Anna Graves spent years chasing the life she thought a successful artist was supposed to have.
Then she went home.
Americana singer-songwriter Anna Graves discusses her debut album America’s Greatest Burnout.
Following the release of her debut album, America’s Greatest Burnout, and the completion of her first headlining tour, the Minnesota-born singer-songwriter joins Heart of the Gulch for a conversation about burnout, ambition, creativity and what happens when an artist stops chasing someone else’s definition of success.
After years that took her from Minnesota to Nashville and Los Angeles, Graves reached a point where the career she had worked toward no longer felt like her own. She was crashing on couches, largely living out of a car she had purchased with her advance and questioning whether the dream she had spent years pursuing was still worth chasing.
Going home initially felt like failure.
Instead, it gave her the space to find herself again.
Anna Graves joins Tony Mendoza for a Heart of the Gulch interview in Nashville.
Inside Anna Graves’ Heart of the Gulch Interview
Welcome to Heart of the Gulch, a Nashville-based interview show and country music platform featuring artists, singer-songwriters and personalities shaping music and entertainment. Host and creator Tony Mendoza sits down with Anna Graves to discuss America’s Greatest Burnout, her return to Minnesota, her first headlining tour and learning to protect the part of herself that creates the music.
When Chasing the Dream Becomes Burnout
For Graves, burnout wasn't simply exhaustion.
Years of collaboration, expectations and outside voices had gradually made her trust her own creative instincts less. By the time she left Los Angeles, she says it had been years since she had regularly written songs by herself.
Americana singer-songwriter Anna Graves discusses her debut album America’s Greatest Burnout.
Returning to her family's Minnesota farm changed that.
Away from the constant noise of the music business, Graves picked up her guitar again, began writing for herself and rediscovered a version of creativity that existed before every song became connected to a career decision.
The first song she began after returning home was “Bluebird.”
What once felt like retreating from her career ultimately became the foundation for America’s Greatest Burnout.
The Song Anna Graves Left for Herself at 16
One of the album's most remarkable stories belongs to “Burn On.”
Graves originally wrote the song when she was 16 years old. Nearly a decade later, after returning to Minnesota, she rediscovered it on her mother's computer.
The teenage Graves had imagined a red-haired girl escaping the cage around her and returning to the natural world. Years later, Graves found herself back in Minnesota, with red hair, reconnecting with nature and trying to escape cages she felt she had built around herself as an adult.
Hearing the song again brought her to tears.
It felt, she tells Mendoza, as though her younger self had left her a note.
Can an Artist Succeed Without Burning Out Again?
Anna Graves discusses burnout, Minnesota and songwriting during her Heart of the Gulch interview.
There is an irony at the center of Anna Graves' story.
She stepped away from the version of success that was destroying her relationship with music. Now, the career is accelerating again.
Her debut album is out through Rounder Records. She has completed her first headlining tour, sold out shows and experienced audiences around the country singing her songs back to her.
So Mendoza asks the question hanging over the next chapter: How does Anna Graves avoid becoming “America’s Greatest Burnout” twice?
This time, Graves says she better understands how to protect herself and communicate when she needs to return home, rest and create again.
Success itself has changed meaning.
Meeting listeners after shows, hearing how they discovered her music and learning which songs helped them through difficult moments have become some of the most meaningful parts of the career.
And she no longer believes suffering is a prerequisite for creating great art.
Graves wants the difficult experiences in her life to make her a better person first and a better songwriter second.
Her advice for someone experiencing their own version of burnout is equally simple:
Every day, you can start over.
Watch Anna Graves on Heart of the Gulch
Watch the full Heart of the Gulch conversation with Anna Graves and hear America’s Greatest Burnout now.
Check out more HOTG interviews on our website and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Tony Mendoza is the Nashville-based host and creator of Heart of the Gulch, featuring conversations with country artists, singer-songwriters and personalities from Nashville and beyond.
