We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Maddy Hatchett a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Maddy, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
I feel like purpose isn’t a stationery or set thing that comes from a single source – at least not for me. What I have found time and time again though is that creating gives me a sense of purpose. I often tell people before I ever picked up the guitar/singing I was always painting, writing, inventing languages … the list goes on. There is a joy in alchemy – transmutting what could be the mundane and ordinary into something that can teach people, build friendships, and change minds. We’re like these little human sponges soaking up the world, data, emotions and to arrange that into something – even if that something will cease to exist one day – is still a wonder in itself. For now, I have chosen the medium of music.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
At this point in my life I would predominately describe myself as a musician. Being a musician means a lot of different things to me but I would foremost describe myself as a singer-songwriter and guitarist. It’s interesting because there was never a day where I woke up and said “I’m going to be an musician” but instead it was a process of slowly falling in love with different creative outlets in my life and realizing that music lied at the intersection of it all. I’ve been a poet, illustrator, world builder, violinist, guitarist, singer… all these things I was enjoying in different phases of my life and when I sang over a guitar I realized this satiated so many of those outlets in one form.
One thing I feel like is distinct about my artistry is the focus on being an instrumentalist and composer in addition to writing/singing. In both live and recorded settings I like to give room for both my love of guitar/live instruments and the human voice to shine. I like to tell people I have my “physical/human” singing voice but then there’s this whole other voice I have through instruments and it’s really fun to share it all. Sometimes I need words to get a point across and then sometimes a chord is enough.
As far as what’s upcoming, I have an EP that I am aiming to have complete before 2024. This will be my first collection of songs released and is a time capsule of a lot of the material I wrote in late high school and early college. I do think I have evolved musically since those days but it’s important to me to see that part of my journey through. It’s just as much an intrinsic process and is giving me a lot of closure. I invite y’all along for the journey!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I would say resilience, humility, and love.
Resilience. This is what gave me the patience to learn guitar, even when my hands were too small for the fretboard and fingertips freshly bleeding before they became calloused. When I listened to a clip of a song for the fiftieth time, trying so hard to get that small note right. When I learned my entire hand posture was wrong and started from ground zero on the fretboard. When I learned I was singing only in falsetto and had to learn my entire register. When I sent 1000 emails to promote one single track to only get 10 answers back. Booking gigs and recording after a 40 hour work week. I’m not a virtuoso, but I’ll try damn hard.
Humility. I never want to be the best person in the room. I feel there is always something to learn and the moment we proclaim ourselves master we loose sight of the infinite nuance that remains unexplored. Hear yourself where you’re at and accept what is good, what is not. This drives me forward.
Love. Because without love I don’t know how I’d have any resilience. When you love creation, your community, and the music enough it makes it all worthwhile. And when you are loved it can give you wings you didn’t know you had.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
I would say the biggest challenge I’m working on with myself is prioritization. Being an independent musician is a loaded job these days – you’re a marketer, social media expert, instrumentalist, booking agent, tour manager, writer … you get the point. You are a small business as much as you want to just sing and play all day.
As someone who is currently balancing all this on top of a full time job I’ve had to learn to work in cycles and also more project by project. I used to try to do it all, which I could get away with more in college (even though I think I would have burned out long term). Now I try to ask myself 1-3 things most important to achieve at a time and just focus on those.
This is a pillar I am still learning and trying to ask the people around me.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maddyhatchett/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maddyhatchettmusic/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/maddyhatchett?lang=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpj5q3p36x2cVj26A8eONrg
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/addyatchett
Image Credits
Pictures in Yellow Sweater + Rainy Daze Single Cover – Ismael Quintanilla Out of My Head Single Cover – Emma McCutchen Hole In The Wall Performance – anonymous
