Nashville-based Americana/folk singer-songwriter Sully Bright has just released a lyrically rich new album, “Darling, Wake Up.” He sat down recently with @skopemag to talk about this wonderful collection of songs.
@skopemag: How do your songs come together?
Sully: They usually start as a poem or a melodic phrase, or a line will pop in my head with a melody. They live as a voice memo or an idea for a long time. In that phase, I will see what my friends/co-writers/anyone who hears them thinks about the songs, and I find out which ones catch on. After I have a project’s track list set, I try to take the songs into the studio or a full-band live setting. An idea in this environment can change the song in an exciting way. That happened with the first single, “Appalachia.” A piano features heavily on that song, but I didn’t plan on it being there. The piano was added in the overdub phase of studio recording and became a fundamental element to the song. Studio sessions and live recordings truly have a magic and improvisation factor that adds so much to a song, so hashing a song out in those settings is a crucial part to my process.
@skopemag: What is one word that you would use to describe how you feel about releasing this album?
Sully: Hope. This album is all about overcoming struggles with mental health, heartache, loneliness, and longing. I often feel powerless against those forces, and a lot of other people do, too. This album feels like a personal line in the sand, sort of like I am saying, “These dark feelings will torment me no longer; I am focusing on the hope I have that I will be okay.” I want other people to find a voice in my lyrics, and some comfort that their own struggles are not eternal. It’s a pretty simple concept for an album, but it was so important for me to create something musically which articulated my struggles.
Join us again next week for part three of our chat with Sully Bright.
