Abby Holliday is OK. Wait a minute, I’m being told that she’s not. She seems to be mostly OK these days, building a nice indie pop career, and currently having a blast on a national tour supporting Nashville friends Michigander. Originally from Cincinnati, she’s played guitar since her early teens and got started as a writer writing worship songs at church. During the pandemic, she launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to finance what became her first record, When We’re Far Apart I Fall Apart. Abby moved quickly to Nashville to pursue music “as her full-time thing.”
She didn’t want to stay in an indie folk, singer/songwriter groove, and released a single called “Better By Now” that has a modern pop vibe. She liked the direction and continued to work with good friend John Class to produce her second record, I’m OK No I’m Not. The introspective poetry remains, but now there’s autotuned vocals and more sequencing and distortion effects. It’s groovy, rocks when it feels like it, and continues to explore new territory for Abby, both emotionally and sonically.
I saw her show in Detroit and was charmed by her authenticity and her “sad but vibey” tunes. She took some time out from a tour stop in Washington, DC to chat with 360°Sound about the new record, her new sound, and algorithm favoritism.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
360°Sound: Was there a conscious choice to get more experimental with I’m OK No I’m Not? Compared to your first record, it feels a little bit grittier.
Abby Holliday: When I wrote “IDK What I Want,” it set the tone for the whole project. It was the first one we recorded. I was so excited about it, and it felt very different from the first record. And I was like, if we can do this, then we can do anything. I allowed myself to experiment with new things and try a new sound. I was having fun doing it and that was all that mattered. John [Class, producer] definitely came along side me and totally understood what I wanted to do and helped me find that along the way. Most of this record we made just the two of us, which was a lot different from the first record. It just kind of ended up that way, and I think that made it what it is.
Where did you find inspiration for your experimentation?
It’s a lot of what I’m listening to at the time, what I’m liking. And being more confident in the studio in general. For my first record, I felt like I did not know what I was doing. I just went in with all these songs I wrote on guitar, and now we’re going to turn them into… whatever. I learned so much through that process. Since then, I’ve learned a lot being in more cowriting sessions and working with other producers. And learning more from John to where I feel like we just honed in even more on what I want to sound like. This feels very true to what I want to be in this moment.
Right from the first tune [“IDK”], the production is so bold. It was a little jarring at first. It’s really different from your first record.
“Predictable Life” was the first single that we put out on this record, but part of me wanted to start with “IDK What I Want.” But what if people hear it and they’re like, ‘This is completely different. This is not the Abby Holliday that I knew.’ But I think I’ve been able to almost ease people into it. Also being on this tour; it’s been so fun. It’s being able to play for people who don’t even know the old stuff, or that don’t even know who I am. Being able to make the first impression with the new record is really fun.
“Noise” is one of my favorites from the new one. I find it beautifully immersive.
I wrote that one with two girls, Charli Adams and Laura Bass. We all just wrote it together one afternoon. We were talking about doing music for a job, and it’s fun, but it can also be confusing and weird and overwhelming. There’s definitely days where it’s like, why am I doing this when so many other people are doing it? It kind of felt like a therapy session. And we got a song out of it.
“Better By Now” is like a left-brain love song to me.
Yeah, it’s like fighting with myself.
I really appreciate the vulnerability you express in your lyrics, and it really comes through on “Ohio Laundry Room.”
It’s about my grandmother. I wrote it not too long after she passed. I wasn’t writing with the intention of releasing it; I just wrote it fast. And then after I finished it, I realized that it was totally the missing piece of the record. It was the last one that I finished writing, and I was like, ‘This totally needs to fill this slot.’ I had a lot of options, but none of them were sitting right with me. As soon as I finished it, I realized it totally tied the record together, and has been a huge, important part of it – even in how we structure the show as well.
To me, it’s the emotional heart of this collection of songs.
It’s the song that I get the most comments about. The most people come up to me after shows and will either tell me their story and how [the song] affected them. Or they’ll ask ‘Is that about your mom? Is that about your dad?’ I love that they can get into it from so many different angles, whether it’s a hard family relationship or like, a loss or whatever it is. I think there’s there’s so much to that. It feels so close to me, but I didn’t know how it would hit other people. It’s cool that people can connect to their own meaning.
Tell me about the tour. How’s that going?
It’s been great. It’s been so fun.
Detroit was the best, right?
Detroit was up there. I don’t know what’s been my favorite. Hard to pick. There’s been a lot of good ones. But yeah, it’s been so fun hanging out with the Michigander guys, who are also our friends. We’re playing for a lot of people in so many cities that I’ve never been to. It’s been a dream come true. It’s been so fun.
It seems like your stuff has been really well received. Do you feel like you’re getting a good response?
Yeah, it’s been so cool just to see people singing the words. I didn’t know if that would happen, I’m just the opener, right, and I’m playing in a lot of places I’ve never been to. My stuff compared to Michigander is similar enough to where people are gonna vibe with it, but different enough to where it’s intriguing. And releasing the record in the middle of this tour, I feel like it’s been good timing, to meet new people and for people to hear the record for the first time. So, yeah, I’ve been so pleasantly surprised.
It’s a very different experience hearing the songs live than listening to the record – especially the new stuff. How did you decide on instrumentation and who you wanted to go out on the road with?
We did a smaller run in the fall last year with the same exact setup – me and the two guys, guitar/bass/drums – and it worked well. I thought about adding another band member, but with the space that we’re traveling in, and financially, it just made sense to keep it a three-piece. I’m so glad we did, because I feel like it’s working out great. So yeah, but once we finished, “IDK What I Want” I was like, ‘How am I going to do this live.’ It just feels so big. And like, honestly, I didn’t know how we were going to do it. Now that’s my favorite song to play live.
It’s a great opener. Quick industry question before I let you go. Have you found that [streaming site] algorithms are impacting your career in any way?
Yes, and no. I think a lot of the [audience] growth that’s happened for me has been pretty organic, which I’m really thankful for. I have not ever had any huge viral moment, where something just like took off, and then there was an algorithm within it, to sustain. It’s for sure making its way into like, people’s discover weekly, or radio playlists or things like that. Maybe it’s a little bit favored in the algorithm, but a lot of it seems to be steady, which is good. A couple of years ago, one of my songs got put on a playlist that was a really big playlist. It was on there for months, and [the song] shot up my monthly listeners by like 100,000. And then it got taken off the post and [traffic] immediately went back down. Now it’s just been slowly, slowly growing and growing, staying steady. And I would much rather prefer that over one viral moment.
Keep up with Abby and buy a sweet corduroy cap on her web site: abbyholliday.com
She’s got tour dates through mid-June. Check her site to see if she’s coming to your town.
