Lucie Silvas; photo credit: Sonya Jasinksi

By Paul Freeman [May 2017 Interview]

Singer-songwriter Lucie Silvas took a circuitous route to country music stardom. Born in Kingston upon Thames, England, she spent time in Scotland, her mother’s homeland, and grew up primarily in New Zealand, her father’s native land. Moving to London, she signed her first label deal in 2000 and a few years later, had a couple of Top 10 UK pop hits. But there have been bumps in her path.

After suffering through a breakup and being dropped by her label, Silvas moved to Nashville in 2008. The change must have worked for Silvas, because her latest album, “Letters to Ghosts” is sensational, featuring stunning vocals, immaculately crafted songs and perfect production. It pleasingly blends her pop, rock and soul influences with a country sensibility.

There is the upbeat “Find A Way” and the romantic beauty “Pull The Stars Down.” But much of the album is fueled by searing emotion, evident on such songs as “Shame,” “Roots,” “Smoke,” “Villain,” “Letters to Ghosts” and the biting, ironically titled “Happy.”

The album displays both her vulnerability and strength. Coming out of a crushing relationship split, writing the songs was cathartic.

Already at work on new material, Silvas financed “Letters to Ghosts” and enjoyed having total creative freedom.

Silvas, who began writing songs at age 10, released her debut album, “Breathe In,” in 2004. The title track was a smash in the U.K. She has penned numbers for such artists as Miranda Lambert and Katharine McPhee, as well for NBC’s musical drama “Smash.” Her lyrics are unwaveringly honest, never more so than on the “Letters to Ghosts” album.

Silvas has had her share of career ups and downs. She is hitting another career peak now, touring with rising superstar Chris Stapleton. It’s a family affair for Silvas. The tour includes Brothers Osborne. She married the duo’s John Osborne in 2015.

POP CULTURE CLASSICS:
Do you think “Letters to Ghosts” is the album that most fully expresses who you are as an artist?

LUCIE SILVAS:
I think so far. It’s like, I prefer it to the others. It feels like it’s the most daring, to me, anyway, and most representative of where I’m at. But then, wherever you are in life, that’s what album you make. You know what I mean? So I think the albums I made before were probably where I was at, at that time. But things change. And life changes.

So I think the good thing about this one, yeah, it’s a true representation of where I’ve been. But also, I became an independent artist. I was coming out of record labels and all that kind of stuff. It was one of those things where you just are in a different headspace entirely. And you do things differently and you think differently. You have to. And I think that contributed to the way it sounds, as well.

PCC:
How would you encapsulate those changes?

SILVAS:
Well, I just think, anybody, as you get older, you get a different perspective on life and on yourself and on other people. But also, at the turn of 2008, I had basically moved countries. I moved far away from my family. My family are now all in New Zealand. But I moved countries. I didn’t know anybody, when I came to Nashville. And I met a whole ton of people. My personal life changed dramatically, because I really did go from living in London and being part of the scene there, to coming to place where I didn’t know anyone, no one knew me. And I just wanted to be part of this community, because I just was so in love with it, from the second I got here. I just wanted to learn from everybody.

And then, musically, I guess, the challenges I’ve had, of coming out of a record label and trying to figure out how to make moves on my own, without relying on anybody. And I think, when you’re going through career ups and downs, you can either let your life dictate it or it dictates your life. And I think I definitely had a bit of both there.

PCC:
The move from London to Nashville, what went into that decision?

SILVAS:
It was a number of things. It was the way things were in London. You hit a wall sometimes creatively or in a place. I was estranged from my record company. I hit a creative wall. My personal life was like going down the toilet. {Laugh]. There were all these kinds of things that contributed to me wanting to make that move. It’s kind of like the typical Eat-Pray-Love scenario, where you suddenly go, “I’m going to go travel.” But I went to a music place.

I went to Nashville and kind of just loved meeting new people. And you almost feel like you’re beginning again. You feel like you can wipe the slate clean for a second, as to all the things that maybe have gone wrong. But it’s about all the things that you want to improve, as well. After a while, it tends to creep up on you and makes you deal with whatever hardship you are dealing with. But certainly it was a nice, refreshing change, when I needed it most, to come to a new town.

PCC:
The album came following a breakup - was it cathartic to write those songs, part of the healing process?

Selfie of/by Lucie Silvas

SILVAS:
Very much so. I think anything is, anything you’re going through, I think, if you’re able to get it out, in any way, shape or form. Luckily we, as songwriters, can write it down. It’s not always easy to articulate those things. I feel like every so often you say exactly what you wanted to say. And it’s quite a magical moment, because it’s songs like “Roots,” which was very much a personal song I wrote with my friend Jamie [Floyd]. And I felt really in the eye of the storm, when everything was going down, so many years ago now. But I recorded it a lot later than I wrote it.

But I feel, weirdly enough - and maybe this is the case for a lot of songwriters - you write songs with a lack of understanding of your situation, then you listen to the lyrics and think, “Well, maybe I understood it a little more than I thought. Maybe I know what to do. Maybe it really isn’t that hard to either get out of this situation or redeem myself or redeem somebody else.” I think the songwriting is definitely the best therapy.

PCC:
It seems like music the country community could certainly embrace, but it does cross genre boundaries. For you, is the important thing to focus on making great music and not worry about how people will categorize it?

SILVAS:
It is. It’s definitely most important to me to make whatever I feel like. And that can be harder, because in a business sense, people want to know what they’re buying into or what they’re selling, for that matter. But that’s not for me, as a creative person. I just don’t operate like that. I know some people do. But I can’t. When I go in the studio, I want to do whatever makes me feel good.

It does have all those influences, because I grew up listening to all kinds of music, from Motown to country to blues and gospel. And singer-songwriters. I think whatever gets incorporated is a natural thing. It’s not something where I go, “I’m going to make an album like this…” It comes out that way. It always has done. With my albums, it’s just been a different progression. Some of them have become more soulful, I guess, as time’s gone on. But it’s probably just me daring to go there. And just changing what I like to hear. There’s always people who will say, “Oh, that doesn’t fit in one place.” But that means it fits everywhere. It just kind of fits in different places and belongs in every place.

PCC:
Do you find that the country community is more open these days to different types of sounds?

SILVAS:
I think so. They’ve certainly embraced me in ways I never thought that they would. I never really expected it to happen and I never really pushed for it to happen. I just made my music, my way, here. Nashville gave me, and country music gave me, a freedom to do something that I hadn’t done before, which was to do it all independently - go into the studio, record songs with no green light, or no “Okay, go do it now” or “Here, we’re going to pay for it.” I just kind of did it because I was enjoying myself, enjoying music. And I went in and made music. And the way that some areas of country music have embraced it is amazing.

And I think this genre, in particular, is broadening, day by day. The artists are making music that’s certainly not just one thing. It’s probably always been that way. But it seems ever more apparent now, especially with the access we can get to it online. We see how many pockets of different genres there are, even within Nashville. There are so many influences. And I think there are so many variables to why music or an artist or a person connects with an artist. I don’t think you can even put your finger on it. I don’t think that you could say, “Oh, this person’s really country, therefore, they’re going to hit that country audience.” Or, “They’re a little bit more soul and pop, that’s the audience they’re going to hit.” I think you either connect or you don’t. I think people either like your music or they don’t. Either your music’s good or it’s not. That’s the way I like to think about it, anyway.

PCC:
You mentioned falling in love with the city of Nashville. What is it about the atmosphere there that’s so appealing to you?

SILVAS:
In terms of a community, I don’t think there’s anything else like it. When I was coming up as an artist in Europe, I didn’t know any other artists, didn’t have any mentors, didn’t have any people to tell me what it’s like to go on stage or to be signed by a record label or to be on a radio tour or be in interviews. Here you’ve got all these influences and also people you aspire to, around you every day, on a daily basis. It’s quite an amazing thing to be in such close proximity to all this creativity.

And in the music business, I wouldn’t say that it’s any less shrewd or even sometimes any less cutthroat that anywhere else. But it has a charm around it that makes it accessible and makes you feel like you’re involved in something, whereas, in other cities, you’d almost be a needle in a haystack.

But it’s just a beautiful place where I feel at home. I feel welcomed here. I have my places that I go and the people that I see. And I also feel connected to the rest of the world. I don’t feel cut off in any way, which is really important to me. I want to be not just in one place all the time.

PCC:
Embarking on a tour with Chris Stapleton, what do you admire about his work?

SILVAS:
I don’t know how anyone could not be blown away by his voice. There’s very few people on this Earth who have made me feel like someone like Stevie Wonder makes me feel, when he starts to sing. Or Ray Charles. Or Donny Hathaway. There are people with powerful voices. Chris opens his mouth to sing and I can’t believe what comes out of it.

But also it’s his journey. He didn’t have an obvious journey to where he is now. And he’s been working a long time. And he’s had a roller coaster of a ride. When I see the success that he’s having, it gives me a great amount of hope and motivation, when I see how someone just keeps going, who has such raw talent. He’s very humble with it.

He and his wife [his harmony singer Morgane Stapleton] are just amazing. They go on tour with their family and perform these amazing shows every night that are some of the best shows I’ve ever seen. And then he’s got his very balanced and close family there. It feels like something that I really aspire to and admire, that he has that balance in his life. And even though he’s a big name now, there’s somewhat of an anonymity, where celebrity goes. He doesn’t want to be a celebrity. He just wants to take his place in music history, which I really feel like he’s on his way to doing.

PCC:
And then you’ve got Brothers Osborne on the tour, as well. That must make life on the road more fun.

SILVAS:
It really does. I’ve done the first date without them and now they’re joining. I remember when I found out that both of us were asked to be on this tour, I wrote Morgane and Chris an email, just saying, “You don’t know how much this means to me. To be able to play music every night and to have your family there with you is a gift.” And the fact that they have that and they are extending that to other people, sharing what they have with other people, is just really generous and amazing. And I think it’s going to be so much fun, because we all get along very well, Chris and Morgane, as well. It’s extra-special, when you have that connection on the road with people. Certainly, I’ll feel like we’ve got a home on the road. It just couldn’t be better.

PCC:
Have you and John become sounding boards for each other’s music?

SILVAS:
We always have been. I mean, we’re independent people. We certainly know what we like. But we’ve always been that way, since the day we met. We have a lot of influences that we share. And I respect him and his musical ability and his opinion so much. And he seems to do the same with him. He’ll play me something and, if he asks for my opinion, I’ll always give it. He knows what he wants. It’s just amazing to be able to do that with somebody and somebody you enjoy making music with. That’s the biggest thing. It’s not just sounding boards. We make music together and enjoy doing it. And it works, where it doesn’t always work with every couple.

PCC:
How did the two of you meet?

SILVAS:
We actually met at our publisher’s. We were actually signed to the same publisher in Nashville. Well, actually, I didn’t even realize they were here at the time. I was signed in England. I wanted to go say hello to the people that were in this office. I met him in the hallway, just briefly, for a second - “This is John.” And I remember how sweet he was. And I didn’t see him for ages, because I went back to England. And then I’d come back a couple of times. And I saw him and it was just like a connection with us. We had an instant friendship. And it was complicated, because I lived in England.

So it was a while before we really were able to get it together and actually be together. But from the day I met him, he just had a huge impact on me. He changed my life in lots of ways. And like people do when you meet somebody that you have some special connection with, it did change everything, meeting him, really.

PCC:
And so, that’s changed the music, too, in some ways?

SILVAS:
I think so, yeah. I mean, when you meet someone and fall in love - he gave me some sort of ability to be fearless again, the way I was and felt like I’d lost for a while. I felt like I’d lost a little bit of the spark. And when I met him, he just pulled it out of me again. The thing I always loved about him the most is I felt like he celebrated people’s personalities, all their quirks, all their good, all their bad.

And I felt like meeting someone like that, being with someone like that, just made me want to be myself 100 percent. And that comes out in the music. So I think he’s definitely responsible for me not only making the album, but certainly sounding the way it did, co-producing it, also just making me feel fearless and not worry about what I’ve got or what I haven’t got, what I am and what I’m not. So it had a huge effect.

PCC:
And your wonderful cover of Roy Orbison’s “You Got It,” I read that it was, in some way, for John?

SILVAS:
Yeah. I mean, I’ve kind of always loved the song. I remember we were sitting in the house one night and I said, “God, Roy Orbison, every single song he writes…” We were just talking about it. And I said, “What would it be like, if you slowed that down?” We started to play it together. And I remember we were being really silly and just singing to each other or whatever. And I was like, “This is such a romantic song.” And I remember thinking, “I’d love to record something like that for him.” And then it turned into, “Oh, I actually think this would be a beautiful version to do on the piano and just do it differently.” It’s such a romantic song. And it just gave it a different emotion. And it makes me so happy to sing it. I really do love it.

PCC:
Growing up in England, what sort of upbringing did you have?

SILVAS:
I had a bit of a mixture, because I grew up in New Zealand, as well. My mum’s Scottish. She was born in Glasgow. My dad was brought up in New Zealand. So a lot of his family are stretched across New Zealand and England. And my mum’s are all in Scotland. So we spent a lot of time up there and then we moved to New Zealand, when I was seven.

I had a very different childhood. It was probably somewhat sheltered. I was in a really lovely, small, mixed school. And our lives, we didn’t do much. We did a lot of outdoor stuff. We were outdoors people. We sang a lot. I was in school productions. But I had no involvement, really, in anything to do with music. I wrote songs myself, and had a very supportive, close family. My sisters are all musical. My parents are musical. But coming from different backgrounds, like they did, they were very strict with school and all that stuff. So even when I’d sing at school things, if anyone asked them, “Well, when are you going to let her get a manager or an agent?,” they would say, “Well, not till she’s 18.” They were so strict about it, because they were nervous. My dad had been involved with some TV things and I think he had trouble trusting the music industry. He didn’t want me to be part of it till I was old enough.

Then when I went back to England, when I was just turning 18, college age, I met this woman, Judy Tzuke [English singer-songwriter], when I went to be a background singer. By that time, I’m the youngest of three sisters, so my parents were definitely more laid-back with me than they were with them. So when I wanted to go on the road as a background singer, they were fine with it. They were still strict in some ways, but they were fine with it. They trusted me and they were like, “Go and do it.” And I think from then on, they knew that I knew what direction I wanted to take. My mum’s a singer.

But they’re quite straight-laced people. They’re liberal people, but they’re not big drinkers, they’re not smokers or anything like that. I look at it now and I think, “Wow, they really were quite straight and strict.” But when it came to being three girls who are independent, strong-minded, they came from such different backgrounds themselves, like my mum being a Christian Scottish girl and my dad being Jewish, just a very sheltered life. When they came together, they had a lot of struggles. So I think they were very open-minded with us, in the sense of - believe what you want to believe and be who you want to be. I grew up with very accepting parents, so I was very lucky. So I think we three girls turned out very unconventional and, even though I’m married now - me and John went and got married by ourselves, we didn’t have a wedding - I’ve always wanted to do things my own way. And my parents supported that. And the same with my sisters. I’m very lucky that I got to have that.

PCC:
Writing songs from age 10, that form of self expression, did it help you understand yourself and the world around you?

SILVAS:
We talk about it sometimes and my parents are like, “I don’t know where the songwriting came from.” We were all singing. My mum and dad were huge Motown fans. My mum was a huge Hank Williams fans. And then my dad would listen to gospel. So I knew where that came from, the singing thing - everyone was singing. So I understood that. And instruments - that was fine.

But the songwriting, my mum said, “When you listened to Stevie Wonder and Carole King and all those people, I think you realized that those people sat at the piano and wrote their own lyrics. They didn’t really sing other people’s songs. And you really wanted to do that. And you sat at the piano and wrote songs. You didn’t know anyone who wrote songs. You just started to do it.”

And when I listen back to those songs from when I was 10, they were just awful. They didn’t make any sense. The melodies were good, but the lyrics were just terrible - I was 10. But as time went on, that just always progressed. I was always going to be a songwriter, as well. A songwriting artist. I never thought about writing songs for other people. I think that happened accidentally, later. But I always wanted to sing my own songs, because that was an extension of who I was. I couldn’t imagine being an interpreter in any way. I couldn’t imagine singing something somebody else wrote, for the most part, apart from the odd cover. I wanted to be a songwriter, as well.

PCC:
So for you, what is the essence of a memorable song? Is it just about the honesty? What makes a song great?

SILVAS:
I don’t know… I think there must be the honesty about it. But if I think about songs that have touched me the most, I think sometimes they’re romantic songs, like “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” like I’ll hear a song like that. Or I’ll hear “Smile,” Charlie Chaplin, I’ll be like, “Well, it’s the melody that drew me in.” There’s something about the melody that felt like it was always there. Some things just don’t feel like they’re full of intent. They just happened. And I don’t think you can necessarily put your finger on that, when you hear it, which is why it can be even harder to write it. You go and write songs and some days, something special will happen. And some days it won’t.

Lyrics sometimes, when I think about lyrics, there are so many songs I love, like Joni Mitchell, “Both Sides Now.” I feel like she was really intellectual with her lyrics and it was way over my head, like when I was growing up. I liked much more simple lyrics. But then she’d say, “I’ve seen love from both sides now and it’s love’s illusions I recall,” and when you get to a place in your life where you understand that lyric, you’re just like, ”Wow, how did she know how to say that like that?”

And she was so vulnerable to her audiences. That’s something that always intrigued me about artists, that they could be so vulnerable and almost insecure and like delicate. But then they could go on stage and be powerhouses and sing and potentially change people’s way of thinking, with their lyrics and their singing. And that just blew my mind, that those two would go together.

PCC:
So if there’s no intent, and it just happens, do you tend to wait for the muse or do you discipline yourself to spend a certain number of hours writing regularly?

SILVAS:
I think you have to do both. It’s an interesting question, because there are people that believe it’s a numbers game. It’s like, if I write so many songs, I’m bound to come out with one that I really love, every 10 songs or 20 songs… or even 50 songs. I just keep writing. So I definitely believe in the work ethic of it. You have to focus your mind. Really, it’s like a muscle you have to keep working. But I do believe that something visits you some days. Leonard Cohen always said stuff like that. He’d say, “It’s not for you to chase your muse. It’s for it to come and see you.” It’s that kind of artistic thing that comes and lands on you sometimes.

And that’s like life, I think. It’s a scary thing. Do I orchestrate my life or does it come to me? And it’s a question I think everybody asks themselves. And I think it’s the same with creating anything, whether you’re an author or a musician or an artist, anything you are. I think sometimes showing up is the best thing that you can do, show up in your mind and then anything can happen. But you can’t always control it.

PCC:
Did performing comes as naturally to you as the songwriting?

SILVAS:
I think it really did, yes. The thing that kind of put a bit of a spanner in it, because I was performing and I was writing. I was a dreamer, when I was a kid, and felt very confident. But when I then got signed - I got signed really young - what I thought was really young, it was young for the time, I was 19, 20 - and it kind of did something that I’m not sure was that positive to me. I suddenly was in front of all these people and performing in different ways I didn’t expect to be. I was like watched when I was speaking. Or the way I looked was important. Or did I appeal to certain people? It was a very strange world to be thrown into. I wasn’t very comfortable with it.

The performing, yeah, that’s kind of what I grew up with. I felt like it was very natural. But then when I was asked to do it as a career - there’s such a difference between doing something for the love of it, like a hobby, and then making it into a career. I think if you can do them both and do them well, that’s amazing. And that’s what I’ve always tried to master. Performing got really weird for a while, for a strange minute there. And then it came back again and I kind of let all that stuff go.

Actually, I think coming out of being signed - I was signed three times - the third time was when I had my album “Breathe In” out. Actually, when I came out of that deal, that’s when I started enjoying performing again, even more. I don’t know whether the stakes needed to go, or something needed to happen to change where my focus was, for me to really enjoy it. And now when I perform, I get lost in it. I enjoy it better than anything.

PCC:
You worked with some legendary artists early on - you shared the stage with Elton John and toured with Tom Jones?

SILVAS:
I toured with Tom Jones. I did a tribute with Elton John, where I had to play a piano for a tribute to him. So that was terrifying. And amazing. And Tom Jones was amazing to tour with. I mean, that voice! I would go in there and say, “Can you give me some tips, as to what to do?” I said, “I just don’t have your voice, but can you give me some tips just to keep mine strong?” But he was a fun person. Just fun to tour with. It was quite different. It was when he was doing some newer stuff, more of a trio, a bit more bluesy than before. So that was fun to do that and go around the House of Blues in America. That was probably the first time that I traveled around a little bit.

And I worked with people like Lionel Richie. I did a duet with him once. That was crazy, because, again, this was somebody I grew up listening to, with The Commodores and stuff like that. And he was the nicest man. He just was so humble. I was nobody. I just walked on stage, some girl that was going to sing with him for a concert, because it was like a variety show. And he was so nice, so welcoming to me. And this was a man who had this huge career. I was so inspired by him and by the way that he was so humble and just had no airs, just got up there and sang. And it was amazing.

PCC:
And did Tom Jones have advice about vocalizing?

SILVAS:
[Laughs] He was quite funny about that. He just basically said, “Don’t smoke cigarettes.” And he said, “If you drink, drink whisky.” And he said, “Don’t drink beer or red wine or it will dry your voice out.” But he’s one of these annoying people that will probably get no sleep and just wakes up and has a strong voice. But he has Altoids on stage with him. He said, “Always eat those.” I always said, “But aren’t those a bit chalky? Won’t they make your throat dry?” But he swears by them. So everyone has something different. I think it’s often in our heads.

PCC:
So over those years, there were ups and downs. Did you always just know that this was what you were meant to do? Did you ever get discouraged along the way?

SILVAS:
I would be lying, if I said I never got discouraged. I definitely did. Lots of times. I never thought I didn’t want to do it. I love it too much. It’s in my makeup. People always say, “You need results to be a musician.” I’m like, if you’re a musician, you’re a musician. You just are one. You don’t need accolades to be one. You either feel it or you don’t. You either decide to do it or you don’t. The results are irrelevant. And if you are lucky enough in your life to be able to make a living doing it, sustaining it in some way, then you’re winning, because it’s very hard to stay in this business, whether you’re being seen a lot or not.

But I definitely found it really hard. I still do. There are days where I just bang my head against the wall, going, “Well, how do I afford to do the next thing?” Or “Where is the next song coming from?” Or “Shit, am I missing out on other things in life I should be doing?” These are questions I think everybody asks themselves… at least I do. But music will always be just the core of who I am. I love doing it. I can’t see myself ever not doing it.

PCC:
The decision to go on your own with this album, was it liberating? Was it scary?

SILVAS:
It’s everything. Yeah, it’s very liberating, because I’m in charge of it. I make the rules. And nobody else can tell me what kind of album I can make or when I have to make it by or how I have to make it or with who. And a lot artists do get those choices, too, but I was just on my own terms in every way. And spending my own money. So the risk was mine. The stakes were only mine. So it makes you feel empowered, for sure. But it’s terrifying.

My dad always said to me, “Invest in yourself. Every person should. Always do that. Because if you don’t believe, if you don’t invest, then who else will?” And it’s good to do that. But it’s scary, because, to survive, you have to think, “How do I balance my life? How do I pay for my career and my life?”

The times I find tough are when - and it’s a nice thing- when you get support from fans, like say, back in Europe, and they’re like, “Why aren’t you over here? Why aren’t you touring over here?” And I’m like, “I want to. It’s not for lack of wanting to.” But it’s harder for me, as an independent artist, to get everywhere that I want to go. So those are the times when it gets challenging and I’m like, “Okay. How am I going to do this and this and this?” But you have a few days where you’re like, “Oh, my God! This is impossible.” To “Okay, I’m figuring this out.” And that comes from drive and getting on stage. Like even on this tour, getting on stage with Chris and I’m like, “I just don’t care about anything else.” All the nonsense fades away. I just love getting up there and singing. I love to hear him and Morgane sing. It motivates me to just keep going.

PCC:
You mentioned your dad had done some TV things. In what capacity?

SILVAS:
It was behind the scenes. He was like a financial guy. So he was involved with television companies. I used to joke with him - “Oh, you’re the guy who makes decisions about what artists can and can’t do” [laughs]. He is a creative person. But he’s really an accountant by trade. So it was more that side of things he would do. But he is such a big music fan and his record collection is huge. And my mum is a great singer. And I think they connected on that, with their love of music. And me and my two sisters, we all sing and play.

But my dad, he is a character. And the funny thing is, I think the confidence to go out there and perform comes from him. But singing definitely came from hearing my mum sing and wanting to be like her. But my dad, he really is a doer. He thinks anything is possible. He won’t shy away from anything. And my mum is definitely more shy and will be like, “What is this, what is that?” So I’ve got a bit of a dose of both.

PCC:
Was your mum an opera singer?

SILVAS:
No, actually, her family wanted her to sing classical music and they weren’t very happy with the idea of her doing anything else. She kind of got into a band when she was a teenager and played bass and was singing. And I was like, “Oh, my God! Tell me there’s a video of this somewhere!” [Laughs] But there isn’t. She would sing when I was growing up. She would sing at parties. She’d sing at houses in front of people, but as time went on, I don’t know whether I was precocious and was singing all the time, so she just sort of let me take over, or I took over.

I always said to her, “Why didn’t you ever want to do it for real?” Because her voice is good enough. It’s amazing. And she was like, “Well, I didn’t feel the way you do, when you go on stage. You feel liberated, when you go on stage. I felt terrified.” And I said, “Well, you can always get people to help you with that. It seems such a shame not to do something that you like.” But she said that she just didn’t love it as much as I do. She said she loved to sing just for herself. But she didn’t ever feel like she wanted to spend her life doing it.

PCC:
But it must be a thrill for her to see what you’re doing with your career.

SILVAS:
It is. I think so. I think she would be happy seeing me do anything. I think both my parents would be happy to see me happy and trying and not letting myself just sort of sit there and let things pass me by. There was a time when my mum would want me dress like I was on “Dancing With The Stars,” all glittery and like some sort of little Judy Garland almost like. But I remember saying, “I’m not that. I’m definitely not one of those show girls.” But I said, “At the same time, I do want to pursue this, the way I want to pursue it.” They’ve always been very supportive of that and I think they realized, early on, that my personality was a mixture of wanting to be in the limelight, wanting to have that attention on me as a singer, but also wanting a balance.

It’s very important to me to have my friends around me and to have somebody by my side eventually. I think they know that I was a little bit more grounded with it. So they knew I never wanted to be as big as Celine Dion or even Taylor Swift or anyone like that. I didn’t really have those aspirations. I just wanted to do it my own way.

PCC:
Is there an artist whose career you’ve observed and thought, “Wow, that’s the kind of career I would like to have?”

SILVAS:
Probably a mixture of a few people. I’ve always looked at somebody like Carole King or even soul singers like Aretha Franklin, people that have stood the test of time as singers and musicians. Elton John and people like that. Songwriters whose songs have stayed with us forever. And bands that tour. I look at that and think, “It wasn’t really about where they were in the charts. It wasn’t about the celebrity of it. It was just endurance.”

It’s something I guess that I always just want to keep making albums like those people do, whether it’s Elton John or The Rolling Stones. I wanted somewhat of a success and to be able to be a touring artist, but also to have somewhat of an anonymity about it. I wanted to be a household name, but I never wanted to be someone whose life was dictated to by their celebrity. I don’t want to be in tabloids or stuff like that. That kind of fame doesn’t appeal to me.

PCC:
So at this point, what are the greatest rewards and the greatest challenges of life as a musical artist?

SILVAS:
The greatest rewards are that I’m able to go and record music and that I can do it and I listen back to it and I’m like, “Wow.” It’s amazing that I get to tour with these amazing artists, not just artists that I think are good but artists that I think are world-class. And I think just to be around those people, I feel like I’m in a very fortunate place and I’m also proud that I got myself there, by being around those people that I admire so much. So that’s a huge reward.

And just being able to make music that I’m proud of. If it inspires people, then it makes me very proud. If I can conduct myself as an artist, without necessarily a machine behind me, maybe that will inspire other artists to be on these types of tours, do these kind of things, to realize that it’s not impossible, that you can do it. You have to just keep working and keep showing people what you can do. And that’s a huge reward for me, that I can do that.

And the challenges are, like I said before, keeping going with that and knowing that, if I’d stopped last year, when I got frustrated, I wouldn’t be on this tour or I wouldn’t be able to make another album now. So the tough times are when I feel like, I’m not sure where to turn next. And do I have the support, when I feel like I lose the support? Those are challenging times. Or even challenging times in your personal life - you’re away from your husband or your family. Those are really hard things. I need that around me, to function properly, as a proper human. Those are tough times.

PCC:
But the exhilaration you get from being on stage makes the tough times worthwhile?

SILVAS:
It is. It’s therapy. It’s some sort of euphoric feeling up there. And I don’t mean to sound dramatic, but everyone has their form of meditation or peace or something that goes to a happy place. That is mine. I’ve never been very good at sitting still or calming myself down or meditating or anything like that. When I go up and I sing on stage, I feel like, I am there with the audience, but I’m also somewhere else. And that’s somewhere that only is mine, that no one can touch. No matter what happens after I come off stage, no matter what happens in my career, in that moment, no one can take that away from me.

PCC:
Are you working on a new album yet?

SILVAS:
I am, yes. I’ve just recorded two songs that I’ve got on vinyl, that I’m going to sell on the tour. I wanted to give it to fans coming to the shows first, before I put it out anywhere. So I’ve got that, two new songs, which great. And I’ve been writing a bunch and I’m just going to start recording in June, a few new songs at a time and just see which ones come out well. There are a few songs that I really love. But it’s a daunting process, because it took me so long to make “Letters to Ghosts,” and I love that album so much and it was sort of a time stamp for me emotionally. So you have to let that go and move on from that. So that’s kind of what I’m in the process of at the moment.

PCC:
So do the new songs reflect the new life, with John, in Nashville?

SILVAS:
I think so. Yeah, they do. They reflect the good and the challenging about it, all the things that I am and what I’ve observed life to be. Some of them are still songs that look at the past or look at other people’s lives. Often they are songs like “Smoke,” which was written about a friend of mine, her situation. So there are songs like that, as well. And then just songs about the way I conduct myself in life, the kind of topsy-turvy way. I feel like I’m ADD a lot of the time [laughs]. Sometimes the songs are talking about that. We’re always forever changing as human beings. And I feel like I’ve still got a lot to learn. And a lot of the songs reflect that.

PCC:
The emotions in your lyrics are so honest, do you think your fans can get to know the real you through your songs?

SILVAS:
I think so. There’s not really much that I hold back. I’m telling the truth in the songs. The details of it, in between those lines of the songs, it’s not always something that’s comfortable to talk about, especially with people you don’t know. But what is there is the absolute truth. And there isn’t really anything that people don’t know about me.

I’ve never been one of these people that says things are great, if they’re not. I think all of it’s quite transparent, really. There’s always boundaries you draw for your own protection. But really it is what it is. And that is who I am, on the album. I do have a lot of vulnerability. But I do also have a lot of strength. And that’s what I want people to see. I don’t need to hide it. I think that comes out in the songs, hopefully.

For the latest on this artist, visit www.luciesilvas.com.