We recently connected with Laura Mustard and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Laura, so great to have you on the platform. There’s so much we want to ask you, but let’s start with the topic of self-care. Do you do anything for self-care and if so, do you think it’s had a meaningful impact on your effectiveness?
I love this question as a rebellion against hustle culture and the whole #RiseAndGrind mentality. I work a full time job and then making and promoting my own music is also a full time job in its self. So making time for things that I just enjoy and that feel good are important to me. I make time to hike or walk with my dog almost every day. Being outside in nature is really important to me and always makes me feel better. I also really enjoy journaling and doing 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzles. I’m also part of a Buddhist sangha in Nashville called Wild Heart Nashville, and that’s really important to my own meditation practice and gives me a sense of community. I also love to play music just to play it. I mostly create and perform on the piano/keyboard, but I am learning guitar and banjo more just for the fun of it…and maybe to play silly TikTok covers. But I never promised to be a banjo player or a guitar player so it just feels like something extra that is fun to do. I love the way the electric guitar sounds even though I just started last month. And I love the percussive elements of the banjo. Pure joy! When I get into the flow of just practicing a lick or scale over and over, it almost feels like a meditation. And lately, I’ve been reminding myself to sit down in front of the piano and sing just for the fun of it! Because it feels good! I think with so much pressure to perform and monetize or even “go viral” for every video, it’s important to create just to create without any expectation. And I think that makes me a better musician and artist for moments when there is an audience. I can very easily fall into the habit of thinking I “SHOULD” be doing something else more productive (because I have so much on my plate with work, writing songs, and promoting my own music), but taking downtime where I’m not “on” or berating myself for not doing enough helps restore my energy and makes me happier. And that in turn makes me better when it’s time to go back to work. It’s a hard habit to unlearn and something I’m still working on, but every time I sit behind my little blue electric guitar and noodle around, it feels right!
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I’m an independent artist and songwriter in Nashville, TN. I co-write songs with other songwriters in town and I also release my own music and promote it on my own. When I am not making music, I work full time as a speech therapist and most of my caseload is children with Autism. It’s a busy little double-life, but I enjoy it!! My music often has themes of nature and resilience and self-acceptance. I was born with a lot of medical issues and I love sharing my story with that online. It means a lot to bring more awareness to things like catheters and latex allergies, while also spreading some positivity. Lately, though I can’t stop thinking about my new music!! I have a new EP project coming out soon that is a collection of love songs that tells the awkward, confusing timeline of dating in my tumultuous twenties. It has songs about first love, first heart break and broken promises, love that’s a little more mischievous and lust-driven, unrequited love, finding self love and acceptance and finally…a hopeful little daydream of a song about hiking with a new love. I recorded it with my producer friend, Wilson Harwood in his Elevated Music Studio in East Nashville, TN and we had a blast! It’s more folk/pop with mandolin, banjo, and fiddle. I’m really happy with the way this project turned out and the stories that it tells! The first single is out August 11th with more singles to follow in the fall and the full EP out in February! I can’t wait!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1) Resilience – in the music industry, you’re going to hear “no” a lot. And there’s also a lot of comparison that just naturally happens because everything is so centered around streaming numbers and followers online now. It is so easy to get lost in your own head and have doubt or feel like you’re not good enough. I like to think it’s possible to be competitive without losing your self-confidence along the way. I remind myself that I have the rest of my whole life to keep writing songs and I am grateful for every stage I get to play on. Yes, I hope those stages get bigger and more people hear my music, but I think as long as I am creating, that is what is important. Keeping that creativity and love of music at the forefront over any numbers really helps resilience in an industry that’s very competitive. Just keep taking swings and that will keep you growing as a musician. It’s a game of longevity and as long as you keep putting songs out into the world, something will stick eventually. But a lot of people do drop out along the way, so if you keep going, you’ll do better than most.
2) Building community – Looking back on all I’ve done with music in my life, I realize that I have always been seeking out community. I started at this open mic called the Yellow Sofa in Massachusetts and met so many wonderful musicians there. I became a part of two bands that I played with and toured with all throughout New England – and even went on a cross country tour from Massachusetts to Colorado. After I moved to Nashville, I found a community of songwriters at Cafe Coco and also found more community recently at regular showcases hosted by songwriter friends. I even met my producer at a weekend meditation retreat years ago. I think just seeking out likeminded people and fostering a community has really kept me grounded. Nashville and the music business is really “all about who you know”, but trying to really create relationships with likeminded people and build a community around that has served me better than trying to just “network” with people who I think could give me a leg up. For newer musicians and songwriters, find your people and have fun creating with them. And make sure to encouraging each other. That has really served me well over the years.
3) A sense of fun and/or childlike wonder – This last one seems strange, but I think you always have to keep enjoying what you’re doing in the music industry. I once had a producer say he wanted to create a compilation of all the laughs of mine he got in between takes. And most co-writing sessions to me either feel like fun hang outs or deep therapy sessions. This business can break your heart. And balancing creativity against money can feel very dirty at times. So I think trying to maintain a sense of fun or excitement in what you’re creating or how you’re promoting it is important. For instance, most musicians I know feel like social media promotion is a chore now that we “have” to do because it’s a different skill set than music and it takes up time…but like it or not, it’s part of the equation and most successful musicians have a strong social media presence. So, I try to handle mine in a way that makes sure I’m always having a good time. I like making up fun banjo covers, or giving behind the scenes looks at life with a catheter and a bunch or allergies, or showing my favorite hiking places or just hanging out with my dog. There’s ways to do social media and have fun. Same with promotion…I don’t love sending out hundreds of e-mails before a release, but I feel better when I have a playlist of favorite songs playing and I turn on my Christmas lights that I leave up all year long. Especially if I take breaks in between to play songs or noodle on the guitar. An example of the childlike wonder is that I created whole projects around treehouses and typewriters cause those are both fun to me and I wanted to play with that imagery and see what stories I could create. And then all my social media and emails were sharing what I loved about treehouses and typewriters and why they fascinate me. These are all examples of ways to beat back burn out. I already have a full time job with long hours, so I never want to turn music into something I HAVE to do. If I want more people to hear my music and stories, social media and sending emails for a promotional campaign are tools to get my songs out there…therefore, I look for ways to make those tasks fun for me. Finding the fun in those “busywork tasks” is important. And along with that, I also never want to lose my excitement about stepping on a stage or getting in a recording studio or answering interview questions (like these!). After a long day of work, it can sometimes feel draining to even get do those things,. But I try to remember all the musical things I dreamed about while listening to Hanson on repeat as a kid. I remind myself that I’m lucky I get to create. Keeping that in mind will serve any artist well!
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
Drive to a wooded trail and disappear for a few hours? Haha. Seriously, hiking in nature can really help relax me and get perspective. Also, journaling. For me, I process things by writing them down (thus the songwriting, haha), but journaling out my thoughts really makes a difference. I like to make either a “brain dump” or an “I did it” list too when I feel overwhelmed. A brain dump is just writing down everything you feel like you have to do that you’re overwhelmed by. For me, seeing it all written down gets it out of my head and feels more manageable. I can then even break up tasks on my brain dump into smaller chunks and schedule them into my planner. An “I did it” list is just writing down all the things I did as the day goes on or taking five minutes at the end of the day to think back on everything I did accomplish. For me, it does help to look back and see all that I am doing on a daily basis. I like lists and schedules and I am a planner. I use a planner too! Haha. The Passion Planner is my favorite one. I ask for one every year for the holidays and use it all year long. I like that it has spaces to list what you have to do for each week and it marks out the day in half hour chunks so I can have a rough sketch of what I want to do each day between work and music. Those tools are really important to me. And then…touching on some of the answers I gave earlier – just reminding myself that the music industry is a game of longevity. As long as I’m creating and having a good time and sharing my music as best I can, I’m doing “the thing”. There’s always going to be someone else with more followers or higher streams or whatever metric I’m judging myself by. Breaking down my big goals into smaller ones I can hit and giving myself credit is important too.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lauramustard.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/lauramustard
- Facebook: www.facebook.come/lauramustardmusic
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/mustardlaura
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/lauramustardmusic
- SoundCloud: www.soundcloud.com/lauramustard
- Other: www.tiktok.com/@lauramustardmusic
Image Credits
Photography by Sydney Nicole Photos (except for the photo of Laura with her catheter – that was taken by Laura Mustard for fun!)
