Meet Grace Leckey

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Grace Leckey. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Grace, thank you so much for making time for us today. We can’t wait to dive into your story and the lessons you’ve learned along the way, but maybe we can start with something foundational to your success. How have you gone about developing your ability to communicate effectively?

A lesson I’ve learned from director friends tasked with selecting their theater’s season– Why should our company tell this story today? Why here? And, Why me?

As many songwriters will tell you, we write dozens of songs that never get recorded, never even make it to an open mic. With each piece, I pose those same questions– Why this story? Why here? Why me? When I have good responses to those questions, the song makes it to the open mic, and maybe eventually the studio, too.

The first single off my upcoming record is titled, “Can’t Pray to Me,” from the perspective of Mary the Mother of Jesus, sharing [what I think she would have to say] about guns in America. I grew up in a Catholic family just outside of Washington DC, and I live in New York City now, and I believe in getting into good trouble. I hope “Can’t Pray to Me” will cause good trouble, and I believe it will do so effectively because it speaks to the moment, it speaks to my own communities, and I am well positioned to do the speaking.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’m a Queens-based artist, audio engineer, and educator who grew up singing hymns and Americana in a Catholic folk choir in Arlington, VA.
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I’m currently on staff at Power Station, the historic recording studio in Hell’s Kitchen. I also facilitate music and audio production workshops in songwriting, recording, digital and analog drum machines, visual synth coding, and more for girls and gender expansive youth in partnership with Willie Mae Rock Camp.

Funded by the New York Foundation for the Arts’ Queens Arts Fund, my sophomore album Hell Gate is a tribute to Astoria and my Irish Catholic roots here. Hell Gate will be released in its entirety in June 2025.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

A lesson a continue to learn is to ask for what I want. I ask for coffee dates to pick people’s brains, I ask for opportunities to play on people’s radio shows, I ask for a shot to be a guest on podcasts, I ask instrumentalists I admire to accompany me, I ask venues for accommodations. I am regularly surprised and delighted to find that the people I’m asking often need what I have to give them, too.

I’ve also seen time and time again the importance of building the right team. People are full of surprises– when you’re looking for your people, say yes over and over. Open mind, open heart.

I’m very lucky to have an incredible engineer and producer of my own music, Garrett Spoelhof. Garrett’s spirit and his ears are both honest, gentle, tried and true.
I’m also very lucky to have a colleague and dear friend at Power Station Omisha Chaitanya, who engineers with me when I step into a production role for other artists. Omisha is gifted in making the tech seem to disappear and creating a space where artists can create as their most authentic selves.

It’s okay to let collaborators drift in and out for different projects, but greeting everyone I meet at the open mics, at the studio, and out in the neighborhood and beyond with an “open mind, open heart” mentality has taken me very far.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

I am a huge fan of The Artists’ Way by Julia Cameron. A twelve-week course in spiritual creativity, The Artists’ Way trains readers/participants to embrace co-creating with the Divine. Step by step, you dismantle blocks, get used to seeking and finding inspiration, and develop the habits to prioritize the act of creating in daily life.

I first read The Artists’ way three years ago, and everyday I still do the three stream of consciousness pages of writing, what Cameron calls, “Morning Pages.” It’s like taking out the trash. It’s like studying your own trash. And then learning the alchemy to do something with it all.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://graceleckey.wixsite.com/website
• Instagram: @leckey_charms
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2wk0anz0Gvowz0TNARb4PE?si=OXUKt10aR-m4OrQbpskz0Q
  Bandcamp: https://graceleckey.bandcamp.com/

Image Credits

Erin Brochu (all photos)