Art Works For Us
“The Art of the Song”
“Music is to the soul what words are to the mind.” ― Modest Mouse
Music is arguably the most beloved of all art forms. A song millions of people know and love still feels specific and deeply personal to us somehow. Music can often help us articulate something emotionally intangible until it is reflected back to us through a song.
But what is a song, or music, to the person who creates it?
Recently, we sat down with Connie Lee to talk about the role music has played in her life. Lee is a traditional country music singer born and raised just north of Alexandria. Though the story of her career is compelling—setting off for Nashville and cutting her first record at 12, joining a Grand Ole Opry roadshow at 14, and crafting a music career in Nashville—it’s Lee’s infectious joy in the creation and performance of music that stands out.
Growing up surrounded by a musical family with a love of country music combined with an ability to sing in perfect pitch as a very young child, Lee never questioned that music was her future. “It was like I went to school my whole life for country music. I would study it. I would study about the Grand Ole Opry, and the Ryman Auditorium,” Lee says. And when it came to performing, though she was shy, she was never fearful. She felt at home onstage.
Throughout her childhood, Lee says she “sang all the time.” She recalls sitting on a swing in her backyard overlooking Inspiration Peak, singing at the top of her lungs to the trees that surrounded her. “When the leaves would rustle in the breeze, that was the clapping to me.”
Asked if there were times music felt more like work than joy, Lee says “it’s been more of an evolution.” There came a time when she felt she was losing touch with who she was as an artist. Working on projects for others, seldomly performing in front of audiences, and feeling pressure to create a more commercial sound, took its toll on her connection to what she loved. Drawing on her faith and family values, she came home, put a band together, and returned to the artistry and performing that feeds her spirit.
Music is a part of her that she never felt separated from until a car accident left her with phonic dysphonia, causing a six-year voice loss. “For me at that point, my voice was my identity. I kind of lost my self-worth. I had to do some self-analysis around that. But God had a plan for me, and with hard work and a lot of prayers, I found my voice again. It felt like it did when I was a kid, like having it again for the first time. I’ve been singing as much as I can since then. I’m just so grateful.”
The inspiration for Lee’s songwriting is focusing on what she knows. Though life has pulled her away from writing over the last few years, she has started to feel that space open up and is looking forward to creating music again. “Music is a connection we all have, even if we are different nationalities and don’t speak the same language. If you have that melody, you can still relate and share something universal and that’s music. I feel very blessed to have that.”
