Zandi Holup sits in front of me, beautifully put together, and immediately, I feel at ease. It seems to be a natural gift of hers, she is welcoming, friendly and smiling effortlessly. Holup’s been running around these past months preparing for her debut album release Wildflower, which she released on August 1st. Wildflower is an 11 track masterpiece that narrates every topic under the sun; sobriety, self-reflection, family relationships, substance abuse, love, heartbreak, all exposing certain passages of her life honestly and truthfully: “I have secrets, just like everybody else, but they’re beautiful secrets because they’re interlaced with my art, and I think it’s kind of awesome to keep certain things to myself, but also expose other things about myself.”
Holup’s voice is soulful and vulnerable, jogging the memory of artists like Joni Mitchell and Stevie Nicks, but deeper and rawer, making Wildflower more than addictive and therapeutic to listen to. “It’s been surreal. That’s what I keep saying, just because I’ve been waiting for so long to drop a project. So now that it’s happening, I’m in complete and utter shock. It’s kind of awesome.” Holup’s genuine gratefulness is beautiful, a young woman from Pennsylvania who although born into a musically gifted family is the first to take the leap and commit to a career as a musician. “I’m really lucky that I had a support system of people in my family that urged me to go and become an artist and a creative. I actually do write songs with my family members, and so I see that as my way of saying thank you to them. I know that the reason I have this profession is because of those who came before me.”
Zandi Holup discovered her authentic individuality after moving to Nashville in 2017; thankfully, she never swayed from her natural gift or let others’ opinions shape her sound. Holup continues to draw from childhood inspirations such as Stevie Nicks and Alison Kruss, however she never leaves her favourite genre bluegrass behind hinting that perhaps we’ll get a sprinkle of her hearts desire somewhere in the future. “It’s deep in my soul, so I really hope to get involved with bluegrass in the next record or so. I always say that it’s kind of the most beautiful sound you’ll ever hear on Earth. It’s natural, isn’t it? You can feel a real soul coming out of the instruments when the players are playing.”
Songwriting is most certainly the area of expertise for Holup, who’s known for her emotional, melodic storytelling. “I absolutely love double meanings and I love metaphors, I love all sorts of poetry, I will say.”
‘I ain’t locked in a cell, but I might as well be, heartbreak’s a prison eight days a week‘, her words echo the raw vulnerability that Holup so bravely masters in ‘Doing The Time’ — a ballad of beauty depicting infidelity. “There are times when it feels very vulnerable to share certain pieces of art, but I believe that it’s okay to be a little bit vulnerable at times, and also, not everything is about me.” You cannot help but latch on to every word Holup sings, transporting yourself to the exact moment she seems to pinpoint effortlessly.
Zandi Holup tells me “Catharsism is the entire reason that I began to make art.” Writing music is the oldest form of therapy in the book, and Holup only highlights this when discussing track number eight, ‘Cowgirls Don’t Cry’. “I think that a lot of the time, women are afraid to show weakness, because we are constantly pinned as emotionally weaker, and so we’re really afraid to be vulnerable. I tried to turn this into a strength.”
The song begins ‘Cowgirls don’t cry, they don’t ask him why, get back in the saddle and wish him goodbye’ describing how society believes women should move on by being hurt by a man. As we stay journey through the story Holup waves a flag of brutal honesty, ‘and there’s tears in my broken blue eyes, guess I’m not a cowgirl, cause cowgirls don’t cry’ – a wonderfully poetic way to endorse emotional release and honesty over denial. “It’s an admission of vulnerability and it’s actually having a strength and a confidence in your vulnerability.
“In terms of inspiration for creating Wildflower,” she goes on, “I listened to a lot of my favourite Bob Dylan records, a lot of my favourite Joni Mitchell records and Joan Baez”. As I listen from head to toe to the story of Wildflower, there’s no denying the pureness of folk melodies making up the skeleton of each track. The instrumentation of acoustic guitar tonally sets the energy for every song, and although the topics in each story change, the flavour of the music draws the entire collection together in a beautiful box of gold.
“I want people to leave with a sense of emotional outpour and vulnerability, and I usually can see that on people’s faces because many of people come up to me crying and I absolutely love it. That might sound really crazy.”
Zandi Holup allows Dylan, Mitchell and Baez to influence her writing with a sense of nostalgia but personally Steve Earle is someone who has helped her career blossom. “I respect him as a songwriter and his work so to be able to share a stage with somebody like that confidence about the songs that I am writing, to hear him give me validation, and tell me that this is something I can do and he believes in me.”
A personal favourite on the album is ‘Mary Jane’, which has been the cornerstone of Zandi’s live shows for a wihle. The song respectfully unravels addiction, a topic that is fragile and can be turbulent if written with a lack of sympathy. “I try not to discriminate, but I might have a favourite child at the moment. Mary Jane is a very, very special song to me. I wrote it about a friend of mine who suffered from heroin addiction on and off for about 15 years, and they got clean and they got into recovery. And I was very, very inspired by their story and appreciative of their experience.”
Working at Bear Creek Studios with producer Ryan Hadlock has helped Holup’s authenticity and perfectionism thrive due to both musicians being “very meticulous with our creations, so I would say we were one and the same making this record. My craziness was never questioned.”
In terms of what’s ahead, Zandi is confident of a productive year. “Many things are going to be happening this year, I am always creating something new. You will not catch me too long without a new creation. I also always need to be on stage connecting with the beautiful humans of the world, and honestly, whoever’s in the world, whatever’s in the world.” We’re hoping to see Zandi Holup over the pond in London next year, but in the meantime, you can catch her at The American Music Festival in September. If you’re anything like me and you’re impatient and desperate to have your soul cracked in two whilst empowered by masterful lyricism Wildflower is your only option!
