Debra and I have known each other since we played basketball at Linn-Benton Community College. At the time, she was the hot girl who would occasionally leave games and practices early for gigs. Since, she has been dubbed “the girl with the incredible voice”, released four albums and an EP, traveled the country supporting herself as an independent artist, and won Best Female Artist of the Year at the Portland Music Awards.
Now, she is a mother.
After a successful Kickstarter campaign (her goal was $6,000 and she raised $10,000) helped her travel to Nashville to record her new album Heartbeat, I was expecting to get into a conversation about the career moves she had in the works, and all of the connections she made while in Nashville.
This was not the conversation we had–at all.
Heartbeat is probably Debra Arlyn’s last album. I understand (British rapper The Streets once titled an album The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living–describing making a living as a musician) and I can relate probably better than anyone.
The stories of Debra Arlyn and The Kid Espi–my former alias–are very similar, and they go like this this: Kill shit playing basketball, kill shit with a music career, realize the amount of time and risk it will take to kill shit enough to support a family with a music career, find a different career in which to kill shit.
(To be fair, Debra had a much more successful music career than I did. A Kickstarter campaign to fund The Kid Espi’s new album would fail fucking miserably.)
Thirties are the new twenties, and we all have an extra decade to figure out what we really want to do with our lives.
It is time for Debra to start killing shit as a mother.
“If it wasn’t for the Kickstarter campaign, this album would probably not have even happened. I didn’t think I was going to be able to put another one out…I was just going to stay at home and be a mom,” she admitted. “In the past I’ve had family help or I’ve had to put it out myself, so it’s been nice not having that hanging over my head.”
Debra grew up in Philomath. Her father is a musician and businessman who owned and operated a couple of DVD rental stores. During her senior year of high school, she won an “Oregon Idol” contest at a local radio station. Her father has been both a mentor and manager for her throughout her career.
Four years ago her tour schedule was exhausting to even look at–filled with long drives and college campuses. Heartbeat is the first album she’s put out since 2008. She recorded it in Nashville with long time friend Jonathan Kingham.
“We both played shows together, especially in the college circuit, and became friends,” she continued. “Lyrically, now I’m singing more about family and motherhood and life in general. At this point, I’m just doing things that I want to do. I’ll probably go down to Nashville. If a show does kind of come my way that makes sense, of course I’d do it but…”
There it is.
The talent is still there but the independent grind is over. You can catch her album release party Saturday, April 21st at Jimmy Maks in Portland.