Ingrid Andress, the Nashville-based artist behind this year’s acclaimed “Good Person” album, brings some good conversation and a great intimate solo performance, too, to the latest episode of “Live From My Den,” a series from Artists Den, supported by Hard Rock.
Andress’ sophomore album on Warner Nashville/Atlantic Records deals with the end of one relationship and the beginning of another — with the songs chronicling that arc placed chronologically on the record, which makes it unique in the world of breakup albums (or relationship startup albums — take your pick, here).
“I actually wrote a lot of them in the order in which they happened,” says Andress. “And it’s sort of just happened that way. I wasn’t thinking of putting an album together when I was writing all these songs. It was more of processing what was happening in my life. And so, after I had written all those songs, I couldn’t hear them any other way in my head basically. And I wanted the album to tell a story because I think there is something different about listening to songs in order. And I feel like you go on an emotional journey as opposed to just scattering the story around. It was very important to me to express the symbolism of dark versus light on this album, because one always comes with the other. You can never just have one of those. And to me, that was sort of what the past two years of my life had been. So it is very intentional that the first half is a little darker and then the back half is brighter.”
One song that comes as a sort of bonus track, or epilogue, on the “Good Person” album is a one-off No. 1 country hit that she recently shared with a guest duet partner, Sam Hunt — a solo version of which she performs in this “Live From My Den” episode. She included it among the other songs that are more reflective of her recent real life, “obviously because we just gotta put a little pep in our step!” she laughs.
Our conversation takes place mostly in her Nashville home, near her piano: “There’s a lot of nature happening at my house, and a lot of windows,” she notes, stating the tranquil obvious. “I like feeling the outdoors. And nature is a very grounding thing for me that makes me feel comfortable and at home. It’s really just my surroundings that inspire me and keep me energetic and calm and collective. So really nothing in my home other than my piano has any effect on the creative process. It’s all mostly outside.”
Having come to Nashville by way of her hometown, Denver, Colorado, and then the Berklee School of Music, she’s happy to have found a friend-group of collaborators in Music City, even though she also co-writes with non-Nashvillians like Julia Michaels as well.
“It’s sort of hard not to be inspired here because most of the people in this community are songwriters or artists or musicians of some kind,” she points out, singling out what makes Nashville unique. “There is no shortage of talent. And I think that’s part of why learning to write here is probably the most challenging thing, because everyone‘s so good. But once you break into it, you’re just surrounded by creative people, and that is something that has helped me as a writer. Co-writing is very essential to my creative process because you’re able to share emotions and stories with other people, and they almost help enhance the story that you’re trying to tell.”
Watch Andress share more and sing some of the material that intrigued and enchanted fans in 2022, above.
