By Chip Chandler — Producer
Singer-songwriter Christy Hays used to be stricken with fear at the thought of performing for audiences.
Now, she has spent most of the past decade recording her own material and touring the country with it, including her Amarillo debut at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the new Six Car Pub & Brewery, 625 S. Polk St., as part of the Living Room Concert series for High Plains Public Radio. Suggested donation is $15.
Though the Austin-based performer grew up around music, she originally planned a far different career path.
"I was always obsessed with songwriting. I started subscribing to No Depression when I was a freshman in high school — I would live for their sampler discs," Hays said. "But I loved nature (too) and I thought my calling in life was to go into science — save the planet, do something noble.
"But after a few years of doing that, living in Alaska and doing fisheries work ... I just kind of decided that I would rather make art," she said.
The career change came as a shock to everyone — including Hays herself.
"I was 26 when I made that decision, and terribly shy. I would have panic attacks when I would try to perform, so I don't know what possessed me (to go into performing)," she said. "I look back on it now and think, I can't believe I did that — that I uprooted my life and decided to go that way."
But now, she can't imagine doing anything different.
"I get so much fulfillment from this job," she said. "It's my calling in a lot of ways."
In April, Hays released her third full-length album, River Swimmer, the culmination of an inspiring stay at her Montana cabin more than 18 months ago.
"It has a great vibe," Hays said of her forest retreat. "I took a chunk of time, holed up and, for the first time, I really wrote with discipline.
"I'm not that type of writer (usually)," she continued. "I don't force writing because all the songs turn out bad ... but I wanted a cohesive sound, so I tried a different approach. I'm really happy with how it turned out."
She'll return to Montana this summer, where she hopes to recapture that spark. But along the way, she'll continue promoting River Swimmer in shows like the one in Amarillo.
Generally, Living Room Concerts are intimate affairs, though with it beign scheduled on Six Car's highly anticipated opening night, HPPR's Jenny Inzarillo is recommending an early arrival because of limited, in-demand seating.
Hays is hoping for attentive listeners — though she didn't always feel that way.
"As a songwriter, it's unnerving — that quiet room and all the attention," she said. "I used to prefer people talking over my music. ... But (intimate rooms) create an atmosphere where I feel comfortable in explaining the music, why I wrote it, who it's about, that type of stuff.
"I think people can really connect to the music in a different way when they have the ability to sit quietly with it."
Chip Chandler is a producer for Panhandle PBS. He can be contacted at Chip.Chandler@actx.edu, at @chipchandler1 on Twitter and on Facebook.
