, for any shows or anything. But…yeah, so, I would say fashion, I have a blog so I talk about music and I talk about ya know, fashion, what I’m wearing, where I’m shopping, so that’s a big creative outlet for me as well. I think some people look at fashion as kind of as another outlet creatively and that’s kind of how I see it, so…I love it.
Q. What’s been the biggest “Wow” moment of your career?
A. Playing the Bluebird, like…having my own night of playing the big stage, like when they set it on the side, it’s not like in the round, it’s like you and your band. That was a really really unbelievable, magical night for me. I was just so blown away by just the presence in the room, you can feel of all the amazing songwriters that have gone before me, it was just something special about that place and ya know just being there singing, and I just remember there was a couple of moments that I just was like, “I’m gonna take this in and just cherish this forever,” and I just, I have. I just…that is always one show that just sticks out to me, and until I play the Ryman stage it will probably be the most memorable, and maybe the most memorable forever, so..it was really cool.
Q. Do you remember hearing yourself on the radio for the first time, and what was that experience like?
A. Yeah. That was crazy, I was actually going…I was on my way to, I was hosting a shower for my good friend Rachel Bradshaw who is also a singer-songwriter as well, and she…I was going to get champagne ’cause it was on a Saturday, and cause her shower was on a Sunday, so I went to go get the champagne and I was with my friend Dan in the car, and it came on, and I just remember like, on the way to the liquor store to get champagne and my song comes on, I mean, it could not be a better time! I just rolled down the windows and we’re just cranking it up riding down the street, I’m singin’ it at everybody and they’re staring at me like I’m crazy and I’m just like “AAAHHH!” Ya know, just goin’ crazy. It was a really fun moment. I was really excited, but that’s a moment I’ve always dreamed of, so it was surreal.
Q. What’s the #1 item on your Bucket List?
A. God, I was thinking there was one the other day…probably sing a duet with either Dolly or Bonnie Raitt. Those are two huge idols of mine, so to sing a duet with them would be something that would be on my Bucket List.
Q. If you weren’t in the music business, what would you be doing for a career?
A. If I was not in the music business, I honestly have never imagined my life doing anything else, but if I was doing anything else, I’d probably be a stylist. I love helping my friends be creative and fun with their clothes, so I’d probably be a stylist, yeah.
Q. What’s your favorite downtime activity?
A. Downtime activity…shopping and drinking! (laughs) Are those activities?
Q. What are your thoughts on the state of today’s Country Music?
A. I wish that there was more females on the radio to be completely honest. And I think that that’s something that is changing because people are talking about it, and so that’s moving in a positive direction I feel like. Ya know, I feel like there’s a lot of people that just are not into the bro-country, obviously we’ve heard that term, but ya know, I also feel like there’s an audience for that, it’s kind of, the radio is really responding to what people are buying, and so if they’re buying it in this genre, it’s like you kinda wanna give them what you want, and it doesn’t mean that people can’t go buy their traditional country music albums, I mean, they can, so, I think that the fans and the people that are buying the music need to respond and go buy the people’s albums that are traditional country if you want to hear the tradition country on the radio, so I think it’s supply and demand.
Q. What advice would you give to an aspiring artist that is trying to make it in this business?
A. I think that one of the most important things that I have learned after moving to Nashville because there is a gazillion blonde singers that are amazing writers and that are gorgeous, and whatever, so I’m just kind of a dime a dozen, but when I accepted the fact that there’s enough room for everyone to own what they do and be successful at what they do, ya know…just because some other gorgeous blonde female is successful doesn’t mean that I have any less of a chance to be successful, there’s enough room in this universe for all of us, and that’s kind of when you lose that fear of failure because you’re not comparing yourself to other people, and just really just owning what you do authentically and don’t be worried about what everybody else is doing.