Coming off a brief series of concerts in Canada, acoustic artist Lani Nash will be performing at Blue Sky Vineyard this Saturday.

Nash currently lives in Nashville, Tenn. where she writes, sings and produces as an independent artist. She released a five-song album titled “One” in May.

Since the beginning of her career, Nash has been heavily involved in activism for causes such as finding a cure for Alzhimer’s and aiding the parents and survivors of the Newtown, Conn. tragedy. She said she likes to spread positivity through her music.

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The DAILY EGYPTIAN had the opportunity to speak with Nash and discuss her international tour, positive message and life as an independent artist.

DAILY EGYPTIAN: How did your musical journey begin?

Lani Nash: I was about nineteen. My grandfather was an incredible musician and he actually passed away when I was about 8 years old, so he wasn’t just a big part of my life after that. A couple people kept making reference to him that didn’t even know him, which was really interesting to me and I decided to go teach myself how to play the guitar. I started writing songs pretty much when I could play 3 chords. I’m just self-taught, no training, no formal anything as far as that goes. Songwriting is actually my biggest love. Performing just comes along with it.

DE: What is it like performing on an international scale?

LN: Well, I love being on the road and meeting new people. It’s just as much about them as it is about me. You’d think as an artist, you know, a lot of people think “Its all about me,” but really for me it’s just about everybody that I need to connect with. The thing is, being on the road for me is a wonderful life. I know a lot of people don’t like it, but it’s been really nice for me.

DE: How has the response been for the new record?

LN: It has been good. It is actually the first spiritual record I’ve done. It’s not religious, its just a fairly spiritual record, which was really nice to do because I’m also a speaker; I go around and do motivational speaking as far as fundamental level stuff, so it was interesting to have been able to do a record that is all encompassing and sort of includes everyone around the world. The response has been wonderful, from people who are religious to not religious at all, from spiritual to non-spiritual. It doesn’t pick any particular religion or faith or anything like that. It is absolutely kindness and oneness, you know? So, it was a wonderful record to be able to do and I actually recorded “Imagine,” which was the first song I’ve ever recorded that wasn’t written by me. It’s the first record I’ve made with a song on there that’s a cover tune, so that’s interesting.

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DE: What are some of the perks of being an independent artist?

LN: Well, I own everything and nobody tells me what to do or how to do it. When everything is structured and somebody has your tour all planned out for you and told you exactly where to be and when to be there and how to act and what to wear, sure, some people have to have that. I think it’s kind of like religion where some people like to go toward a particular religion because they don’t necessarily have to think and someone tells them just how to be. I’ve never been like that and I think the hardest thing for me is that I have been offered several record deals in Nashville and many publishing deals and I feel if I could find one that felt more open and free for me to write how I write, that would be one thing, but they don’t tend to work out that way. They tend to be more controlled.

DE: I noticed that you’re involved in various causes. Would you say music has the ability to heal emotionally and spiritually?

LN: I think music is absolutely healing. Whether you’re writing it and healing yourself, or whether you’re putting it out there for other people to hear it and feel, I think music has an incredible power to heal. For me it has been incredibly healing. I mean, I was horribly abused as a child and raised by alcoholic and drug-addict parents, so I honestly healed myself through music and now I’m at a place where I’m actually finally through all that. The majority of my writing now tends to look at what I can do for somebody else at this point with music. It has been a nice little transition into that period over the last few years.

Chase Myers can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter @chasemyers_DE or at 536-3311 ext. 273