Thinking of Nashville and country may summon to mind the image of pickup trucks, cowboy boots, and beer bellies, but that’s not quite the aesthetic Ingrid Andress is going for. If you’ve been listening to the radio, you might notice she’s not the only one shifting the boundaries of the country sound. Two years ago, Kacey Musgrave’s “Golden Hour” won Album Of The Year at the Grammys. Last year, Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” shattered just about every record in the book. Both projects used country as a launching point towards something genre-defying, and reaped the rewards of their creativity.
Today, Andress, who has a similar talent for blending the best of pop’s spirit and country’s emotive narration, is dropping her debut album “Lady Like.” Previously, with only a few solo songs on the airwaves, she announced a headlining tour and was tapped as an opener for Tim Mcgraw, Thomas Rhett, and Dan +Shay. In addition, she’s Apple Music’s first country “Up Next” artist.
We had a chance to talk to Andress ahead of her album release, about her career, the country scene, and the pool in Tim Mcgraw’s backyard.
**When you're putting together the album, is it intended to be listened to start to finish? Do you think a lot about the order, or is it more just that these are your favorite songs, and this is what you want people to hear?**
I think it started with, "these are my favorite songs," and then when it came to putting the album together, the order that it's in is usually how I play a live show. Even though all of them tell a story, it's not necessarily a concept album. It is more the ebb and flow of your emotions, listening from one song to the next. I feel like it's the same as a live show where you want people to feel happy, and then like bring it down, and then go halfway, and then by the end you're all the way back up again. I feel like that's how people listen to music or that's how I enjoy listening to music.
**I did want to ask you a bit about playing shows. I'm really interested to hear how artists plan for those interactions with fans. How do you create the environment that you want?**
I feel like, because a lot of my songs are storytelling and emotional, I tend to have a very conversational dialogue with the people in the audience during the songs, just because they're such personal songs to me and they're telling my story. I don't ever want it to feel like I've scripted this, because it's not like we do that for our life; nothing is scripted in life. I feel like a lot of times people get nervous because they don't like the unpredictability of it, but I love that sh-t. It's so energizing for me.
**You're going on a bunch of tours soon. You're touring with Tim McGraw which, even for those who don't know a ton about country, is a name everyone recognizes. How did you find out about that opportunity?**
\[Tim\] told me the story actually, of how it all went down. My reaction was like, "I think my manager's pulling a prank on me," because I didn't even know he was going on tour or was planning on releasing music soon. I'm obsessed with his wife, Faith Hill. I wanted to be her and I just love everything about her, so to me I was more saying yes to Faith than Tim to go on tour, which I told him and he's like, "I totally get where you're coming from." I guess he heard my song "More Hearts Than Mine" while he was in his backyard, like chilling in his pool as Tim McGraw does.
**That's a great image: your song, Tim Mcgraw, pool.**
I'm just like, "Ooh, tell me more Tim!" But I guess he just stopped everything he was doing and was like, "Oh my God. This song is amazing." And he ran inside to show Faith, which I was like, "Oh my god." And they both were crying listening to it. After the song was done, he got on the phone and was like, "How do I get this girl on tour?" It was super quick and that's why it seemed fake to me. I was like, this is just too cool, there's no way this is actual life.
**I like that song too, and when I heard the song, I thought, this is something that happens to everyone. You just meet people and they become ingrained in your whole circle, but I don't hear a ton of songs about it. Was there a specific experience where you were like, I have to write about this?**
Oh, for sure! I think it was around the holidays when I had the idea for it, because that's usually the time that you are like, "Okay, what am I doing? Am I going to see my parents? Am I bringing the person that I'm seeing right now? Is it at that point in the relationship where you make that jump?" But for me it's a little different because there are like six other people in my family and we're all really close. We grew up home-schooled and we're very tight knit. It's like my tribe of people. So I normally don't introduce people to my family. It was like a big moment for me of having to figure out, do I actually want to do this or not? I did it one time in college, and to this day they still ask me about him and how he's doing. I'm like, that dude hates me. I broke his heart, he's never going to talk to me again. So thank you for bringing it up. I love that you loved him. That's great.
**I'm wondering what you look to for inspiration. Are there artists that you're like, I have to listen to this person and then I'm in the mood?**
I like getting sonically inspired by artists, especially ones that have taken risks and have gone outside the box. I feel like Adele was a big inspiration for me, as far as like emotional writing...the 1975, then I'll throw it back and listen to John Denver for a second. I just feel like I'm constantly trying to find that next thing that gets me excited about music, because a lot of the times people just follow what other people are doing sonically, just because it's popular. It can be so boring to me. I get inspired by somebody who has pushed whatever genre limits there are, or that’s just expressing themselves. For me, I primarily write things that I go through. It's hard for me to write a real song unless I can describe the emotions that I'm trying to write about. I can make up stories for other artists and write songs for them, but I can't do that for myself for some reason.
**Can we expect collaborations on the upcoming album or are you're looking to do any collaborations?**
Collaboration is always an option. I am super open to it. There are just so many genres that you can combine with country or singer/songwriters. The opportunities are endless and I'm just trying to do something I hope is different and unexpected. There are so many artists that I admire and I think could bring something to a song that I could never do. Even "Old Town Road," people were so upset in the country world about that song, being like, "It's not country!” It was such a cool moment. Music is definitely getting to that point where it's more about the moment and what that means, two different cultures coming together and creating something really cool. I hope that's the next generation of music, and it's less about genres and more about moments.
**Country is definitely like making its way into the mainstream. Do you think that there's a reason why country is having that moment right now?**
I think it's because people, deep down, want to connect to some kind of story or some kind of emotion. Who knows what "Old Town Road's" emotion is, but it's a very specific vibe. Even Kacey Musgraves, it's a story. It's a heartfelt thing, she's talking about her life. I just think people are looking for deeper meaning in things, and aside from "bro country," country used to have a way of really telling heartfelt stories of real people. So I think people are craving that.
**I agree with that. I think especially in pop sometimes, it can be a little bit on the generic side, just when it comes to lyrics. It's definitely more about the vibe of the song.**
Right, which is how you write out in LA. You start with a vibe, and then you fill in lyrics. Whereas in Nashville, you start with lyrics and then everything else comes afterwards. So it's a very interesting thing to go back and forth between, that I feel like has helped brand my sound. I still want the song to be singable, but the story means more to me than how catchy it is. And I am a sucker for a good pop song that absolutely says nothing meaningful, but the music that I used to listen to always had some kind of heart in it. So I'm always looking for songs and other artists who have that deeper emotional connection. The lyrics don't always have to make sense, you can just feel it kind of. But yeah, it's a great time for country music.
**What about "More Hearts Than Mine" made you choose it as your first radio single? Why did you want that to be the first thing people heard from you, to describe you as an artist?**
After listening to country radio, because I used to listen to it when I was younger, and then the whole beer and trucks era took over so I stopped listening. I was like, "Oh well, it's just not my vibe." I guess I've missed hearing story songs on the radio and I felt like this one really represented what I love about country music that I haven't heard for a while. A lot of artists are still writing meaningful songs, but they never get played on radio. So I just wanted to challenge the idea that you have to write something super up-tempo and about tight jeans and whatever. I just wanted to take the risk on it, because I thought it was such a powerful and meaningful song and I thought it was written really well. I would have regretted not putting that one first because I was so proud of it. But also was just like, I hope country music can get back to this caliber of writing and storytelling.
**What else we can expect from you after the album comes out, and you've done all the tours?**
I'll just be sleeping for a year, I think! I am such a one day at a time person, but definitely more music. I don't plan on waiting a super long time before releasing another project, just because as a songwriter I feel like I'm constantly writing and expressing things. Touring has definitely been my main focus because I haven't done a ton of it before, but I have a feeling that I'll want to get back in the studio and dive into another chapter of my life after I get off the road. I'm sure I'll have many, many things to write about after being on the road for a year. Just experiencing all the things.
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Photo Credit: Jess Williams, Jason Kempin
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