Chatterbox: Megan Lacy chats finding her voice, the Austin scene and debut album

Hey Megan, thanks for taking the time to talk to us today. Could you tell us a little  known fact about yourself?  

I believe in magic ✨ 

Your debut EP, Salvation, felt intimate and emotionally restrained, while the new  record That Feelin’ feels bigger, looser, and more confident. What changed  personally or artistically between those two releases?  

I feel like my whole life has been about finding my voice – not just in regards to how I  write or what I’m focused on communicating, but also learning to sing. When I  recorded Salvation, I went in with a group of songs that I really loved, but I felt like I  couldn’t quite land vocally. I just had to put them out. As I let go of that EP, with all its  beautiful flaws, I gained so much confidence and understanding about the process  from start to finish. Things don’t happen overnight. A lot of acceptance has to do with  a deep understanding that we can’t be defined by one thing –one work of art, one  statement, or one moment, regardless of what the any opposing force might have us  believe. So when I went in to make That Feelin’ I gave myself a lot of leeway to just be  as I was in those moments making the record. And with that permission I really felt  bigger, looser and more confident, haha. What a difference in feeling, and that’s the  premise of the entire record… 

Several songs on the album lean into soulful country rock and blues influences.  Were there particular records or artists you had on repeat while writing this  album?  

Well, my friend Jordan Matthew Young, an Austin musician who ended up playing  guitar on this record, was a present, real life influence in Austin. The guy is an  incredible vocalist, and I just got really influenced by that country/blues sound. He’s a  slide player too, and I was kinda toying with the idea of playing slide, so he gave me a  slide guitar lesson in there somewhere. When we cut Other Side of the World, I wanted  it to sound like Lucinda Williams’s Can’t Let Go. I think the combination of real life  influence –being inside the Austin music scene– and then hashing up some of my  favorite country and blues attitudes just kind of came together. 

Which song on the album surprised you the most once it was fully recorded?  

Get Lonely! Sam Rives, who played bass on most of the record, brought the idea to  me in pre-production. He asked if I would be into doing a kind of a Sam Cooke groove  on the song to bring it out of itself a little. I had made an internal commitment to try  anything these guys suggested because they’re all such incredible musicians, and I  was doing my best to keep up with them. So he and James Gwyn (drums) put this little  groove together, and Jordan played that opening lick, and I was like, Oh wow, I’m gonna have to find a new melody for this song, and I better not fuck this up. Haha -it was a true growth moment, real time, and the song is an absolute banger

You’ve said that as a child you asked your mom, “Where do the songs come  from?” Do you feel like you’ve found the answer yet?  

Like I said, I believe in magic.  

What else do you hope that listeners will take away from these songs?  

If people find a reflection of themselves anywhere in this material, I’ll be touched and  really grateful they took the time to listen.  

What’s next for you?  

I’m going into the studio next week to cut another full length record! Shotgun Heart is for the antihero. That side of you that just keeps failing and falling. It’s a warning. It’s  a reckoning, and it explores what happens when you know better, but still have to live  with yourself.

Follow Megan Lacy on Instagram.

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