Following in their footsteps: Grace Campbell on Appalachia, artistry and authenticity

By Grace Koennecke, Editor-in-Chief

Photograph by Broken Records Studio

Appalachia is a region that has seen an increase of artists go mainstream in the last five years. Artists like Tyler Childers, Sierra Ferrell, SG Goodman and Charles Wesley Godwin are names that have brought the region more critical acclaim, but are also individuals who prioritize honoring their roots and supporting artists and communities that exist there.

Following in their footsteps is rising artist Grace Campbell. Campbell originally grew up in the Princeton-Beckley area of West Virginia, eventually moving to Morgantown to attend West Virginia University, and ended up staying there to continue pursuing her music career.

Campbell says her love for music was always evident since she was a kid, which led to her enrolling in music classes and channeling her energy into learning instruments and taking vocal lessons. 

“It started from a really, really young age, always with a love for musical theater and for writing and for any kind of creative endeavor, painting, all of the creative arts,” Campbell said. “When I was in the fourth grade, I started taking guitar and vocal lessons with a local music school in Princeton called Stages, and just got to nurture that for the entire rest of my young childhood until I was a 17 or 18 year-old. And then by that point, I was deciding on colleges and careers and had developed my love so deeply that I knew that this was something I wanted to do professionally long term.”

Music also became more serious to Campbell after attending live shows in Appalachia, citing singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile’s performance at FloydFest in Floyd, West Virginia, as one of the catalysts to dive head-first into the music industry. Campbell also says Carlile has been a major inspiration for her as an artist.

Campbell began to play live in coffee shops and performed for hours on end as a teenager in Appalachia, which allowed her infatuation with live performance to grow.

“I was probably about 16 and I had my first show at a coffee shop, and I played for five hours and I played for $50 and coffee,” she said. “I remember being like, ‘This is the best thing ever. I'm getting paid to do this. Like, this is insane.’”

Growing up in Appalachia, Campbell believes the music scene in the region is unlike any other. While most critics tend to highlight artists from the East and West Coasts, as well as most recently the Midwest with artists like Chappell Roan, she says the support and creativity coming out of the region is what people should be paying more attention to.

As we talked, Campbell says artists like Childers and Wesley Godwin are key examples of people who are still actively giving back to Appalachia, while also not letting their newfound notoriety negatively affect other artists and their budding careers.

“When you have people like that (Childers and Wesley Godwin), who started as your neighbor and then ended up as the guy who just sold out Red Rocks and is about to sell it out for the second time in a row, I would say their success helps everyone in the entire scene,” Campbell said. “That's why I think this kind of mutual support that a lot of the artists in this region are also doing, like Hello June, Corduroy Brown, Tucker Knisell, Joey Adams, Samuel James. I mean, I can go on and on about artists that are all going to the next level and not doing it on an individual [level] or sabotaging everybody else… but genuinely [doing] what's mutually beneficial for everybody around because there's plenty to go around.”

Campbell also says while there is competition in the music scene in Appalachia, it’s a healthy kind. Unlike the competitiveness seen in major music cities like Nashville, Tennessee, she argues that the artists she has become acquainted with have created a tight-knit community full of supportive friendships.

Support has been seen in the accolades Campbell has already received this early on in her career. Last year, Campbell received the “Best Overall Artist” award from Born & Bred Magazine, as well as the “Rising Star Award” from Women Who Rock. The magazine focuses on covering artists from West Virginia, while Women Who Rock is a Pennsylvania-based, Gibson sponsored, women-to-the-front music organization that works to fund women's health research and promote women in the music industry who are breaking barriers.

Campbell says these awards mean a lot to her as an artist who actively supports women’s causes and who dedicates all of her time to her music, as well as because they allowed her new opportunities to perform. After receiving the “Rising Star Award,” Campbell was able to play at Stage AE in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as an opener for country singer Melissa Etheridge for Women Who Rock’s annual benefit concert.

“That was huge to be able to have that platform and be partnered with that (Women Who Rock), as well as just participate in an event that funds women's health research endeavors, whether it's endometriosis or cancer or PCOS or whatever it may be, to be able to raise that kind of money is a really big deal to me,” Campbell said.

Being in the music industry for several years now, Campbell has had experiences that have made her more aware of her position as a woman, particularly noting moments of sexism and misogyny, as well as the double standard between men and women in music. She recalls backstage moments where men have made inappropriate comments about her appearance, and how being alone in those moments has made her more aware of her safety at shows. While those moments have given her the space to make boundaries for herself, Campbell also says experiences like those are just the reality for most women in music.

“I mean locker room talk is real,” Campbell said. “It’s gross, but it happens. I heard this from a studio owner, but the music industry doesn't have an HR.
It can be a really hard place for women to be in. Not that situations like that don't happen to men, like men can be really sexualized or really uncomfortable, too. Riley Green gets that all the time. He gets, I would borderline say, sexual harassment from women all the time. It’s different, but as a woman those have been my individual experiences so far.”

However, Campbell says moments like these, as well as others outside of dealing with men in the industry, have given her the inspiration to write and create music that brings visibility to women’s struggles and the female experience.

Campbell admits her songwriting process is more fluid and comes across best when she has the urge to write about something on her mind. In the end, she told me she wants her music to be as relatable as possible.

“One that I have coming out sometime this year is a song that's basically just about wanting freedom,” Campbell said. “It's called ‘Eyes Wide Open,’ and it's like I'm sick and tired of people telling me what to do and who to be, and, ‘This is what you're supposed to do, and this is how you're supposed to act, and this is what you're supposed to think.’ I don't want to listen to that anymore. I would say those generally are the themes that I kind of fall into. It's stuff that people experience in their lives that are hard to put into words or process or talk about.”

After talking with Campbell, it’s evident that she not only cares about her music, but her messaging and audience as well. As an Appalachian singer-songwriter, she is excited to see the region gain more exposure within the music industry, as well as her future opportunities that lie ahead.

You can see Campbell perform at The Ballad of West Virginia in Barboursville, West Virginia, on June 13. She will also serve as the opening act for Emily Ann Roberts at The Barber County Fair in Belington, West Virginia, on September 4. Campbell will also play at Hartwood Acres' Summer Concert Series in South Park Township, Pennsylvania. 

Cambell also tells “Her On Record” she plans to have more singles out later this year. You can check out Grace Campbell’s social media page here.