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Alison Self Is Releasing A New EP At The End of October

Alison Self Is Releasing A New EP At The End of October

Alison Self

Country singer and songwriter Alison Self just released a fresh track, “Too Busy Being Drunk.” Living in Portland, Oregon, Self has been quarantined with her partner and bandmates, cooking up country sounds and strong female vocals. The album is not yet tiled, and will be released at the end of October. She is a queer artist making her own space in country music.

“The song is about a combination of four people. A friend I had a crush on, an asshole boyfriend. It’s a song everyone can relate to,” says Self.

The EP was recorded in her basement, adding a different, DIY flavor to this country singer’s style. “We were all just having fun. Cracking a beer at 1 p.m., or whenever we started recording. Then, we would play through until 10 p.m.,” explains Self.Alison Self

Since quarantine, Self has lost her job as a bartender and focused her time on recording. “I’m from Richmond, Virginia. My family was defiantly working class; most of the people I knew growing up were poor,” says Self. “In my 20s, I went through a really shitty breakup; I didn’t want to work a full-time job, and I wanted to make my own decisions.” Self played the ukulele while hopping trains. It was light and travel-sized.

Self has had no formal music training and is self-taught, and she wanted to be taken more seriously as a country singer. So, she started learning the guitar and settled down in Texas.

Alison Self

“I had a lot of health problems when I was living in Texas. I had blood in my stool for two years,” explains Self. Health insurance was not offered through her job, and she made too much money to receive state healthcare. It was not until she vacationed to Portland and found out about the state’s more affordable insurance that she learned what was wrong. “When I was there, the doctors told me I had colon cancer.”

June 2020 was one year cancer-free for Self. Still living in Portland for routine check-ups and because of quarantine, Self has been focusing on music with an emphasis on mental health, recording her songs, and expanding on pronoun use in country music.

Alison Self

“There’s always a song about he broke my heart, she broke my heart. What about they? They broke my heart,” explains Self. “When someone says, ‘I cannot relate to a female singer,’ I just can’t. We need to be conscious. Why am I not playing with more female country music singers?”

 Related Story: October Graced With A New Album From Laura Jane Grace

“Women do sing about trucks, beer, and topics relatable to everyone regardless of gender, but no one takes the time to look for them,” says Self. Self and fellow musician Beth Christman made a Spotify playlist that includes over 50 femme-presenting country artists that you can find here.

Self explains, “This is my middle finger, in a nice way, because I still love my male country musicians. But, it’s 2020, and women shouldn’t have to deal with underrepresentation in country music.”

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