Alison Wilder, formerly known as Alison Rae, has a beautiful voice and stories on the fragility of being human and how we each find a different path. I hope you enjoy the music as much as I do and I thank her for answering five questions an am delighted to share the official release…
Please tell us more about yourself and how you came to music.
I’ve been singing since before I could talk. My mom says she’d hear me in my crib singing myself to sleep.
I grew up singing hymns in wooden pews in the Baptist church. At 18, I was signed to Memphis label Ardent Records, who produced projects by artists like Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Waylon Jennings, Cat Power, and R.E.M. I recorded two albums with them and then toured for three years with a band. Our second album was produced by John Hampton who produced gin blossoms New miserable experience. I thought that was so cool because of the song Allison Road!
In 2001, I met Tim Frantzich, who hired me to sing on two lullaby albums produced for Target stores. Tim then went on to produce my debut solo album in 2007. Recorded with John Munson and Peter Ostrushko, the album had local success, and performances with Mindy Smith, Trampled By Turtles and Julie Lee (songwriter for Alison Krauss) followed.
In 2014 I recorded my EP “I wrote you a letter”, produced with my cousin Peter Miller of we are the willows.
Your newest song, Emily, is gorgeous. Your voice has a soft strength that suits the lyrics. It is a song that will help so many people going through hard times. Can you tell us about the song and how you found the strength to write (and sing) it?
I wrote this song over a year ago and it’s a deeply personal one about my cousin Emily. And me. And anyone who has struggled with mental illness and addiction or tried to help someone who has. Those who made it out and those who didn’t… Maybe I wasn’t quite ready to let it go. But I am now.
Emily and I shared a similar path for a few years. Ultimately I got the help I needed. And I got better. But it could have easily gone another way for me. I tried to help Emmy a few times. But ultimately she lost her battle.
Writing and recording it was hard. I recently had a conversation with Ondara about songwriting and we both talked about how if you cry when you write a new song… that’s how you know it’s a keeper. And I cried a lot with this song.
I was so thankful to have Jason Shannon at zoo school recording studio in st Croix falls wi capture my live vocal and guitar performance for this track. He really made a safe space for me emotionally to perform it in the studio.
Coupled with your last song, My Father’s Daughter, you are revealing so much about yourself through family. It’s a brave authenticity that drives the songs deeply into the heart of the listener. How have other family members taken to the songs?
Thank you. Yes! It’s kind of scary to be this vulnerable! Honestly, it’s required a new level of bravery to dig this deep and be this raw with my lyrics.
My dad has heard my father’s daughter and he liked it. I haven’t really shared the entire meaning behind it with him but that’s ok. Sometimes it’s just enough to just let it be what it is to him. And let it be full of deeper meaning and healing for me.
When I first wrote the chorus for Emily, I shared it with her sister Ellie. She said it was beautiful and it meant a lot to her. I did feel like I wanted to ask permission from my aunt to use Emily’s picture… it’s the way I remember her. And she gave her blessing. That meant a lot to me. I mean, it’s my story too but ultimately I wanted to respect how raw this is for my Aunt.
You have been open (in and outside of the music) about your own experience with a mental health diagnosis. May I ask if you have any words of wisdom for anyone wondering about their own mental health or for loved ones.
Yes I have! I was diagnosed as bipolar 2 at the age of 39. I’m 45 now.
It’s really important to me to be open and talk about it. And to try to help people if I can, or help guide them to the right resources and people.
For anyone struggling with their mental health, I would say to always get the help. Go in to be evaluated if you need to. Do whatever you need to do to stay safe and create stability in your life. But honestly the most important thing is to get the right diagnosis. And the right meds. I was put on so many different meds over the years and the mental health system is so tough. Sometimes it feels like they are just putting a bandaid on a bullet hole. Ultimately an ambulance ride to regions hospital and a psych ER doctor who actually listened to me and spent 2 hours with me, gave me my bi polar 2 diagnosis and got me on the right meds. He saved my life.
You took 10 years off from music for a few years. What spurred you to come back to it? Does the scene feel different this time around?
Well I simply couldn’t sing or write during those years. It’s like I was in a trauma freeze.
I started doing brain spotting as a trauma therapy with my therapist who is a Buddhist priest. She helped me so much. I think it felt like something finally shook loose and I found my voice again. I started to sing and write again. I think I wondered if I ever would or could again.
I am so thankful to be singing again. It feels like a re birth.
The scene is so different. Especially since I first started doing music professionally in 1997. Still trying to get my head around it. All the streaming, and Spotify, and the blur of Instagram reels and content! It’s like more information and over saturation but less engagement.
I’ve been thinking a lot about my next project that I will be recording with s.carey in Eau Claire in October. How certain albums really made an impact and are a part of foundational memories I have as a young woman. I want to make something that isn’t just a drop in the bucket of the endless stream of streaming. I want it to leave a mark.
Mostly Minnesota 