Speaker 1: Music Saved Me.
Speaker 2: Time really does heal. I'm a completely different person from
Speaker 2: back then than when I was now, and I think
Speaker 2: i've everything that's hard. You just mature. I think I
Speaker 2: think I wouldn't be right here if I didn't go
Speaker 2: through everything back then. So I think, as hard as
Speaker 2: it is in the moment, I think in a weird way,
Speaker 2: you learn a lot of beneficial lessons from it.
Speaker 1: I'm Lynn Hoffman and welcome to the Music Saved Me Podcast,
Speaker 1: the show where we talk with musicians about the deep
Speaker 1: healing power of music. Now, if you like our podcast,
Speaker 1: we hope you do follow us and share with your friends,
Speaker 1: please and thank you. We talk with Hall of famers
Speaker 1: and rising stars, and today I get to speak with
Speaker 1: Glass Note Records recording artists Cecilia Casselman. Her latest single
Speaker 1: is called Looking for June, and her self titled debut
Speaker 1: album will be out in early twenty twenty five. Let's
Speaker 1: explore Cecilia's inspiring journey and how new music has impacted
Speaker 1: her life on Music Saved Me. Cecilia, Welcome to Music
Speaker 1: Saved Me. It's so good to have you.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to start off with I'm hoping it's
Speaker 1: not a hard question, but I just need to know.
Speaker 1: Do you feel that music has healing powers? Oh?
Speaker 2: One thousand percent. Yeah. I mean that's the whole reason
Speaker 2: I got through my childhood was because of music.
Speaker 1: So well, let's let's talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 1: Let's start off with your first experiences that led you
Speaker 1: to your deep connection with music. Can you tell us
Speaker 1: a little bit about that?
Speaker 2: Sure, I mean, I just remember always having a guitar
Speaker 2: within Both of my parents were musicians, and so instead
Speaker 2: of you know, giving me twenty bucks to go to
Speaker 2: the mall, it was here, here's a guitar. You know,
Speaker 2: that's something free to do. But yet, you know, now
Speaker 2: it's become such a priceless thing in my life. And yeah,
Speaker 2: I was just my mom just sort of bottle fed
Speaker 2: me everything music wise, since I was, you know, such
Speaker 2: a young adult. And I just remember growing up on
Speaker 2: you know, Flew the Mac and Prince and John Mayer
Speaker 2: and I would save We didn't have a lot of
Speaker 2: money growing up, my mom and I and so I
Speaker 2: would just save my lunch money and we'd go to
Speaker 2: Best Buy to the clear clearance section. Back when best
Speaker 2: Buy you know, had a music section and I would
Speaker 2: pick out records and that that's what I did, and
Speaker 2: that's all I did. I don't remember ever doing anything
Speaker 2: else besides you know, mowing the yard and listening to
Speaker 2: records growing up?
Speaker 1: Wow, Now was it was it music and writing songs?
Speaker 1: Was it writing songs first and then writing the music
Speaker 1: for you?
Speaker 2: It was always I love guitar. I'm like a super
Speaker 2: guitar head, so it was always me, you know, writing
Speaker 2: a track and then sort of putting melodies and words
Speaker 2: over it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Now, would you and write just for yourself and not
Speaker 1: to share with others? Or did you write it thinking
Speaker 1: it was for other people to listen to?
Speaker 2: I wrote it for myself. I wouldn't show anyone, Like,
Speaker 2: no one in school knew I even played guitar loved
Speaker 2: music as much as I did. I think I kept
Speaker 2: it to myself because I didn't want anyone to have
Speaker 2: really opinions about it subconsciously, and I think, I, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's all I did. And it wasn't until later when
Speaker 2: I got a publishing deal and everything that people were like, oh,
Speaker 2: you like you do music, and I was like, well, yeah,
Speaker 2: I always did. But I think I kept it that
Speaker 2: private for a reason, because it was so sacred to me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's very personal for sure. Anyone I've ever
Speaker 1: talked to has always said, you know, it's like I
Speaker 1: always use this example, it's like birthing children, you know,
Speaker 1: and then you put them out there for the world
Speaker 1: to judge, and you have no say over what anyone
Speaker 1: else thinks about it. And you can help, but you
Speaker 1: just don't know. I was just listening to your song
Speaker 1: It's all Right, and I actually was watching the video
Speaker 1: and you play a mean guitar. At the beginning of
Speaker 1: the show, I'd asked you if you thought music had
Speaker 1: healing powers and that song and the words sort of resonated.
Speaker 1: Did that have anything to do with your life with
Speaker 1: maybe your parents, because I know when you were very
Speaker 1: young it was pretty traumatic for you for them to
Speaker 1: get divorced, And as a child of divorced parents myself,
Speaker 1: I can totally connect with that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they split when I was eleven, which was when
Speaker 2: I was started writing. And yeah, it's all right. It's
Speaker 2: very much so that like it's my restless, sort of
Speaker 2: rebellious song that I'm talking to myself, and that song, like,
Speaker 2: you know, everything is gonna be fine. You're gonna make
Speaker 2: it through, You're gonna grow up, and you're gonna, you know,
Speaker 2: find your way as like a young girl in this world,
Speaker 2: and everything's gonna be fine. And I write a lot
Speaker 2: in the third person, but all of those songs of
Speaker 2: my record are about you know, me, and it's sort
Speaker 2: of a way to sort of shield me and not
Speaker 2: you know, expose everything, which I guess I just did.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's all right, that's about me saying everything's
Speaker 2: gonna be fine.
Speaker 1: That was so interesting because before I heard that, and
Speaker 1: I had no idea that that's what that song was about,
Speaker 1: but I knew it was something that was going on
Speaker 1: in your life. Do you believe that the music has
Speaker 1: the ability to give people hope?
Speaker 2: Oh a thousand percent. Yeah. If I didn't have all
Speaker 2: of those records that I did growing up and sort
Speaker 2: of that drive to do something with my life, I
Speaker 2: mean I came from nothing. I didn't have anything growing
Speaker 2: up but those songs and what I could play and
Speaker 2: what I could make myself. So yeah, it gives me
Speaker 2: hope for the future for sure. I mean I wouldn't
Speaker 2: have anything without it, and if it went away, I
Speaker 2: don't know what i'd do, So yeah, a thousand percent.
Speaker 1: Did you know when you were writing songs that it
Speaker 1: was like therapeutic for yourself or did you just know
Speaker 1: that you felt good after you got it on paper?
Speaker 1: How did that work in your mind?
Speaker 2: Sure? I think it was all subconscious back then. I
Speaker 2: think I did it and I do it now and
Speaker 2: I still don't know the reason why. I think that's
Speaker 2: what's so magical about music. It was very much so
Speaker 2: a subconscious thing for me back then. In the words
Speaker 2: that I write, I would have never said out loud,
Speaker 2: but somehow I felt a way that I could through
Speaker 2: you know, lyrics. So yeah, I got it all out,
Speaker 2: you know, sixteen seventeen and.
Speaker 1: A record deal it twenty one am I right? Uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's pretty amazing. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I was very very lucky that I had such great
Speaker 2: mentors and you know, everyone around me. Yeah. I still
Speaker 2: have a long way to go, but it's been fun.
Speaker 2: I can't I can't take it. I mean, it's still
Speaker 2: so new for me to hear people like singing words
Speaker 2: back to me that I just have to look the
Speaker 2: other way. And most of the time it's really nice
Speaker 2: because I can. I you know, it's so dark, I
Speaker 2: can't really see anyone but smaller shows here in Nashville,
Speaker 2: and I see people, whether it's like my friends or
Speaker 2: even my mom, Like, I just can't. I have to
Speaker 2: look away or it's going to make me not be
Speaker 2: able to finish this song and just break down and cry.
Speaker 2: But I mean, that's the dream. That's all I've ever wanted,
Speaker 2: is for you know, people to sort of find company
Speaker 2: within my songs and make them feel better about stuff,
Speaker 2: or make them cry or you know, whatever they're feeling. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that it's wild to me.
Speaker 1: It's very surreal, I bet, especially going from not one
Speaker 1: to share any of it to having it be so
Speaker 1: out there.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Can you describe what it's like when you're writing a
Speaker 1: song or when you're creating the music to a song,
Speaker 1: what comes first and what's your process? And also when
Speaker 1: you were going through something as a young child, whatever
Speaker 1: it was, what music and artist did you turn to,
Speaker 1: maybe specific songs that you listened to that helped you
Speaker 1: through those times.
Speaker 2: When I was growing up, it was a lot of
Speaker 2: Fleet and Mac. I remember that my mom got me
Speaker 2: that Tusk record for my fifteenth birthday and I had
Speaker 2: just gotten my permit and she'd gotten me that and
Speaker 2: there's a song on there called Storms that Stevie Nicks.
Speaker 2: I'm a huge Stevie Nicks fan. I think she's like
Speaker 2: the best thing that's you know, in the world, and
Speaker 2: all of her lyrics really resonated with me growing up,
Speaker 2: I think because it was just she showed a woman's heart,
Speaker 2: even though I obviously wasn't a woman then, but I
Speaker 2: could just feel like that feminine sort of you know,
Speaker 2: a woman trying to figure out her life and and
Speaker 2: going through stuff and heartbreak. And I really resonated with
Speaker 2: her growing up. Obviously still too, but it was songs
Speaker 2: like Storms and Beautiful Child and you know, Sisters of
Speaker 2: the Moon sort of that rage, you know, but also
Speaker 2: the vulnerability of being a woman. And it was a
Speaker 2: lot of her. But then I loved, like, you know,
Speaker 2: very heavy guitar music. I feel like everything I listened
Speaker 2: to it was very guitar. I heavy Tom Petty, John Mayer, Prince,
Speaker 2: all the Lindsay Buckingham stuff. I very much so gravitated
Speaker 2: towards all of that. Uh. And yeah, I think it's
Speaker 2: because I grew up. You know, Nashville's very it's super country,
Speaker 2: and which is awesome. But I think once I heard
Speaker 2: that like rock stuff, I was like, yeah, like that's
Speaker 2: what I needed.
Speaker 1: Have you met anyone from Fleetwood Mac or Stevie No.
Speaker 2: No from Heartbreakers? He played on my record. It's crazy,
Speaker 2: it's amazing. Yeah, I met John here, but no. Stevie
Speaker 2: Nix is like my She's like.
Speaker 1: If I smell a duet somewhere down the road, I
Speaker 1: could you imagine, Well, tell me this, And I'm sure
Speaker 1: she would be so excited if she was listening to
Speaker 1: this that you had that she had such an impact
Speaker 1: on you. She's super sweet. I've worked with her, I've
Speaker 1: been lucky enough to and yeah, you'll you'll find out,
Speaker 1: I'm sure in the not too distant future. Can I
Speaker 1: ask what you would give for advice to someone who
Speaker 1: may be dealing with some difficult times in their life,
Speaker 1: of what you would suggest for them in terms of
Speaker 1: any part of the song making, writing listening process.
Speaker 2: Sure. Yeah, that's so tough because you kind of don't know.
Speaker 2: I mean, everyone acts sort of differently no matter what
Speaker 2: you know people go through. But I think it's just
Speaker 2: it's I mean, it's hard because some people are For me,
Speaker 2: when I went through everything, I was very shy, like
Speaker 2: I just become became silent. I would go to school
Speaker 2: and I would remember I could go all day and
Speaker 2: not say a word to anyone, and I think it's
Speaker 2: it's I can see people, you know, the quiet ones
Speaker 2: I feel like always have the best stories just growing
Speaker 2: up in school, and you know the ones that like
Speaker 2: wouldn't say anything, it would sort of hide and were
Speaker 2: Those are the thinkers and those are the dreamers. To me,
Speaker 2: I don't know. It's so hard to go through things,
Speaker 2: no matter how little or how big. But I guess
Speaker 2: just taking it day by day and time really does heal.
Speaker 2: I'm a completely different person from back then than when
Speaker 2: I was now, and I think I've everything that's hard.
Speaker 2: It just you just mature. I think I think I
Speaker 2: wouldn't be right here if I didn't go through everything
Speaker 2: back then. So I think, as hard as it is
Speaker 2: in the moment, I think in a weird way, you
Speaker 2: learn a lot of beneficial lessons from it.
Speaker 1: But no, No, that was a wonderful answer. And I
Speaker 1: have this feeling that you're a very old soul, not
Speaker 1: just from the artist that you grew up listening to,
Speaker 1: because you blow me away. I mean those are all
Speaker 1: of the artists I grew up listening to, and you're
Speaker 1: half my age, so it's pretty amazing. I'm just so
Speaker 1: excited for you, and I hope that all good things
Speaker 1: continue in your life and in your career, and I
Speaker 1: will be looking forward to your self titled debut. You
Speaker 1: said it was coming out in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: Yeah, day before my birthday, January twenty fourth.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, are exciting. And Looking for June is
Speaker 1: the single that'll be out soon as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Looking for June is out, and then yeah, we
Speaker 2: might have one more before the album. I'm not sure.
Speaker 1: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on the
Speaker 1: show and good luck, and you just making me smile
Speaker 1: so much. I can't even think about how to say goodbye.
Speaker 1: But I'm very excited for you. And it's always wonderful
Speaker 1: to see new artists coming up and coming and doing
Speaker 1: great things. And thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2: This is so so fun. Thanks for having me