Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with Tristen Gressett of Alabama/ Los Angeles

We recently had the chance to connect with Tristen Gressett and have shared our conversation below.

Good morning Tristen, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? What are you chasing, and what would happen if you stopped?
I appreciate that! Good morning to you too! I’d say that I am chasing a legacy. I feel that stopping my pursuit of leaving something meaningful behind would therefore drain the meaning of my very existence. I know thats deep, it’s just my approach to what I do.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hello, I’m Tristen. I am a singer/songwriter & performer from Pell City Alabama. I was raised by my single mother under a red tin roof in the humid south. I love Alabama more than any place on earth. My Moma has always been my biggest supporter and encouraged me in my passions for writing and performing. As of now, I am 21 years old living in West Hollywood, CA (very different from my hometown haha). I have established my own recording studio (TAG Records) where I self-produce & record most all of my new music independently. I feel that what makes my perspective unique is my upbringing & the path God has given me in life. I’m currently working on my 2nd full length album & I’ve been spending a lot of time exercising my country roots in the studio. This first single “Beauty Queen” is one that is very close to me. I feel that this song is my most honest release to date in terms of production & lyricism. I wrote this about my Moma, who despite her challenges, managed to give me a great childhood. The song details growing older & learning that she is a human being just like me, and beginning to understand the weight that she carries. It is songs like this that keep me writing and working at this career. The songs that truly mean something to people. That is what this next record is really all about.

Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
I never really speak of this much… And really only those closest to me know this, but when I was 7 I had a heart operation called an ablation. I had a cold one day after school and my Moma brought me to the doctor. My heart was going over 200bpm. They rushed me to Children’s of Alabama and in a few weeks they had me back to normal, but needless to say that cold saved my life. I didn’t understand it much because I was so young. Well, after hanging out at a football game when I was 13, I fell in the parking of my high-school & started feeling something uncomfortable in my chest. I had the same thing going on. The good news was that I was older so the operation was way less of a risk. Shoutout to Dr. Yung R. Lau who did both operations. He always had the most awesome bowties. Anyways- at 13 I understood a lot more about what was going on and after coming out on the other side of that, I wanted to conquer every dream I ever had. I wanted to experience & try everything because I felt I had a taste of mortality. I realized that I wanted something to be remembered by. Thats when I began to find my passion of playing music.

Is there something you miss that no one else knows about?
Yes. There are a lot of things that I miss. I miss the comfortability of my hometown. I miss my original friends from high school and all our terrible jokes. I miss the small stresses of life that felt so huge at the time that quake in comparison to the ones I feel now. I miss long nights in smokey bar rooms singing to 4 people with a hoarse voice wondering “how am I gonna pass the science test tomorrow?” I miss long drives home after shows in Dadeville, Alabama- slumped in the backseat of my late grandmother’s car listening to classic rock radio as I drift to sleep. I miss the simpler times where the future felt a little more uncertain.

Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Is the public version of you the real you?
Haha. For the most part, yes! I’d like to think I am a lot goofier in person though. I try to keep things as professional as I can manage, but when I am around people I am always trying to crack them up. I love to make people laugh and I love to laugh. I have a hard time balancing that with the music that I make. I feel a lot of my songs can be pretty deep and introspective with dark americana and country elements- and its hard to find room for comedy in all of that. I feel that I am the most honest in my music when it comes to opening up about the hard things. I don’t like to talk about it much I just take it to the guitar.

Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Have you ever gotten what you wanted, and found it did not satisfy you?
Yes, most definitely. I’d say the American Idol experience was the best example of this. At 17 I was put under one of the brightest spotlights I’ve ever experienced while on the show. That gave me the false sense that I had made it, when in reality, it was only the beginning of a long journey. About two months after I graduated high school I moved to L.A. and the first show that I played out here was at the WHISKEY A GO-GO opening up for an 80’s cover band. After my set, I put my guitar in the green room upstairs and came back down to see the show. To my surprise, they came out in spandex and wigs. They put on a hell of a show, but it made me realize what I didn’t want to become. Artists like Neil Young, Tom Petty, Dylan LeBlanc and Jason Isbell will never have to play that game because they are phenomenal songwriters. They are storytellers that detail timeless epics in their songwriting- and they balance the art of being a great performer and storyteller. I realized that was the path I wanted to take. To focus on telling stories that touch lives & giving people something to believe in. And don’t get me wrong, I still love Rock n’ Roll and being wild at my shows (I’ll never stop giving my all in a performance) but when the curtains close and it’s time to go home, I want people to take more than just a good show with them. I want them to take the stories, the lyrics, and the love that I have put into every song.

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