Raised by a guitar player and a background singer, Savannah Conley has hopped from genre to genre throughout her journey as
a musician. 

With two EPs under her belt, the country-pop-folk singer is working on another album to be released next year. Conley said this album will be a little different from her previous EPs. 

After her Austin City Limits Music Festival performance during Weekend Two, The Daily Texan sat down with Conley to talk about her career and her upcoming album.

The Daily Texan: So both of your parents are musicians. How much of that is responsible for you becoming a musician?

Savannah Conley: One hundred percent. They definitely didn’t hold me back. I went to college. I rebelled against music. I went to college for teaching … and then decided not to do that because I couldn’t run from music. They were supportive of me going to school, and they were supportive of the music.

DT: There’re a lot of new artists popping on the scene in the country and folk genres. What do you think you bring to the table that maybe other artists don’t?

SC:  I feel like everybody has said this is, but f— genres. There has to be a time where we can do whatever we want and not be pigeonholed to one area. I have a lot of different inspirations, but I feel like everybody’s doing the same thing. You’re making music. So as long as you do it authentically, it’s the only thing that you can bring that nobody else has.

DT: You opened for Willie Nelson and Brandi Carlile. Are you inspired by them?

SC: I mean, Willie Nelson’s a legend and allowed me to come out when I wasn’t even claiming the country or Americana genre as my own. He was awesome. He’s a legend and inspiring for so many different reasons, not just (that) he could smoke more weed than any human. Snoop can’t even start to hang. But Brandi is my biggest cheerleader, which is still very bizarre to me. I’ve been on tour with her on and off for three years. She’s the most knowledgeable person I know. It’s been super educational and inspirational to learn from her as a mentor there and see how she performs and treats her band and crew and interviews or, you
know,  anything.

DT: You’re currently working on an album. What can we expect from it? Will it be more of the same or are you trying anything new?

SC:  It’s been two years since we released my thing, and it’s because I’m an insufferable perfectionist. I’m never super satisfied with anything. It’s finally at a place that I feel comfortable and confident about, but it’s definitely different. We hope that it’s not too left field.

DT: You say you’re an “insufferable perfectionist.” What does that look like for you?

SC: I’m not a traditional perfectionist because it’s not that I want everything to be clean or perfect in the traditional sense. I want it to be exactly how I want it, whatever that is in my
head … It’s not attainable. I’ve had to let go of my control freak, which is difficult but freeing at the same time. And I’m lucky to have so many people around me that I trust to say, “Hey, you’re being an idiot. You gotta just chill out.”