This week’s NY Entertainer of the Week is Aimee Bayles. Aimee will be performing at The Bitter End this Friday, April 26th at 8 p.m. We got to chat about her music, her EP, and the meaning behind her song “Enough”.
Photo Credit: Johannes Oberman – Insta @Johannesoberman – www.johannesoberman.com
upfrontNY: When did you discover your interest in music and when did you know this was something you wanted to pursue?
Aimee Bayles: I grew up in a very musical family. Both of my parents have degrees in music and it was always a part of our lives. As far as deciding to pursue it, High School was probably the time I realized that it was a main interest. I was in choir and in the musical theatre performances and that’s when I really started finding my voice. I sang with the band at church and that is where I learn how to harmonize and started figuring out what my sound was and what I was good at. It is also when I started writing and playing guitar.
upfrontNY: When you were growing up who were your musical inspirations?
Aimee Bayles: I listened to a lot of the Christian band Waterdeep. They were probably my favorite band for a really long time. They are based out of Kansas City and had a real folky vibe and their songs were very poetic and they spoke to me a lot.
In high school, I listened to a lot of stuff that was on the radio at the time- Sublime, No Doubt, R.E.M., Dave Matthews. I also gravitated towards anything I heard that was more off the beaten path, but it was really in college that I finally discovered much of the music that has meant the most to me.
upfrontNY: When you went to college how did your musical taste change?
Aimee Bayles: I discovered so many artists & songwriters through friends I met freshman year. I really started gravitating to old stuff from the 60s and 70s like The Band, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and the Velvet Underground.
When I studied abroad in Italy I met all these musicians there who were so into classic rock and older music. Those guys in Italy really got me into Jackson Browne and more of The Band and Neil Young especially. I fell in love with a lot of that music when I was there.
upfrontNY: What was it like for you moving to NYC?
Aimee Bayles: I honestly felt at home very quickly. I had moved to Richmond Virginia from Northern Virginia to go to college and I really fell in love with living in a city. The school I went to was Virginia Commonwealth University, VCU . It is really situated right in the middle of the city and is a part of the city.
Moving to new york felt like an extension of that and I have really loved it ever since. This past January marked 10 years in New York for me, and it really has become the place where I feel home.
upfrontNY: Can you tell us about your recent EP?
Aimee Bayles: The process for this EP started a few years ago. I hadn’t been really doing much writing wise or project wise in music. I was playing shows when I could but not really focused on it. My band members said to me “Why aren’t you doing this? You should be doing this!” We started getting together for these writing sessions and tossing around ideas and after about a year of writing and putting together some songs I had already written previously we decided to record them. There are 3 co-written songs on the record. “If You Loved Another” was written by Nat Osborn and myself. The song “No One Can Tell Us” was all four collaborators: me, Stu Mahan, Nat Osborn, and Seth Johnson, and that song really became such a testament to my family of people in New York. The guys also helped me hone a song I had written and forgotten about, “Chasing The Sun.” “Love Is A Battlefield” was the cover song I decided to do very last-minute and we put it together in the studio. We recorded most of the band portions of the record in Portland, Maine & recorded the vocals and final touches here in Manhattan.
It has been a couple of years and I am so excited for it to be finally out there in the world. I put a lot of heart into it. It is a culmination of several years of writing and kind of got my butt in gear to move forward. Now that it is out I am excited to move on to the next thing and have been writing more. It is a good jumping off place.
upfrontNY: I know you have a lot of songs that mean a lot to you. With this EP can you talk about the song that means the most to you?
Aimee Bayles: It would be the title track “Enough”. My mother passed away in 2014 and in going through her things, we discovered these journals that she kept up in her headboard and one of them she kept the year that she got pregnant with me. She was writing little entries every day. I think it goes until after I was born. It was most of 1982. We found these journals that she wrote to me and my sisters. She got this idea from a friend when I was about 4. It starts out with the story of the day I was born and the details of that and her experience of becoming a mother and goes into some daily life stuff when we were little, little daily things that you don’t remember from that age. It is amazing to have this record from my mother telling us what we were doing and how we were as children.
I had been reading the journals and thinking about my mom a lot & her hopes for me & my life, and this song idea just popped into my head in the shower one day (I get a lot of my song ideas in the shower). I recorded a little voice note but then set it aside for quite a while. When we were putting the songs together for the record, I knew I needed to finish it so it could be included.
The song is about feeling her expectations for me as a person in my life and the weight and empowerment of that. The song is pretty short and simple, but it is about being grateful that I had her and being at peace with the woman that I am. I would be honored to reflect my mother’s presence in the world…it would certainly be ENOUGH for me.
upfrontNY: This must be so special to have this. How has your music helped you get through the hard times?
Aimee Bayles: When she first died, I couldn’t play or sing for a long time. I don’t think I picked up my guitar for 6 months. When I first sat down to play I cried the whole time. It is also a tool and once I did start playing again after that first time, it really was therapeutic and helped me connect with her again through music. There is this one Patty Griffin song called “Long Ride Home” and it is from the perspective of a man who lost his wife of 40 years and he is in the limousine riding from the funeral back home. I love playing that song and thinking of her. There are a lot of songs that make me think of her. It is a constant inspiration from the writing perspective. Music is always a tool that helps you get through things. It makes me think of all the songs that I have written over the years that have come from a difficult time.
upfrontNY: Can you tell us about your performance at Rockwood Music Hall in celebration of the release of your EP?
Aimee Bayles: Wow, what a night that was! I was so nervous leading up to it, and the release of the record was such a long time coming, but the show and the energy in that room was incredible. I felt like I was flying on all the love from everyone who was there to support us! I hit high notes I never had before, and it was simply an electric night. I’d love to send a HUGE thank you to my amazing band, and to all the friends, family, fans who came out to hear us. We shared some very special moments that night. Can’t wait to share more with you all at the next show!
NYC FAVORITES
Photo Credit: Jennifer Brown – Insta @jenmakeswork
Favorite NYC music venue: Rockwood Music Hall, it has been a really nice constant in my musical journey in New York.
Favorite NYC restaurant: It is incredibly hard to choose ONE, but one of the closest to my heart is Keens Steakhouse.
Favorite thing to do in NYC in the nice weather: I love to just walk the city. Central Park is always magic, but really a long walk from one neighborhood to the next and people watching is truly the best.
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