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Leah Belle Faser - Crossing Hermi's Bridge |
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It has been a long time since
Riveting Riffs Magazine has said of any young artist that she or he has
superstardom in their future. In fact, the last time we said that was
when we sat down in April 2005 with then little-known singer, songwriter
and guitarist Kimberly Perry of The Band Perry and that is exactly what
we predicted. Here we are almost sixteen years later and having recently
spoken with sixteen-year-old Leah Belle Faser from Atlanta, Georgia, we
are saying the same thing. She has the voice, the songwriting skills and
the maturity to become a really special artist, one that we suspect
someday will receive serious consideration for and could possibly be the
winner of any of the top music awards in Country music.
Leah Belle Faser says, “There is only so much that has happened in my
life at sixteen, so there are only so many things that I can write
about. There are ideas and concepts, but I like to observe things and
people around me. They are not happening to me, but it is what is
happening to other people in my life and even to strangers. It is like
listening to the booth behind you in a restaurant (you can hear the
smile in her voice), not in a creepy way, but as you observe what people
are going through. They may not be my age and they may be older than me
with problems that I might not experience at this age. I think that is a
really cool way to approach writing.
We share a joke about your writer imagining her slinking around
restaurants with a wig and dark glasses looking for new stories. She
replies with a laugh and says, “Everybody better watch out! I am on the
hunt for hot new stories!”
“I worked with my mentor Phil Barnhart, a veteran songwriter up in
Nashville and he gave me that piece of advice, to observe the things
around me. I think it holds true with my writing today and it is a great
piece of advice. He also told me that not every song is worth writing.
When you write songs, a lot of songs have the same core idea, heartbreak
or love or happiness and it is important to write (the songs) in a fresh
way that nobody has heard before. It is why I like to weave stories into
my songs, because you can follow along with the melody and the lyrics
and it (becomes) a new story you have never heard before. I think it is
important with songs like “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,”
that has so much detail packed into that line and all of the lines in
that song. You can see yourself in that position. I try to write like
that, so people can invest themselves in the stories of my songs, as
well as inserting their own truths at the same time. I think that is
really cool.
As far as writing things that are true to yourself, I have heard so many
people say the best songs come out of your own experience and I think
that is true. I have written a lot of songs about experiences I’ve had,
but not all of the time. A lot of the stories and songs on this album
come from things that I have observed.
Anybody who is a writer is thinking about new stories all of the time,
so when you go to a restaurant, when you go to a laundromat, when you go
anywhere you are looking around to see what a new, cool and fresh thing
is there to write about and what is this person’s story. Everybody has
their own life and their own story. Most of my inspiration comes from
writing about those things,” she says.
Continuing to talk about stories Leah Belle Faser says, “I am a person
who not only loves melodies, but I am also a person who loves songs that
move me. I am a person who loves emotional songs and being able to put
myself into the music that I listen to and the songs (that I write). It
is something I want my own listeners to do. The music that really speaks
to me is when I can see the story play out with imagery. A lot of older
music, especially Country does that as well. That is why I was attracted
to Country and Pop Country in the first place. I love raw instrumentals
in a song and being able to feel that music in a song. I also love the
story telling of the Country songs and how there is so much detail
packed into every single line. You can see a story start to play out.
Then you have this chorus that feeds the song, and the second verse gets
you deeper into that story. It is like you are following along on this
song journey. I think that is awesome and it is something that Country
music really does. I am a freak for storytelling.”
The song
“The Lift,” is a good story song and if we had not
already told you how old Leah Belle Faser is, you would think this is
someone, well a little bit older, because lines like “Kiss me like you
met me in the pouring rain,” and “Make me your ever after,” are words to
which we can all relate.
“The song started when I was listening to my mom and her friends talking
about how they met their husbands and all of the funny stories.
It got me thinking about how your true love can meet you. I heard
some interesting stories and what you might call normal stories. I
wanted to write a song about an unexpected love and a love that came out
of nowhere. That is where this story came from. When you break down on
the side of the road and the person who stops to help you is your true
love. That is something that I wanted to write about, a love that comes
out of nowhere.
As for the melody, I am the kind of person who likes to drive and listen
to music for hours. It is very freeing for me, so I wanted that driving
melody and that easygoing feel that I have when I am driving. I wanted
something very chill, laidback and that is easy listening. It is a happy
song. I like the chorus. I wanted some guitar fills in the second verse
to switch it up. The message of the song is love can come out of nowhere
and that is how I wove all of that into the song. I want everybody and
of all ages to be able to listen to my song and relate it to their own
experiences as well,” she explains.
We ask Leah Belle Faser to tell us about the title of her album,
Crossing Hermi’s Bridge and she says, “Hermi’s Bridge is an old blue
steel footbridge, and it is right down the street from my house. It is
named after Hermi Alexander who was a civil rights activist in the
sixties and there is a plaque on the bridge that says she built bridges
across gulfs of prejudice and ignorance. That is a message that still
holds true today and I think it is a wonderful message for the times
that we are in now. It is a really cool bridge and an awesome story. I
also crossed that bridge to go to the small private school I once
attended. While I was at that bridge I was trying to keep up with the
Joneses and it was starting to get hard, so I was ready to take that
leap of faith and start a new journey at another school. It is a large
public high school in my area with 2,000 (students) and I didn’t know
anyone. Even though I had made some wonderful friendships at my old
school and I loved a lot of the teachers, I was ready for a new
opportunity. These songs were written during that transitional period
when I was taking that leap of faith and not crossing Hermi’s Bridge
anymore.”
The song and companion video for
“Better Than Mine,” keep the listener engaged from
the onset and that in itself is a miracle considering the music video
was filmed in Florida, in August of 2020, when it was 105 degrees
(Fahrenheit).
Leah Belle Faser says, “I was always told that when you are breaking up
with someone to end it with grace and to make sure that when you are
breaking up with someone that they don’t walk away angry or feeling that
they were mistreated. You should try to soften the blow. Sure, there
will be some disappointment, because you are breaking up with someone
that you thought you had a connection with, but this song is when there
is no disappointment at the other end and that person that you broke up
with goes out the next night. It is sort of a revelation that you might
not mean as much to that person as you once thought. Even though you
broke up with them and you knew the time was over that time still meant
something to you. Having time with
someone still means a lot and to realize that time did not mean anything
to the other person is disappointing. That is where that song came from.
Having that big Country chorus, I just wanted to incorporate the emotion
that this storyline feels and walking through that process of seeing
that person go out the next night and watching them do things you would
not have thought they would have done. You think that is not the person
I thought I was in a relationship with. When you end a relationship you
wish them the best, but do we really wish them the best, like right
away? You want them to stay in, one night at least. “Better Than Mine,”
is about that feeling.”
As for the video, “When I was ten or eleven, I used to do these little
acting auditions. I took some acting classes. I used those skills in the
music video. I insert myself into the songs. Even when I sing cover
songs, I like to pretend that the story is happening to me. Singing with
that kind of emotion when you are on stage is a great way to perform,
because it transmits the idea to an audience much better. When filming
this music video, I tried to channel the emotions I had when I was
writing the song and then I put them into this music video when they
were filming me. I used a lot of that intense emotion that I felt when I
was writing the song,” she says.
The producer for Crossing Hermi’s Bridge was Casey Wood and the
album was recorded and engineered at Insanery Studio in Nashville.
“I was referred to
Casey and I recorded a couple of songs with him about two years ago. He
has a real appreciation for the (type of) instrumental backing that I
love, and he brings in amazing A list musicians to the sessions. (There
was) John Lancaster (keys on “Ruled”) and Billy Nobel (keys on all other
songs), Nick Buda (drums), Tim Marks (bass), Kerry Marx and Eddie
Heinzelman (guitars). My brother Hoke (Faser) sang background vocals on
three of the songs.
They are just fantastic people and getting to work with them was
awesome. Casey is a great guy and producer.
When he heard my vision, he was able to incorporate all of the
things that I wanted in the song and more. I am super happy with the way
the album turned out.
Recording during COVID was so weird too. It went great, but it was
definitely a different experience. The recording session for the album
was initially supposed to be in April, but it got pushed back to May due
to some COVID delays. While we were recording everybody wore masks and
everybody stayed in separate corners. I think the only time that I took
my mask off was when I was in a vocal booth and alone. It was great that
we could create music even in such weird times.
All of the songs on this album were written solely by me. I attend the
National Songwriting Association chapter meetings in Atlanta. Now we do
it on Zoom. We do a group critique. I have played some of the songs from
this album for them and they always give me great feedback. I also play
them for friends and family for feedback. All of these things gave me
great ideas for rewrites. I have a lot of great sounding boards in my
life even though I do not co-write these songs,” she says.
Leah Belle Faser talks about when and how she first started writing
songs, “My first memory of creating music was when I was age seven and I
created a melody. It was during my guitar lessons. I always wanted to
play for my guitar teacher these little songs I made up, but he wanted
me to practice the songs that were in the curriculum. I did not do that.
I played my little creations for him instead. A few years ago, my vocal
coach suggested that I should start writing in a more disciplined way.
I always loved to write, but I wasn’t sure if people would love my
songs. I was ecstatic when she told me that. I sat down and I started to
write songs and I started studying songwriting. There is still a lot
that I have to learn. At the end of the day songwriting isn’t just
creating a melody with lyrics that you put out in five minutes, at least
for me it’s not. Songwriting for me is an art and it takes me a long
time to write a song, because I feel that it can always be better. I do
so many rewrites of songs, because I always feel I can get it a little
bit better and I can tweak this line, so it feeds the chorus better or
it makes it new and interesting and fresh.
I have come a long way with my songwriting, but I still have a
long way to go and I want to learn.”
The song
“Second-Hand Store,” melodically and lyrically is in our opinion the
best song on the album Crossing Hermi’s Bridge, and once we return to
artists touring this will not only be a concert favorite for fans, but
it will be the breakthrough song for Leah Belle Faser. It is up-tempo,
Pop Country at its best. This is an anthem for women of all ages, whose
message is you thought the grass was greener on the other side of the
fence and you went for all the glitter and the fast, glamorous lifestyle
for a brief, but do not think you can come back to me now, because I am
not your
“Second-Hand Store.”
Leah Belle Faser describes the song as, “It is a really cool, fun,
upbeat and sassy song. It is the kind of song every teenage singer and
songwriter wants. Every teenager wants that kind of sassy tune on their
album to bring it up.”
The flip side of that theme is expressed in the song “What Could Have
Been,” something most of us have experienced with a chance meeting, in a
fleeting moment or two and wondering what might have been if we had more
time to spend with that person.
“This is a super storytelling song. I feel like we have all met a
person, whether it was while we were on vacation or at camp or somewhere
else and you share an experience with that person and you feel a
connection with that person. There is something or some reason why the
two of you have to part from each other. Everybody has wondered, what
could have been if we had been able to stay together for longer? Could
we have had a blossoming love that turned into something more serious? A
lot of people have experienced that. I have experienced that. I wanted
to write a story around that feeling,” she says.
The mood changes with
“Back Home,” a song about wanting to reconnect with
the things you left behind and that you discover you cherish the most.
Leah Belle Faser explains, “When I was younger, I had these big dreams
of living this super glamorous life, living in the big city and living
in a high rise. Now that I am a little bit older, I realize that may not
be what I want. I love the ties to my family, and I love the ties to my
hometown. I am not sure I would want to move to a big city and live the
way I (thought) I wanted to when I was younger. This song is about that
wondering.”
The past year has been a challenge for even the most established singers
and songwriters, due to the pandemic, so we wondered how a young artist,
still in the early stages of her career was handling things.
“I love the way that music brings people together and I love the way
that music inspires me when I am listening to it, so I want to be that
for someone else. I think it is so cool the way music can bring people
together. Music can be a conversation starter, or it can be a bonding
moment for two people that have never met before. Music is also for
whoever wants to listen to it. You do not have to be rich or poor or
this race or this religion. There is nothing that holds us back from the
music that we love. That is why I want to be a creator of music, because
I love that it brings people together from all different backgrounds.
That really encourages me to be an artist and a creator of music.
With COVID and all of the struggles that everybody is going through we
all need to come together. Music is a creative outlet. Music is a place
when you can sit back and listen and you do not have to worry about all
of the things that are happening around you in the world,” she says.
Is there a Leah Belle Faser fan club?
“Does my family count? There are a lot of amazing people who believe in
the music and who listen to the music, Tod Elmore my manager, Mike
Farley my publicist and my mom is the biggest believer and she stuck by
my side. She can be the president of the Leah Belle Faser fan club. She
is so wonderful, and she helps me so much. There is no way I would be
where I am today without my mom. My brother and my dad support me so
much and I could not ask for a more wonderful family. I am very
fortunate to have them,” she says.
Please
visit the website for Leah Belle Faser and you can
also listen to
her music here. You can follow Leah Belle Faser on
her official
Facebook page or
Instagram or
Twitter.
Photos: All Photos By - Deborah Celecia Wagoner #LeahBelleFaser #LeahBelleFaserMusic #LeahBelleFaserSinger #GeorgiaSingerSongwriter #RivetingRiffs #RivetingRiffsMagazine #GeorgiaCountryMusic #AtlantaMusicInterviews #AtlantaSingerSongwriter #CountryPopMusic #CrossingHermisBridge #CountryMusicAlbum
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When
you first listen to songs such as “Better Than Mine,” “Back Home,” “The
Lift,” and “Second-Hand Store,” from Leah Belle Faser’s new album
Crossing Hermi’s Bridge, songs about relationships and longing for
home, the first thing you want to do is go to the album credits to find
out who co-wrote these songs with her. Surely, you think, a
sixteen-year-old could not write so insightfully about such mature
themes and compose such well constructed songs. Then you think there
must be information missing from the album credits, because all of these
songs are attributed to this affable teenage girl who answers your
questions thoughtfully and you realize not only are her songs mature,
but so is she. Yes, she has all the exuberance of a sixteen-year-old,
but she also is wise beyond her years. 