Interview: The Seven Stages Of Lindsay Ell

Lindsay Ell recently performed at the Brooklyn Bowl Nashville as part of the Country Now Live series featured on CTRL_Music_ on Twitch. But, before taking the stage, the singer/songwriter and guitar slinger answered a few questions about herself in a get-to-know-you style interview dubbed, The Seven Stages of Lindsay Ell.

This exclusive clip celebrates Ell’s latest album, Heart Theory, and has fans learning more about the artist. Opening up about her personal life, Ell reveals her favorite childhood memory, the first song she ever wrote and dives into some of the more critical moments of her past that led to some of the more emotional tracks on Heart Theory.

“My favorite childhood memory is probably getting my first guitar,” Ell says in the clip. “My parents gave it to me as a Christmas present when I was eight. I remember seeing a guitar wrapped under the Christmas tree, and you can see that it’s a guitar. So, it wasn’t a surprise, but I loved that thing to death. It became like another limb on my body.”

“I would play it when my mom was cooking dinner, like sitting on the kitchen counter. I’d play it in bed, and I’d bring that thing around me everywhere,” she continued. “So, that’s probably one of my fondest childhood memories. And, if it wasn’t that, then it was probably baking with my mom in the kitchen.”

Getting a guitar, of course, means Ell was ready and willing to jump into songwriting. She recalls testing out her strengths as a writer early on.

“The first song I ever wrote was when I was 10-years-old,” Ell shared. “I wrote it to my parents, and it’s called, ‘That Place In My Heart.’ How sappy is that? It’s in a journal, and it’s terrible. I mean, everybody needs to start somewhere, right? It probably won’t see the light of day. Maybe, sometime, in the middle of a show, somebody will be like, ‘Play ‘That Place In My Heart,’ and I’ll be like, ‘Oh, my goodness. You have watched this interview.’”

Click on the video below to find out more interesting facts about Ell, including a time when she kept pushing through despite having gone through some unexpected and troubling events, the most memorable part of her career so far, where she sees herself in 10 years and more.

Ell was looking forward to her performance at the Brooklyn Bowl Nashville since she, along with several other artists, hadn’t had much stage time due to the 2020 shutdown. Although there was no live audience for this concert, Ell was happy enough to be in her element again.

“To be able to play a show right now feels like an incredible gift,” she said. “It’s always a gift, but especially right now because we haven’t played one in so long. So, I’m so excited! Over the past year and a half, we’ve gotten a lot of practice, playing to these screens and lenses and all of those things. So, now I’m just used to it and I can, kind of, hear the virtual applause in my brain.”

Ell’s critically-acclaimed sophomore album, Heart Theory, was released in 2020 and includes 12 tracks. The project is based on the seven stages of grief: shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, testing, and acceptance. “Make You,” one of the songs on the album, reveals Ell’s heartbreaking truth of being sexually assaulted as a young teen. She co-wrote the vulnerable track with fellow artist Brandy Clark.

“Looking back on it, I wouldn’t be the girl that I am today without those things, and I wouldn’t be able to write the music I do without those experiences,” Ell reasoned. “So, when we have those bad days, and those times when we don’t feel like we can turn around, those are such defining moments of our lives. They are opportunities for us to learn more about who we are, and what we want to do, and what makes us so happy when we wake up in the morning. I’m so grateful that I was able to write a song about it.”

Ell will soon take the road as part of Blake Shelton’s Friends and Heroes 2021 Tour, which runs from August 18-October 2. The trek also features appearances by Martina McBride, Tracy Byrd, and Trace Adkins. Later this year, Ell will also head to her native Canada to headline her Want Me Back Tour.