We get personal with the talented musician and songwriter Kerry Hallett. Find out why, when asked where she would like to visit, her answer was Italy and her favorite app on her phone.
From college in Philly to the West Coast encounters and then back to Philly, find out the whys. This segment promises to offer a unique insight into her self-taught musical career and the ups and downs of the music scene. Kerry sheds light on the ups and downs of an independent artist in the evolving music industry. Find out what plans Kerry and her wife Millie have for a future animal rescue. Kerry and Millie are renovating their home with a music studio for Kerry and a ceramic studio for Millie. Kerry's passion for her music and life will make you smile!
https://linktr.ee/deblamotta
We get personal with the talented musician and songwriter Kerry Hallett. Find out why, when asked where she would like to visit, her answer was Italy and her favorite app on her phone.
From college in Philly to the West Coast encounters and then back to Philly, find out the whys. This segment promises to offer a unique insight into her self-taught musical career and the ups and downs of the music scene. Kerry sheds light on the ups and downs of an independent artist in the evolving music industry. Find out what plans Kerry and her wife Millie have for a future animal rescue. Kerry and Millie are renovating their home with a music studio for Kerry and a ceramic studio for Millie. Kerry's passion for her music and life will make you smile!
https://linktr.ee/deblamotta
Welcome, Kerry Hallett. So glad to have you join me. How are you today?
Speaker 2:I am doing well, happy to be here. Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1:Oh, you are welcome, Kerry Hallett. You are a musician, singer, songwriter. You are originally from Virginia, moved to Philly for school, went to the West Coast, back to Philly, and now you and your wife re side in Delaware. And well, that's a journey in itself. Okay, right. So before we get into that journey, I'd like to ask two questions to get us warmed up. If you could visit any place in the world that you haven't been to, where would you like to visit?
Speaker 2:Oh well, it's on my list, actually for my 40th, and that is to go to Southern Italy, the Calabria area, and then also go to Sicily. Some of my heritage, like on my mom's side, is from there, and I just love Italian food and cooking and wine, and I love the Mediterranean, and so I'm looking forward to going there. I definitely have that wanderlust, though, so that is like one of many, many places I wanna go that I haven't been.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, my parents have been, my stepdad is Italian and the stories and the pictures and they talk about the food and the people? Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2:That's a good one. I can't wait.
Speaker 1:I like it All right. So what's your favorite app on your phone, and why?
Speaker 2:Oh, my favorite app Well, I'd say I have two One is well, they're both sort of practical Ultimate Guitar, because it is where you can have so for gigs that I do down here at the beach where people want covers and all that, you can have a catalog basically of all the songs that you do and rather than having like a physical book that you have to flip through, you can kind of keep things that way ready to go. And then I also really love this app called Impulse, which is like brain training games.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, Like puzzles and yeah yeah, and that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:I'd say those are probably my two favorites right now.
Speaker 1:Those are good ones. Yeah, and you know, you can think back about all the before, all this great technology and all the things you had to carry with you, and, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just sheet music and what have you?
Speaker 2:Right, exactly, I know it's been a journey to get me switched over from the hard copy music because I'm a very like, I like to have my notes that I've written on the songs and that kind of stuff. So it's been a journey switching over to the more, I guess, practical in some ways because it's less stuff to carry.
Speaker 1:But yeah, yeah, I find myself too, because I'm been attached to my computer for as long as there been computers and that kind of tells how old I am, but I still like paper and pen also for the same reason. Yeah, sure, but it's much easier these days with all the technology, all right. So we talked recently before the interview and you said you've had music in your life from a very early age. Who had the most significant influence at the start for you?
Speaker 2:Definitely my mom. My mom played the piano and she was a. She was an activities director for nursing homes and so that was sort of my. A lot of my first musical experiences was like sing-alongs with her, like going and you know things she would do for the residents and stuff like that. She was also really into music herself, so you know she would be blasting Neil Young or John Lennon or she listened to Nirvana when I was a kid and she actually used to put on imagine by John Lennon on Sundays and say, if you listen to this song in the lyrics, you don't have to go to church. So definitely my mom?
Speaker 1:Did she have the first influence also on singing, just not music.
Speaker 2:I think not, not really. I feel like she never really considered herself a singer. She was sort of playing the piano for her was very utilitarian, because what she wanted to do was to get people to sing. So it was less of a performance for her and more of like this is what I need to do to sort of like, you know, get everyone singing together, and so I'm going to do it. But it was never like everyone listen to me sing. I'm a virtuoso. So I don't know where I got the urge to to like be a singer myself, Although I do think that my dad, who I didn't really super grow up with, I think he's got sort of a similar, like soothing kind of singing voice. So I think I suspect that the the nature part of it probably comes from him, I think.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you also played an instrument when you were young, which and that was very young, in fifth grade. What did you pick up?
Speaker 2:I picked up the cello, which was about the same size as me. It's funny because my best friend when when we were kids, she wanted to play the violin and then I thought, well, if I played the cello, we can play duets and play together. But also, I think my shyness was was part of picking that instrument, cause it was like sort of you know, I could sort of hide behind that giant thing, and then, you know, I didn't really think it through though, cause then I huge instrument I had to carry around the hallways at school.
Speaker 1:But that was your first love, right your cello and learning music. And and did your friend go on to play the violin throughout her career, or?
Speaker 2:We did. I mean, we stuck it out together through high school playing, both playing. She was a great ahead of me, but we were often in, yeah, in the same orchestra or or that kind of thing. I think I I definitely went off onto more of a music tangent than she did.
Speaker 1:And so the cello, as you mentioned it, kind of was your front tip. It kept you safe or helped you with the shyness correct.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think so. And and also, you know, being part of a larger orchestra, like being a small, you know, small but important part, and not like the person at the forefront, you know being part of a group. I think that really was an environment that helped me to sort of like nurture my musicality without having to be, like you know, out there in the, in the front.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. And so when I asked this question, because I know how, how hard it is to push through, being being shy or being an introvert, and I never thought about the cello or having that instrument in front of you, giving you the confidence to sit there through and be part of orchestra, and so what would you? What would you tell somebody that has that shyness or being an introvert and wants to play an instrument but that holds a lot of people, young people back? I mean, how did you work through that?
Speaker 2:I think it just is something like when you're in a group situation like that and you know you may feel like insignificant or like you're not really that great of a player or whatever, but when you're with everyone and you're all playing in tandem and you're each playing your individual you know by itself seems insignificant part, but then everyone comes together to perform the piece, I think that that really just builds confidence and it has that deeper sort of metaphor of like you know you might feel like your part is insignificant, but in tandem with everyone. If we all just create that little bit of noise, it makes this like beautiful symphony. So I just feel like one of that's one of the best ways is being in like a school group, like that, like choir or orchestra band, because you're not shoved to the spotlight. You don't have to be a soloist. You can if you want, but you can also just be a small but integral piece and I think sort of build your confidence that way.
Speaker 1:I like that, I like that a lot. And so you played the cello in fifth grade, which brought you into middle school and then into high school. In high school, yeah, and then you made the transition to college.
Speaker 2:So yeah, so in college, and I'd say probably around age 13, 14 is when I started teaching myself to play the guitar, and so by the time I got to college I had decided not to continue with the cello per se but sort of explore other avenues of music, and one of those was really trying to get better at the guitar and like writing my own songs. I think I had started writing some songs like in my late teens and so sort of kind of going down that route with music.
Speaker 1:And your mom got you the guitar for Christmas. She did?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it was just a busted old pawn shop guitar With strings that worked. Yeah, exactly exactly. Thinking back, I'm like, how did I? Because it's painful to learn the guitar, because holding the strings down for the chords is, you know, you have to really build up your calluses, and so you've got like this. It was this gnarly huge guitar with just I feel like the strings were so hard I don't know how I pushed through.
Speaker 1:I guess I must have been really determined, exactly right and that's that term determination, that's gotten you to where you are, where you are now, yourself taught with the guitar, was it? Was it an easy transition from the cello to the guitar, with being able to read music? And it's still a stringed instrument, but it's different.
Speaker 2:I think it was an easy transition in this. So for reading music no, I actually don't read music for guitar because cellos and bass clap, guitars and treble clap and I just never. I wanted to play the guitar so instantly that taking the time to teach my brain to transpose things from bass clef to treble clef just was like too big of a step. I was like how do I cut out this middleman? I want to be playing right now. So I just started learning chords and playing tabs which are basically like a really visual way. I'm also a very visual person, so it's like a very visual way to learn. That's not necessarily having to read the notes, but I do think the skills of the cello, of you know it's the same where with your left hand you're forming the and then your right hand is, you know, on the cello, bowing or strumming on the guitar. So I think that those motor skills really translated.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. You're in college and your major is.
Speaker 2:Oh boy, that was all over the place too. Started out as a as actually like a bio major because I was planning on going to vet school because I've always loved animals. But I got like my first semester like class schedule in college and it was like three science classes and two math classes and I just was like I can't, I can't, I can't do this, it's not. I'm too like artsy and weird and my brain doesn't work that way and this feels too regimented for me. I, I just can't do it. So I think I was like undeclared for a little bit and then maybe I was a political science major for a second and then I found an art history class and just found like art history and anthropology to be really fascinating, yeah, and ended up actually majoring in art history.
Speaker 1:So yeah, all over the place, yeah. That's that artsy mind though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1:You're in college, you're playing acoustic guitar, you're at a local pub, correct? And the act that was there canceled.
Speaker 2:Yep, yeah.
Speaker 1:And you happen to be there.
Speaker 2:I happen to be there, I must have been chatting with the bartender and maybe someone I knew because by that time I was also working in the service industry and they're like, oh man, the person who was supposed to play tonight canceled and I just I like I don't know what came over me and I think I said to you it might have been maybe the liquid courage that I was imbibing at the time and I was like I live up the street, want me to go grab my guitar and you know, I'll come down and play. And they were like, oh my God, yeah, that would be great. And then, sort of like, walking home to get my guitar, thinking like what if I just just agreed to? Like I'm terrified, this is not a good idea, but you did it, I did it. I did it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was probably really awful, because I've learned since then that I'm not someone who can drink and then perform. I'm like the opposite. I'm. Most people, I mean, they feel like I get better if I have a couple drinks, and I am not that way at all. So I'm sure that the show was like terrible.
Speaker 1:But, it kind of launched your career.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly it kind of. You know, it broke the ice and I was like, oh, this is maybe a thing I can do, Right yeah.
Speaker 1:So you finished college and you head to the West.
Speaker 2:Coast, yeah, west Coast. I was trying to get out of Philly for a change. I was with somebody at the time who was from the Pacific Northwest and so, and I actually have family out in Portland, oregon. So we sort of decided on there and you know I actually did get to do a lot of. It seemed like Portland was sort of a fertile ground for like acoustic singer-songwriter types, whereas in Philly it wasn't so much the scene there. So I felt like a little bit more embraced in Portland where you know people wanted to hear that style of, like you know, an acoustic guitar playing singer-songwriter.
Speaker 2:So I was like able to get gigs there at you know bars and pubs and restaurants and actually met you know some musicians that I worked with in the service industry and we would do like themed shows together, you know, or do like crazy riffs on cover bands, like we did one year for Valentine's Day. There's the band the Magnetic Fields. They have the 69 Love Songs album, so we picked 14 of them for Valentine's Day and we called ourselves the Dragonetic Fields and All Dressed in Drag and played 14 of the 69 Love Songs and Portland is just like perfect, you know, for weird things like that. So, but that was great because I was playing out, but with other people, not just by myself. So you know, that just takes a whole different set of skills, absolutely.
Speaker 1:So were you with different bands, or were you just a group that continued to play together?
Speaker 2:I did a few different bands. I actually was also the drummer in a fledgling band in Portland that at the time was called Muscle and Marrow. So I did my drumming is also self taught, so I always say like a really good rhythm, but you know I just stick to the basics. So that was fun doing like backup vocals and being part of like someone else's project where the lead singer was the writer and I was just sort of like complimenting her, which was also kind of a nice relief.
Speaker 1:So how long were you on the West Coast? About four and a half years. Yeah, so you were there for a minute and then you come back to Philly.
Speaker 2:Yes, I sort of had my fill out there of the weather, which is really gray, and you know I was born in Virginia Beach, so I'm like very much a son. Baby need the son.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know how people live there permanently. I would be depressed all the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was struggling for sure with depression and I think the weather had a lot to do with it. There was some other you know relationship stuff that didn't pan out and I feel like I just kind of wanted to come back to Philly to sort of regroup and fall back in with my old friend group and just sort of reset.
Speaker 1:They made that transition and was there, obviously had a whole set of friends here. Her family was here, Was there somebody special that was here, or did that come later?
Speaker 2:Oh, just, you just had a hunch, yeah. So yeah, millie, I had known in Philly before. We worked together, waiting tables together and just sort of had marginally stayed in touch over the years as friends. And then I was coming back to Philly to visit and be like, you know, decide, am I moving back here from Portland? It's kind of like touch base with my people, see what's going on, like is this somewhere I want to come back to. She and I just had decided to meet up for like friendly cup of coffee and it turned into like friendly glass of beer. And then, you know, I don't know, sort of it came out that, oh, I always thought you were cute, oh, I always thought you were cute, and you know, just the timing was never right. And so, yes, there was a slight extra motivation to get back to Philly more quickly once I had this sort of, you know, new kindling of like oh, maybe there's like something here that we should explore because sort of seems like the stars are finally aligned.
Speaker 1:So yes, I have it on good authority that it turned out well.
Speaker 2:Yes, quite right, quite right, yep.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Where did the band Harbor originate from? Is that here on the East Coast?
Speaker 2:That was East Coast. Yeah, that was sort of like it was interesting because the name for that sort of came about after. So I was working with Erin McYone, who's a producer, musician, writer, really prolific songwriter and great human, and I had reached out to her because I kind of decided finally, like, all right, I need to like get into the studio. I have all these songs that I've written and, you know, I really want to work them up to their full potential, not just these little like demos of me that I do, you know, layering over top of myself at my home studio. So I reached out to her and she and I were working on some of the songs and she helped me sort of workshop them and edit some of my writing and made me write a bridge, which I never, ever, ever do to any of my songs. And so the only song I've ever written that has a bridge is Hating Nothing. And that's because Erin McYone was like I feel like there's a bridge in there that you could pop out of that song. So I sort of had this package of five songs that we finally worked up.
Speaker 2:After that I was like, well, deciding, do I want to just go by my name and then I'm sort of pigeonholed as the singer songwriter or do I want to, like you know, just make up a band name and then it seems like I don't know more of a band.
Speaker 2:And again, I think part of this was like my insecurity, but also part of it was that at the time in Philly it wasn't like a singer songwriter scene. So I was like trying to, you know, be like all right, well, I'm a band, like we're a band, it's not just you know me and a guitar. So Heart Harbor came around because I was thinking about how all the songs were sort of written on either coast east coast, west coast that's where the harbor came from and then the heart, because you know they're all about either love or they're about heartbreak, sort of the song. So I was like just kind of decided on that on a whim, to be like I have a band name. I'm not just like a girl with a guitar, which I know a lot of. That's like part of my insecurity, anyway, that. So that was that. And then, you know, just kind of after I recorded the EP is when I built the band.
Speaker 1:So and the songs on the EP.
Speaker 2:The songs on the EPA. We have Always Honey, which is one of my favorite songs I've ever written. It's a really fun, boppy, cute love song. There's Hating Nothing I mentioned, which is the only only bridge containing song I've ever written.
Speaker 2:There is Kismet, which is a song that actually came to me when I was at a silent meditation retreat and I was not supposed to be writing and I had to like secretly sneak in my room and write during lunch because the song just like exploded in I guess because my brain was so clear from meditating Everything the melody, the words, everything just like came out of nowhere. I was like doing my walking meditation, singing this song over and over in my head, and I sneakily had to go and and like write it down so that I was like I need to be able to get back to this, like when I'm allowed to. So that's Kismet. There's also the question, which was a song that also just sort of like fell out of me when a friend of mine's sister passed away suddenly.
Speaker 2:And then I have Melissa, also a love song about Millie. It's funny because a lot of people don't know that Millie is short for Melissa, so they think I'm singing about someone else, when I'm singing that song and they're like what is going on? Or or they'll say to Millie like wow, like they're like really cool that you like are fine with her singing this song about I don't know who this person is, and she's like it's about me, so I'm good. Yeah, so we're good here.
Speaker 1:Just a quick side question for your songwriting, because you just say, say that you hear it in your head, you put it together in your head and it falls out. Are most of your songs like that, or do you have a process at?
Speaker 2:all they, really most of them, are like that. I feel like for me, music is such a it's like an emotional vessel that when I feel quote unquote inspired is because I'm feeling something intense, and and that's when they sort of it's like a processing thing for me, almost in a way, it's been a little tricky to like. You know now that, like I don't know, my life is sort of like on track and like my love life is like figured out. You know, like now, what am I supposed to write about? You know, I think for me it's always been so emotional because you know, I'm very much like. You know, this is my excited face too. You know, like I'm like not, I'm pretty even keel. So it's usually, yeah, like an intense feeling. Happy, sad, whatever intense feeling is is what helps me write.
Speaker 1:I like asking that question because I always like hearing everybody's and everybody's different Mm. Hmm, thank you. All right, so what's the most challenging part of being an indie musician? The?
Speaker 2:most challenging part is getting paid for your original music. Definitely, I have to say, like being here in Rehoboth is great for being a working musician, because you know everyone wants to have music in the bars and restaurants. So they pay and you know you can make good money, which is great. They don't want to hear your original songs, though, like they want. You know they want you to be playing covers that people are going to recognize and you know you can slide one of your own in there here and there, but for the most part you know they want to hear covers. So it's tricky to find venues you know where in general in the United States, where you're going to be compensated for playing your original music.
Speaker 1:So that's tough, absolutely tough. I know there's there's so many things with being an independent artist. I was just talking to Michael Bate and Ash Fault Jungle. We were talking about that. The same thing about getting paid and live streaming platforms and streaming platforms itself too. So, yeah, it's not. It's not easy. I mean you're consistently working every angle yourself with producing marketing, as you said, writing your own music, producing, engineering and then releasing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a lot and it's, you know, a lot of behind the scenes work that just people don't consider. And then you know, when you put it out there, like you say, like on a streaming platform, and you people might be listening to it, but you don't get any sort of compensation for that unless you go and buy it.
Speaker 1:And then and then you get the 0.00000017. Exactly, yeah, very, very minimal. Well, how do you feel about the streaming platforms Spotify, itunes?
Speaker 2:I mean it's sort of like I don't know. I feel like at this point it's unfortunately, it's a necessary evil, you know. I mean it's like social media, like the way the world is now, the way people find their information, the way people find their music. It's got to be digital, like it's just not. You know, there aren't really even record stores anymore. So I'm back at Delaware.
Speaker 1:I was surprised how many Delaware has.
Speaker 2:It's like nine and I thought that was a lot.
Speaker 1:I was very surprised at that so.
Speaker 2:I mean, I remember, even when I was in college and Philly, you know, I go to the tower records on South Street and they had all these listening stations. So, you know, you just put headphones on, you're like, oh, let me try this, oh, let me try this. And you know that's the first time I heard cat power. That's the first time. You know, like that, that used to be how people discovered music and it's just not that way anymore. So I mean, the industry is shifting to accommodate that. But of course it's like, it's great because we have so much at our fingertips and you can, you know, go on Spotify and go down a wormhole of, like 1970s, Nigerian funk, and it's fascinating. But then you're also like, who, like are these? No one's getting paid for this, you know.
Speaker 1:No, no, no and just buying these and then just backtracking a minute to the venues, because I think Delaware has great venues. There's great opportunities for singer, songwriters, musicians, bands, soloists and do. I was here in Delaware, but what you had said about being able to perform your original music, I don't. There's definitely not. In fact, you're in diamond Dover North and South. There's great places for musicians to play at here in Dover. I'm still struggling finding places here. I think I have to make, I have to create my own place for everybody up here in Dover. But do you find that I mean you just said you found that true with? Is it just in your area? What about Philly?
Speaker 2:Well, down here we do have I have to say we do have a great place. It's really new, called the listening booth. Yeah, I'm not sure if you've been there at all yet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's great, yeah, and I just finally played there for the first time, which is, you know, they're doing a really needed thing down here, which is giving a stage to local musicians to play their original songs. So not to say that it doesn't exist, but in Philly it's sort of the opposite. Well, it's the other side of the same coin, where people want originals but you're not getting paid.
Speaker 2:You know you might bring the band, you bring your band and it depends, I'm sure once you break a certain ceiling, then you are but like when you're just scrounging and trying to get out there. You know people are like, oh yeah, you can come play here on Thursday night and whatever amount, the bar sales are more than a normal Thursday. You can have a cut of, you know, or, and it's like, well, how much is that going to be between four people? You know. So it's not like a hey, you're scheduled to play here and we're going to pay you this much money. You know, it's usually like I mean, and it's who knows, it could be, you know, different. Now maybe things are changing, but when I was there that's how it was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hopefully it's changing. We have to hope for that From Harbor. When did you make that transition into being a soloist?
Speaker 2:I guess, sort of when I moved down here and you know I tried to do a little bit of touring with hard Harbor and you know it was always just hard to. You know I played the Philly Folk Festival and that kind of stuff but it was hard to keep. You know again, because you can't always pay people to keep a regular band and then just wrangling musicians in general is like usually seems like a challenge.
Speaker 1:I don't know why I've heard that from others too, yeah.
Speaker 2:And I'm like the anomaly where I'm like can we, you know, can we meet up at 10 am and like have coffee and practice, you know, and everyone's like, no, we want to play at, like, you know, 6 pm, have some beers, and you know, it's just not. It's so it's hard for me to find other folks to play with that are on the same wavelength as I am. But so I moved down here and kind of started realizing oh well, I could make money just playing covers and bars and just show up me and my guitar. It's really easy. I don't have to practice with anybody, I don't have to hope anyone shows up. So I sort of just kind of went on my own down to the beach, but I have since been playing with some other folks too, which is which is really fun. But yeah, I consider myself, like my original stuff, to be pretty much solo and I think what I'll do is start doing more of my home studio, like layering over top of my self, kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:Again, being on your own gives you more freedom, but yeah, it doesn't.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:It's more freedom in the sense that I don't have to worry about people showing up when they say they will or you know, that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:But it's also not as rewarding, in certain ways, to just play by yourself all the time, because you know, you definitely especially me as a self taught musician you know, I think I have enough talent to play with good musicians who are, you know, professional, you know studied, no theory, all that Like I have enough talent to keep up with them. But I also learn so much from them when they're like oh, you know, this is, we're playing in this key. And if you go to the one and then go to the three and like that kind of stuff, like I'm like what are you talking about? You know, like it's not anything that I ever learned. So I really do appreciate playing with real players who are and who are, you know, patient enough with me to be like oh, this is what I mean, you know this X, y, z, and you know and then I learned something and I'm like, oh my God, that totally will help me in my songwriting, you know.
Speaker 2:So I'm just sort of a play by ear, figure it out on my own kind of person usually.
Speaker 1:So yeah, it's been working for you. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's gotten you this far Absolutely. So there was a point during all this you were living down where you are now when you had the car accident.
Speaker 2:Yes, so we had just moved here. Let's see, it was very early 2019. I think we moved here in January of 2019, in June of that year, so we had been here about five months. I got in a really terrible car accident on Route 9 heading towards Georgetown and broke my back and had like a pretty bad I mean they call it a mild traumatic brain injury hit my head and, you know, had had a really crazy concussion and brain injury symptoms and had to have emergency spinal surgery and like spinal fusion rods and screws put in my back. So that was a really, really major. There were actually I would have been flown in the helicopter to Christiana, but there had already been another terrible accident that morning and so that person was in the helicopter and so I had to be in a transport van up to Christiana.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for I actually didn't really understand the breadth of my injuries at the time. But basically, if we had hit like a pot hole in the wrong way, like I was paralyzed, you know. So that was really super traumatic and it's still. I still have a lot of trauma surrounding it and I and I really think that once I'm ready to process all that, I feel like that's going to be a whole group of songs too. Definitely some things that I've done some writing on, but it's still. I mean it was four and a half years ago and it's still so raw for me. Just you know, I almost like didn't make it and so it's. I mean I'm getting choked up now talking about it.
Speaker 1:So I'm like no, absolutely. And during your recovery which you know isn't surprising, you know, became depressed. Right, yeah, oh yeah, absolutely. How'd you fight?
Speaker 2:through that.
Speaker 2:I mean, really I just I thank goodness for my sort of like yoga and my own sort of like spiritual practice of.
Speaker 2:I mentioned before that I've done these silent meditation retreats, so I Bapasana is the style of meditation I think that that really really really got me through of just kind of like knowing that nothing is permanent and, you know, even though I feel terrible like every single day, I'm like a little bit better and to just accept where my body is at right now and understand that the best thing I can do is to like be kind to it and nurturing towards it rather than being frustrated with it. I think really got me through that and honestly, I couldn't hold a guitar or play a guitar in any way, shape or form for a really long time. The only thing that really got me out of bed was cooking, because I could still stand there and chop things and I just and I love to cook and it's a really it's a great creative outlet for me and honestly, I think that saved me. Like watching cooking shows and like watching especially salt, fat, acid heat with samina's rat was really helping me cooking. It's honestly what saved me.
Speaker 1:It's kind of like oh my gosh and I brought this up for a reason, because we all suffer at one time or another some depression, anxiety. We want to hide, especially with COVID. And I think if people can hear somebody else say well, may not work for you, but this is how I fought through it, or this is what I always felt would help me, looking for that one little positive tidbit that somebody else can take away. And out of all that, didn't you write a song?
Speaker 2:Yes, I think I kind of finished, yeah, this formation of the song that had been around in my head for a long time. But, yeah, so, and I was just calling it A minor because I could never come up with the title for it and I sometimes I don't even remember what title I gave to this song because I just called it A minor for so long. So it's definitely a sort of inertia about, like, not being able to move, which is sort of what was literally happening to me. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Thank you and thank you for sharing that. So there's been Heart Harbor, there's been Carrie Hall at the soloist and you also play with Gold Star and 90s Hover Band.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:How did you?
Speaker 2:get involved with them Super fun. So our realtor down here, who helped us find this home that I'm finally sitting in, her partner is a musician, and so Liz had sort of mentioned to me oh you know, my partner plays drums, like I don't know, maybe you guys would want to get together and see, you know, if you want to play music together. And so Storm and I met and we just were at the same age. We grew up listening to all the same songs. We were both sort of like looking for another project. So we decided to start, you know, just doing because down here people want to hear, you know, cover songs and everything.
Speaker 2:But I feel like there's a niche that's not being filled with the sort of like the 90s stuff. Like there's a lot of you know classic covers, beatles and you know all that Fleetwood Mac and everything which everyone expects to hear. And so we just sort of got together and I'm playing electric guitar and Storm is playing drums and we both sing and we do a lot of harmonies. So we do a lot of like the cranberries and a lot of smoreset and that kind of stuff. It's just like super fun because we're playing the songs that I grew up singing.
Speaker 2:You know when I was teaching myself to sing and play guitar and we just were trying to come up with a band name, so it's sort of the two of us that are the core members and then here and there we'll recruit, maybe you know, a lead guitar or a bass player to come if we've got like a big room to fill Really super fun and a different thing than I'm used to Like. I feel like you know, I know I'm playing other people's songs, but I feel like a rock star, you know, like playing electric guitar and like singing along. It's more sad and, yeah, screaming and yeah.
Speaker 1:Which then you played the Ladybug Festival with Storm and All Star.
Speaker 2:Exactly. Yeah. So Storm sort of Storm encouraged me to apply for Ladybug's. I hadn't heard of it. I was like, well, if I get in, like I need a band, and Storm's like, well, build you a band. Like we'll get a band, don't worry, like we'll figure it out. Yeah, so we brought a bass player and a lead guitar player. Come do that with me. And that was super fun.
Speaker 1:That was super awesome. I caught you when you were playing down at the end of the bull part.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, on the stage.
Speaker 1:On the stage. Well, that's funny because I'm like looking for the stage and like they're on the road.
Speaker 2:Yeah, here, we are just right here.
Speaker 1:And you got a few sprinkles, but they stopped and you guys played. You were awesome.
Speaker 2:Thank you, yeah, yeah, it was really fun to play my songs with a full band again because it's been a while, and it's always interesting to play with a different group of players, because I'm never like, well, this is the guitar part of this song, so play that. I'm like, play what you hear. I wanna hear what you hear to kind of like bust the song out of into a new configuration. So it's always interesting to hear what other players come up with on the songs that I've written.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's cool, very cool. That was a great festival. I hadn't been to the Ladybug Festival before, I had heard about it, but that was my first time and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. That same what was there Like? Over 30 performers that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I just hope to have us back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh yeah, very cool, All right, so let me go back just a bit. You graduated from college with a degree in art history. You told us why, more or less, and you are working on your masters in nonprofit leadership because and I like the why go- ahead Because my wife and I want to start a dog rescue.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we're crazy dog ladies. When we were in Philly, we were doing a lot of stuff working with volunteering, with local rescues and that kind of stuff. And two things the senior dogs and also the pitties are two causes very near and dear to our hearts. We just lost our senior pity a little over a year ago. Yeah, so we now I think we just want to, once we get to that point where we're ready to do that, focus on so many adult, but especially so many senior dogs get dumped at shelters. It's just heartbreaking. So they're in the part of their life where maybe they lived with a family for their whole life and then the family's having housing issues or the family moves or, who knows, they have a baby and for whatever reason, the senior dog who needs to be, like you know, wearing sweaters and laying on a rug in front of the fire at this point in their life, is at a city high intake city shelter where you know people maybe come into adopt puppies, you know. So we just want to help those dogs.
Speaker 1:I love it. I absolutely love it, because I mentioned to you I'm also love all the rescues and if I didn't, I will send you the names of the two ladies that one has a winery up in Pennsylvania, jennifer Estelle, who does a women's health care side of it, and then the dog welfare side of it, and brings it all together beautiful place and then Naomi Girk, she does, she makes bow ties for dogs, animals, whatever you have.
Speaker 1:And she gives back once a month to different rescues. So I'll contact, I'll give you those contact names. So thank you for that. That's amazing when you get to that part. Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2:I know we're, we want to. You know we're both artists. My wife's a ceramics artist and we, you know, would love to sort of combine our, our arts backgrounds with. You know, I mean, she was doing this for a while, donating a portion of her sales to whatever. So, you know, trying to figure out, because we are these sort of, I guess you could say, well rounded, but I feel like we're a little all over the place with our interests but finding a way to like, really like, gel everything that's important to us and and do what we need to do that way.
Speaker 1:That's so great. And you mentioned that Millie is a ceramic artist, correct, and she could be. She can be found at Miss Millie net, correct? Exactly, yeah, beautiful, beautiful pieces. I have been looking.
Speaker 2:Good, thank you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're welcome. So how do you balance work at home like?
Speaker 2:balance is not a word that really is fitting into my vocabulary lately, but I think now that where I just mentioned to, we're finally moved in, albeit sort of camping style, to our new house Well, it's an old house, new to us here in Milton, but I think now that we have this sort of home base it will be a lot easier.
Speaker 2:I mean, I think for me part of my being a musician or being an artist or tending bar two nights a week or playing gigs to two nights a week, it's because I don't like to spend all of my time doing one thing I've tried to have like a normal quote unquote, normal office job, nine to five thing, and it's just, it's like crushed my soul. So I feel like in general, even though things have felt a little crazy because we haven't been able to move into our house, I feel more balanced. Maybe then a lot of people do, just because I I might spend two nights playing music and then one night tending bar and then the rest of my time is in the kitchen, like at our house, making food, or feel like my life is just sort of the sort of pragmatic, like all these little things here and there. I feel really lucky that I don't ever feel crazy out of balance between work and life, like there doesn't really feel like a separation to me between work and life.
Speaker 1:I like that.
Speaker 2:So what's next for Kerry Hallett? Well, next I'm sitting in the room right now. That will be my studio. So next is building a home studio where I can pull away and here and with my headphones on and record, record, record, and I just have so many like song starts that just need to be worked out. I think I mentioned to you we've been traveling for about a year and a half so it's been tricky to like really sit down and, you know, finish things. So I'm really excited to be building this space for me to concentrate and work and plug things in and, you know, just sit with my headphones on and bring it and bring it all together.
Speaker 1:Where are you booked for December? Because I think by the time I get this edited, released, it'll be December.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally. So for December I have a couple. I think I have some weekly things going on. Yeah, so for my solo stuff I will be doing Wednesdays and Dewy Beach at the Starboard Claw, which is their like nicer kind of restaurant, and then I also do Saturdays at Rise Up the Coffee Shop, three to six. You can also find Gold Star December 20th it's a Wednesday at Conk Island if you want to have some fun 90s jams happening in your life.
Speaker 1:I like it. Is there anything else you'd like to share that I haven't touched on? I'm like where can they find you and book you and contact you?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, find me, book me for originals. Covers all the things Carriehallotcom K-E-R-R-Y-H-A-L-L-E-T-Tcom. I'm also on Instagram, carriehallotmusic.
Speaker 1:Facebook as well. Awesome, that is great, Kerry. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for taking time out of your busy construction life.
Speaker 2:Yes, thank you. Thanks for having me. This has been really fun.
Speaker 1:Oh, my gosh, I look forward to following you more and seeing you all over, and I will be at one of your. I will come listen to you live.
Speaker 2:Awesome, great, I look forward to it.