Sam Gyllenhaal Band, a Folk Pop band from Nashville, TN, is releasing their newest record, Don’t Look Down. This EP is an inspirational and soulful blend of pop, r&b, rock and country. Masterful harmonies powered by strong melodies highlight the skillful songwriting and transparent passion of the group. The band collectively comes together, invigorating their audiences with messages of love and lives well lived, never holding back, fearlessly chasing their dreams.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with the band about the latest music, challenges, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
We’re kind of from all over! Alex grew up in San Francisco, and Grey (my sister who is in the band) and I moved around a lot growing up. We lived in Miami, Raleigh NC, Minneapolis, Washington DC, and now we all live in Nashville. So we’re children of America, devoid of any type of accent. We call our music “Harmony-driven Americana Pop”. It’s pop in the sense that we try to make the melodies undeniably catchy, and we use synths and loops on the production side in places. It’s Americana in the sense that we take a traditional approach to songwriting and have a wide range of influences, including Country, Rock, Blues, RnB and Folk. Thoughtful, carefully-crafted songs are at the core of this band, and everything else is in service of them.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
Grey and I grew up in a very musical family – our dad taught us to sing harmonies while driving us to elementary school every morning. He’s a bluegrass musician and there were always instruments lying around the house when we were growing up. In middle school, I got involved in musical theater, and I was immediately hooked on being on stage. In terms of motivation, my primary goal is to make a lasting career of doing the thing I love most in the world. A close second is that I love the people that the music path has brought me. Co-writers, bandmates, producers, kind-hearted industry folks, backing musicians – we have a lot of people that really believe in us and have found ourselves surrounded by a truly supportive community in Nashville.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
Our previous release was an album called “A Little More Freedom,” and it was a project I’ll always be immensely proud of. I co-produced that album with industry-veteran Denny Martin. This time around, I handed over the production reigns to Denny, along with two other producers, Gabe Rabben and Jake Saghi. Trusting them with these songs really paid off, and the production leveled up. In terms of the songwriting, I have my co-writers – John Cirillo, Denny Martin, Nicole Lewis, Sarah Spencer and Alaina Stacey – to thank for some incredibly imaginative, sensory lyrics. As a whole, these songs are more personal than the previous batch, which I think you can hear in our vocal delivery.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
I think that social media is a blessing and a curse. It feels like no matter how much an industry professional likes your music, the main thing they need to know is how many followers you have and if it’s not over a certain number, then they can’t get involved yet in an official capacity. We don’t like that, and I don’t think they do either. The challenge for us has been building a following on social media in a way that feels authentic. During quarantine, like many other artists, we traded in live shows for livestreaming. We started a livestream called “Spicy Thursdays,” where we play original music, talk about animal facts, and spotlight other artists. At the end of the 30-minute show, we eat something extremely spicy and try to make it through a cover song while crying and hiccupping. As you can imagine, it’s hilarious. The challenge is to set ourselves a part and we’ve found a way to try and do that, even if it hurts the lining of our stomachs.
What was the last song you listened to?
It was “Leave the Door Open” by Anderson Paak and Bruno Mars’ new band Silk Sonic. We’re trying to put together a cover of it for Spicy Thursdays, so I listened to it over and over again on the way to the grocery store this morning. It’s a masterpiece.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
Obviously, Vinyl sounds the best and MP3’s dominate right now, but I’m partial to CDs. In the early 2000s when I was finding my own musical identity, my friends and I would burn each other CDs and listen to them in our cars. It’s probably no coincidence that the best place to listen to our music is in the car with the windows down.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
I listen to most of my music on Spotify. You hear that Spotify overlords? Put us on a playlist! For real, I think Spotify is awesome when it comes to discovering new music. I like my Release Radar and Discover Weekly playlists for finding new stuff. There’s something very satisfying about being the first of your friends to discover a new band. I think that goes back to the days of burning CDs.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
Our socials are a good place to start! Instagram: @samgyllenhaalband, Facebook: facebook.com/samgyllenhaalmusic and we’re just getting into Tik Tok: @samgyllenhaalband. You can also visit our website, www.samgyllenhaalband.com. We’ve got music from our previous album up everywhere and we’ll be releasing new music every month from now until the fall!
Anything else before we sign off?
Thank you so much for featuring us. It means the world to us. Come see us on our Spicy Thursdays Livestream! Comment and say hey.
