Check Out Alexa Wildish’s Story

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Alexa Wildish.

Hi Alexa, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
Music has been a massive part of my life since I can remember. I grew up in a musical family in horse country, Southern California. From a young age, I would sing in nature- belting out to the canyons anything I could remember the melody for. My parents heard me and knew how much I wanted to grow and nurture that gift. I started taking voice lessons at age 4. Both my older brothers were heavily involved in theater, so, as the youngest, I couldn’t wait to get on the stage.

My Dad collects and plays fine vintage guitars, and I remember how fortunate I felt to be surrounded by beautiful instruments. I spent my childhood in musicals and singing classical music. I genuinely loved putting on different hats and pretending to be someone else. I learned a lot through the many characters I would play. As it turns out, just being human, we all have similar stories.

When I was 17, I went to a music festival and saw The Wailin’ Jenny’s open up for Nickel Creek, and that’s when I knew I wanted to write my music- and slowly transition my life away from theater. I was so inspired by the Celtic drive of the music, the beautiful harmonies, and Chris Thile’s stellar mandolin playing.

After that concert, my dad added a mandolin to his fine instrument collection. When my Dad noticed how often I picked up the mandolin to write and sing, he gifted me that mandolin for Christmas. I then embarked on the ever-so-self-reflecting, intense journey of writing my own songs.

For the first couple of years, I wrote with others, and then eventually found my way into my unique sound. I spent a couple of years in Portland, Oregon, then California, then moved to Boulder, Colorado. I have been in and out of Colorado for several years, traveling on wild adventures, but I am always called back to the big mountains and high-desert air.

I spent 2018-2020 making a personal self-titled EP with amazing artists that I have admired for years in Nashville, TN. I even had Ruth Moody, of the Wailin’ Jenny’s sing harmonies for me on my songs. This felt like a full circle moment from what inspired me to write my own music when I was 17. I still get chills knowing she is now considered my friend.

In 2019, I applied for a few Planet Bluegrass competitions with my original songs and was humbled to receive first place in the Rocky Mountain Folks Fest Songwriting competition. As a prize for winning, I was set to perform on the Main Stage of the festival in 2020.

In between the songwriting competitions, I was invited to Portland, Oregon to audition for NBC’s The Voice, but ultimately didn’t make it all that far. I was grateful because the record I had worked so hard on hadn’t been released, and I was just so excited about that happening, I didn’t think I should do anything that could delay that. At that point, I also was still deep in the process of figuring myself out as an artist.

The last several years have been particularly thrilling- creating multiple chapters of my life. I moved to Nashville after I released my EP in early 2020. I spent the majority of the lockdown in Music City. In hindsight, I see how I didn’t get to know the city traditionally. But I would say, I got to know the nature, the beauty, and the heart of why so many musicians and creatives have been drawn there for hundreds of years.

I was called into the root of why I love music so much. It wasn’t about doing anything or achieving, it was simply a sacred communion between me and life. I spent a lot of time meditating and going to the forest. I didn’t write a ton, but I took in everything. I was feeling all the feelings I had stored up for years.

And as hard as it was to be so lonesome, it was exactly the medicine I needed for that time in my life. I had spent so long on this musical path without ever having a break, I wasn’t sure if I was doing this out of obligation or desire. I had to find my own path, and that’s exactly what I did.

Shortly after some global restrictions had been lifted, I put all of my belongings in storage and I went to Guatemala to spend some time in Lake Atitlan, considered to be the belly-button of the earth. This was a transformational time for me. After that, I needed to spend some time integrating the big shifts I had experienced, so I went where my heart called to me next; The Redwoods in Northern California.

I shared my desire to be in California, and a friend I met on the path found me a gorgeous house-sitting opportunity in Sebastopol with a cat named perfectly named, the Goddess of Compassion, Quan-Yin. In my time in the Redwoods, I would go every day to sit inside of these giants, open to inspiration. The moment that I let go of my “shoulds” with writing, the songs poured out of me. I still consider those songs to be co-written by the trees.

After my time in California, I knew I had to make it to Colorado for the summer somehow. My car and all my belongings were still in Nashville! Since the Main Stage set I was to play at Folks Fest had been canceled for 2020, I was now set to play in 2021. I hadn’t played for people in a while, and I was understandably very nervous. However, with this new freedom and kinder relationship I had built with myself and music, I somehow knew I would make it there to that stage in time, with everything I needed. That’s how it all was working out so far!

And that’s what happened. Thankfully, I got to Colorado, played the Main Stage at Planet Bluegrass, had the most magical performance with my incredible band, and then couldn’t seem to leave Colorado to go back to Nashville. I spent the following months getting more and more Colorado gigs. I didn’t want to leave. I felt like I was finding something so satisfying; community, nature, and music. So I stayed for a while through the kindness of strangers.

I was starting to get a bit tired of moving around only in my car, so I kept telling my audience and everyone I knew that I was calling in a Van. What’s so wild is that a dear friend of mine with a van was going to college in Boston, and he didn’t need the van while he was in school. So, he let me use it while he was away! It was magical how all of that happened.

I spent the next several months wandering around Colorado and New Mexico and living in this amazing Sprinter van. I was waking up in the most magical places, feeling free and alive. By the time the weather started to shift, I drove the van to northern Idaho, where my folks are, and found myself stuck in the snow there until about the spring. I then traveled to gorgeous places up north and eventually got invited back to Colorado to play more summer gigs. So, I took the van back to Colorado and ended up selling it for my friend, and shortly after, finding a home in Lyons!

In November 2022, I was invited back to audition for The Voice. It happened serendipitously, as I was driving home from a gig for about 20 people. I remember thinking to myself, man, I wish I could sing for more people and on a much larger scale. About 10 minutes after having that thought, I got another invite to audition. How serendipitous!

The process with The Voice was long and arduous with multiple steps! Even if you had a plane ticket to California, you weren’t guaranteed a Blind Audition. Thankfully, I made it to that epic stage and sang Fleetwood Mac’s Songbird for millions of people. That 4 chair turn changed my life. I have done a lot of performing and a lot of big things, but nothing like this. In my last performance of Stings, Fields of Gold, I made a promise to myself and to others that I would keep going, and keep pursuing a creative life, no matter what happens.

And I believe I am living that promise now. This year, I will be releasing another Record that I made in Los Angeles in January, comprised of songs I sang on the Voice and a few other covers with a new twist. I am in an unknown space as to what’s to come, and how my career will continue to shape up. But then again, I have learned that the flow of life is often serendipitous and quite magical if you let it be! So, I am just opening to the next chapter being even more delightful!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Oh, life is always surprising me with new routes I can take! When I look back on the last few years, and my life, of course, there have been major challenges and roadblocks! But, there has also been so much grace! I imagine every rejection (and there have been a lot of them) has been a beautiful way of re-routing my path and bringing me to where I am now.

I suppose being an independent artist, making the choice to do this, I have to have a good relationship with feeling lost. It’s part of the initiation and requirement for choosing a life of beauty. So, in a lot of ways, even though it can seem like “I’ve got it figured out”, the reality is, that I am always just taking one step at a time!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I have always been an artist in some way. I feel lucky that I have known what I want to do for a very long time! That doesn’t mean I always know what I am doing, or where I am going. But I do always have a North Star that brings me to music.

In addition to making my own music, I have offered voice lessons for about 15 years now! Wild! I love seeing others come into their own unique expressions. It is deeply fulfilling for me to watch people fall in love with their creative flow!

What were you like growing up?
I would say I was very driven as a kid. I was always in theater, and music, and involved with my community. In some ways, I was very intense about it all. As an adult, I have learned to let go of how things have to look (though it is a daily practice) and go with the natural flow of life. I always loved to sing, and sing for friends, so that hasn’t changed!

Contact Info:

• Website: alexawildish.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexa.wildish.music/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alexawildishmusic
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlexaWildish
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPSFUb1H89ur–nGl71LkFQ
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-821399936
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1OOzSHb9hrqTu8WZM1GkuM?si=YmvHPbLbTmm3tnhqT6cLog

Image Credits
Jo Babb and NBC The Voice