SEEKING
Band to Join, Acoustic Guitar, Background Singer, Cello, Drums, Fiddle, Lead Guitar, Other Percussion, Vocalist.ABOUT
I'm Ashley Baird, a a wife and mama to 4 children, musician & songwriter, classically trained on piano with moderate experience in folk and sacred music. I'm a long time poet recently turned songwriter after a personal crisis that changed everything.
My skills include piano technique, a decent alto voice, transposing, arranging, harmonizing, classical theory, folk theory, playing by ear or page, church service music, improvising and poetry and songwriting.
I'm looking for musicians who are technically skilled, artistic minded, share my music taste, and are interested in writing and recording. I'm also looking for a studio and someone with skills in marketing and the music industry. I'm still experimenting in songwriting and would love to collaborate with someone who has more experience. I have about 25 songs written that need first of all someone to tell me if they're any good, and second of all, some more instrumentation and a good recording team.
My musical taste is varied, and my compositions attempt to fuse the earthiness of folk, the virtuosity of classical and the radiance of sacred, with a slight rock edge thrown in. I'm creative with key changes and unusual combinations but I still love a beautiful and emotionally satisfying sound.
I am a Jesus lover and worship lover, so even though my songs are not church music I love to play church music from hymns to contemporary.
My original songs are primarily ballads, with bold and well-thought lyrics, and always rooted in story. They treat common topics like faith and family, but also dive into the challenging arena of mental health, including trauma, self harm and suicide. Writing these songs kept me alive during my own harrowing mental health journey. I am trying to treat these subjects delicately and honestly while weaving them into the tapestry of our musical heritage.
The questions no one wants to ask are at the heart of my music. Most mental health related songs I've heard are country, pop or rock, so it may seem avant-garde to couch these difficult subjects in the genre of folk or classical music rather than pop or rock, but to me, folk music is about humanity, and humanity is about struggle. There isn't much our musical predecessors didn't write about: death, broken hearts, war, despair--and to me, a folk/classical setting does justice to those balladeers and harpers of the past whose songs lived long after the stories they told were over. My last name "Baird", comes from the Scottish bards who told tales of battle and courage in dim, smoke-filled halls. I honor that heritage with my own stories of battle, courage and redemption.
I'd love to find a few people interested in meeting once a week to jam, share ideas, and practice together. I'm seeking opportunities to practice and occasionally perform, and to collaborate in writing/recording songs. My vision is to record albums, start a band and start a recovery music/art conference.
- Screen name:
- Lyric Fire
- Member since:
- Feb 17 2022
- Active over 1 month ago
- Level of commitment:
- Committed
- Years playing music:
- 20
- Gigs played:
- 10 to 50
- Tend to practice:
- 2-3 times per week
Influences
Dougie MacLean, Hayde Orchestra, Lauren Daigle, Nickelback, Dvorjak, Hans Zimmer, Andrew Peterson, Michael Card
Instrument experience:
- Piano:
- Expert
- Background Singer:
- Moderate
- Vocalist:
- Intermediate
- Keyboard:
- Intermediate
- Vocalist - Alto:
- Intermediate
- Harp:
- Intermediate
EQUIPMENT
Acoustic 34 string Celtic harp, acoustic guitar, ceramic ocarina
