Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
(Singing) You live your life, on the road, then you live your life, on the go.
(Speaking) I think all my songs have, like, the feeling of Alaska in them.
And the feeling of small-town Alaska in them.
And some of my songs have kind of that... you know, I write ballads,
and they're very story driven,
so I think you pick up on a little bit of that Alaskana in there.
(Singing) Just when I think I'm tired, ready to sit still,
and I'm just burning up my tires, and these battered suitcase wheels.
(Speaking) Well I've been singing since forever, writing songs since I was 8.
And playing out professionally since I was 17.
I play guitar and sing and am part of a duet.
And my bandmate Bryan Daste plays pedal steel and banjo, and sings harmonies.
I grew up out in Sleetmute, Alaska, which is a little tiny village on the upper Kuskokwim.
Which is out on the western interior of Alaska.
It was like this amazing beautiful, just piece of the state,
that so few people ever get to see.
I'm super lucky to be able to say I come from where I come from.
It's made me who I am, and it definitely gave me some perspective
from a very early age.
You know I did live in Portland for about 5 years.
And part of that was for school, and a big part of it was the draw of it,
being a musical community.
I can't say it wasn't difficult.
Because for a while I was denying that it was even an option for me to move back.
I think for a while my heart was crying out for it. My subconscious was speaking to me.
Knowing that moving back to Alaska would be the best thing for me,
the conflicts of the career was what, I just was thinking,
"Well is this going to be possible?" You know, the logistics,
You know, Bryan still lives in Portland.
How was I going to continue this very meaningful musical relationship?
But when it comes down to it, you write songs because you're following your dreams.
You're following your heart, you're listening to yourself.
And so I was just finally at the point of like,
how true to myself can I continue to be, if I'm not even stationed in the spot,
you know, where my heart wants me to be?
So finally I just, yeah I packed up the car, and drove the 2500 miles up here.
There's a few more logistical things, but it's working.
I am so happy to be calling Alaska home again.
I'm still gone a lot, I have to do tours down in the states.
But to be back in this state, and get to tour more throughout the state,
is something that is very dear to me.
It's like you can't go around a single corner in this place without
just kind of having your breath taken away.
And I always hope I never take that for granted.
It's funny, little opportunities actually opened up by me coming up here.
There's something. You know, Portland is so oversaturated right now, with music.
And you can sit there and be like, make your whole goal to stand out in Portland.
And finally I realized, that wasn't what I wanted to do at all.
There are plenty of opportunities here in Alaska for what I'm wanting to do,
which is just slowly build, surely show people that we've got songs to share.
There's not too many moments when I go, "Oh God, if only I was in Portland."
Honestly, I'm a foodie, so the only time I'm really saying that is
when I wish I could go to some of my old favorite restaurants down there.
(Singing) The rivers, they are flowing....
And I bet you wouldn't stop me if I left. Maybe I'm afraid that you will.
I love Alaska. I mean, I'm just Alaskan through and through.
I think a lot of people, the story attached to me is the fact that I grew up in Sleetmute.
Which for me, personally, that is kind of my big thing.
I grew up in a 100-person native village, in the middle of nowhere.
There's just all this history, and there's gold mining history in my family.
And soapstone mining history in my family.
It's just, I don't know, I don't think I can escape that.
I don't know if I will call Alaska homebase forever, but right now it makes sense.
It just reminds me to aspire to feel alive,
and get out into the woods as often as possible.
(Singing) Alaska dear, I'm coming home, a few weeks at a time.
Hatcher's Pass is where I'll roam above the timberline.
Pretending to be my grandfather, you know I am a miner's daughter.