Unleashing Creativity in Isolation: A Chat with Musicians Tara Grace and Anthony Prater
Nov 01, 2023Season 1Episode 4
Co-hosted by John Noblitt and Donna Green
Ever wondered how isolation during a pandemic can be transformed into a journey of self-discovery and creativity? Tune into our conversation with Tara Grace and Anthony Prater, two blooming musicians who have done just that, and more. Tara Grace, a new resident of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, talks about her creative process during COVID-19 that led to her first ever recording project. Listen on as she shares how she channeled her personal experiences into her songwriting, spinning tales of heartbreak into beautiful melodies.
Now meet Anthony Prater, a San Antonio native, who shares his evolution from a teen playing heavy rock and punk to launching his first solo EP this year. He delves into his growth as a songwriter, and how he has uniquely blended music and history in his recent works. The duo further discuss their evolving songwriting styles and inspirations, naming influences from a spectrum of music genres, and the process of staying authentic in an industry that often demands conformity. Don't miss these fascinating insights into the songwriting craft from these promising artists.
You have been listening to The 266 Express, the official podcast of Sanger, TX. IF you have comments or suggestions, please send them to dgreen@sangertexas.org
Ever wondered how isolation during a pandemic can be transformed into a journey of self-discovery and creativity? Tune into our conversation with Tara Grace and Anthony Prater, two blooming musicians who have done just that, and more. Tara Grace, a new resident of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, talks about her creative process during COVID-19 that led to her first ever recording project. Listen on as she shares how she channeled her personal experiences into her songwriting, spinning tales of heartbreak into beautiful melodies.
Now meet Anthony Prater, a San Antonio native, who shares his evolution from a teen playing heavy rock and punk to launching his first solo EP this year. He delves into his growth as a songwriter, and how he has uniquely blended music and history in his recent works. The duo further discuss their evolving songwriting styles and inspirations, naming influences from a spectrum of music genres, and the process of staying authentic in an industry that often demands conformity. Don't miss these fascinating insights into the songwriting craft from these promising artists.
You have been listening to The 266 Express, the official podcast of Sanger, TX. IF you have comments or suggestions, please send them to dgreen@sangertexas.org
Speaker 1:
Welcome back to the 266 Express from the old Baller Station Songwriter Festival in Sanger, Texas. We have two of our artists here with us today. Would you like to introduce yourselves?
Speaker 2:
Hello, my name is Tara Grace.
Speaker 1:
Hello, my name is Anthony Prater Awesome, and we have my co-host here, John Novelett.
Speaker 4:
How's it going? Yeah, so you know. Are you related to a Mike Prater? Everybody in this town would know Mike Prater.
Speaker 3:
No, no, I'm from San Antonio, so we're the North Texas Praters and South Texas Praters are probably not related.
Speaker 4:
Oh yeah, yeah, it's not a. Sanger Prater yeah, probably not, Probably not. We won't hold it against you Either way. Either way, tell us a little bit about yourselves.
Speaker 2:
All right, I can kick it off. So, like I said, my name is Tara Grace. I'm originally from College Station, Gigham Aggies, Gigham Gigham. I moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 2020 for work. That's when I got started on my first recording project. Covid was a good time to spend a lot of time in the studio. I couldn't really do anything else, and then I just been releasing those songs over the past few years and I'll be back in the studio here in a couple of weeks recording an album for you guys. Wonderful, Awesome.
Speaker 3:
I'm from San Antonio, texas, live in Somerset, just south of there. That's where I grew up. But yeah, I've been doing playing music. I'm 38 now. I've been playing since I was 14, writing songs, stuff like that there. Hopefully these are a lot better than the ones I did when I was 14. But yeah, I just been playing different bands. This is my first. In February of this year I released the EP. It's my first solo effort. So I've always had bands to hide behind. So this is just me getting out there by myself, so hopefully I'm doing all right.
Speaker 4:
Yeah.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, awesome.
Speaker 4:
How does that feel? Good it?
Speaker 3:
feels good, it feels OK, but I still like to hide behind the band every now and again. They hide my flubs every now and like mess ups and stuff.
Speaker 4:
All right. So we have to ask. Now we're finding out that, again, I'm a huge fan I think we all are of the songwriting craft. That's why Sanger is hosting a festival, because it's something that we find special. But we're also here now that most of this is coming off your first broken hearts. Is that what you're getting? How'd? You get started in songwriting.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, for me I was. I'd always sang my whole life, just any time I could find a microphone and a stage, like I was there. I told my dad I wanted to post videos on YouTube of me singing and he said, nope, anyone can sing. You need to learn how to play an instrument and sing too. And I was like, ok, so that's how I got into guitar and then I just really kind of, as I kind of was growing up and going through certain things, like your first heartbreak, kind of translating that into music was how I was able to get my feelings out and take maybe a sad situation or something negative and turn it into something beautiful in a way, and that's just kind of what I've been doing since then. I think it's cool when you can hear something and relate to it, even if it's one lyric of a song. I wanted to be able to do that for other people as well.
Speaker 4:
Anthony, how does that process work for you?
Speaker 3:
It's different whenever I was first starting being a teenager. You're a young angry kid just going through puberty. You're angry at everything all the time. Then you're emotional all the time, so it was more like heavy, heavy rock, punk rock stuff. Back then into my 20s, when I got older, started branching out. I've always listened to different kinds of music, been influenced by different styles, so I kind of just started branching out, doing different things here and there. But yeah, over the last I want to say six, seven years I've kind of come into my own. I think the last six, seven years I've been doing some of my best songwriting. But yeah, I'm very proud of my last EP. It's kind of my first marrying my interests of music and I love history, I love studying history, I love research. So yeah, my last EP was like a concept album based on some historical research I did down in San Antonio.
Speaker 2:
I'm glad I didn't mention kind of how your sound and writing has evolved over time, because that's something we're going to my producer right now. The things I write and how I write and what I want to write about and what I want to sing are way different than they were five years ago. So that's something like I'm navigating now. It's like OK, how does that evolve?
Speaker 3:
Absolutely evolve. You're growing, constantly growing, and if you're not growing, you're stagnant, you're not doing anything. So it's good, it's good thing.
Speaker 4:
Change is good. So influences here are some of your influences.
Speaker 3:
So you want to take this one first, go ahead.
Speaker 2:
A lot of different ones and it changed at the time, I think, and it's not just country music, but that's kind of what I write. I guess, if you had to put a genre, I guess I'm a country singer but I grew up listening to any and every genre. Some big female singers for me were Christina Aguilera still my all-time favorite Adele, and then, kind of taking it back to your country, legends like if, carrie Underwood, shania Twain, dolly Parton, all of them, and I like to blend all of those and kind of get my own sound within that. And just as I listen to different people, I like a lot of rock music as well. Figure out how I can get that in there.
Speaker 2:
Really, I've been listening to Lainey Willson a lot these days and I kind of like her sound and I got to see her live and just kind of watch those different artists and see how it all blends together. I think it's cool just as like country music's evolved, so being able to put heavy guitar and drums, get that kind of rock vibe and then also throw in Amanda Linn, a steel guitar, a fiddle, and kind of see all that blends. So it's just like this mosh pit of just everything.
Speaker 1:
Definitely a good place to do it because they're very accepting of change and difference, so it's a great place. If you've got all of those pools from your past, you can blend them all together and country music fans love it Great.
Speaker 3:
Uh, myself, uh, it's a lot of different people, uh, a lot of different uh styles. Um, my, my full band stuff, uh, the band called the Hotel Togo, were kind of like indie, alternative rock type stuff. Uh, that's more influenced by, like uh Black Francis from uh the Pixies, uh, a lot of Mark Mulacky, uh Miracle Legion and Polaris, stuff like that. Uh, coming up, uh, when I was younger, when I was a kid you know, of course, every little boy growing up in the late 80s, Uh, your parents want you to be the next George straight, so like they would put me up on the bar and I'd sing, you know, or my, my George straight songs.
Speaker 3:
Uh, but yeah, going back to it, it's kind of like when you're you're younger, you kind of want to pull away from what your parents and you know all the older people were kind of like pushing you towards and you kind of pull away. But when you get older you kind of revisit some of that stuff and finding influences like my, my singer, song writer stuff. Uh was listening to a lot of like murder ballads like uh Bob Dylan, some old blues, blues stuff from like the 1930s, 1920s, uh, some conjuntos, some corridos, things like that. So uh, love, love, all types of music, yeah.
Speaker 4:
Now, if you could go back and give your younger self any piece of advice, what would it be, tara, I still have to tell myself this now.
Speaker 2:
But just seeing, like, seeing what you want to sing, um, being your most authentic self, is what is going to pull people in and it's what's going to keep them staying, keep them listening. Uh, it's really easy to compare yourself to everyone else, whether it's based off your sound, whether it's based off your book, your story, um, whatever it is. Just don't like let all that noise get to you and hold you back. I think there were several times like I could have done something or written something, but I was too worried about what people would think and think oh well, I'm not good enough for, oh, I, I didn't win this singing competition, I didn't get picked for this, maybe I should just quit.
Speaker 2:
And it's like no, like you're going to get told and know a lot in life. You're going to get a lot of rejection. But I call it like the, the power of volume. The more times you do something, the better you're going to get, the more you're going to learn. And it might be. It might take that a hundred times for it to happen. One through 99 is not going to happen, but if you give up at 98 and 99, you're never going to see that a hundredth time and see what can happen. So that's just kind of what caused me to remind myself like you're on the right path, keep being your true self, keep being authentic, and it's going to work out when it should work out.
Speaker 1:
So it's awesome.
Speaker 3:
Anthony, um, kind of a lot in similar lines. I tell myself to stop being so shy. Just trust yourself, get out there, put yourself out there more. I even have to tell myself that now, you know, I come across things like like this, this songwriter's festival, and it's like am I good enough? Am I? You know? Well, I even, you know, am I wasting my time putting myself out there? But no, it's never a waste of time, because you never know. You know it's like life is all about failure. Life is about learning from those failures. And you know, just put yourself out there and you know the audience will come. You know it may be one person. One night it may be 50 people, the next night it may be a hundred people, a thousand people. I've played in front of all sorts of crowds and it's just, each one's a learning experience and each one's valuable in its own way. And yeah, that's what I tell my younger self it's worth it, it's all worth it.
Speaker 1:
Well, we're very excited to have you here, both of you, this year, and hope we'll have you back in future years. We'd love to have you back. Are you guys hanging out today for a while?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, for a little bit. Got to listen to a few more artists before and after me. Everyone's so great. It's cool to see everyone come together. It's not easy to go up and sing your own songs in front of a bunch of strangers and be vulnerable like that, but it's cool when we can all do that and support each other. And it's really cool to see events like this get put on so you can get connected and kind of grow your own network within the music world as well. So it's been really fun. I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1:
Awesome. I'm glad to be a part of it. I'm glad to have you so much. Thank you.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, same, I've got to hang out after my set, before my set and after, and lots of talent, lots of people I probably never would have met, never would have heard of. And yeah, it's things like this that kind of put everyone together in the same room, so to speak, and you're catching all sorts of great talent from all around the state and even outside the state sometimes, and yeah, it's great. Keep on. Hopefully this is the first of many that you all do, and congratulations on that.
Speaker 1:
Thank you so much. Thank you for being a part of it.
Speaker 4:
We're super excited. Now we know how to fudge If anybody else is looking for you. How they fudge you.
Speaker 2:
I'm on all your streaming platforms Apple Music, spotify, youtube under Tara Grace. I'm also on Instagram, facebook, tiktok, snapchat, all the things. Just look up the Tara Grace. It's typically what pulls up. T-a-r-a-g-r-a-c-e.
Speaker 3:
There's not a lot of Anthony Prater's out there, so you can go to Facebook Instagram Anthony Prater underscore music on Facebook Anthony Prater, satx. You can also go to Make it Easier Linktree, linktree, slash Anthony Prater. That has all my stuff on all major streaming services, things like that, so yeah.
Speaker 2:
I should probably make one of those yeah yeah, yeah, I'll mention it, Stop shot. Everything's on TaraGraceMusiccom. It's typically where it ends up, but I like the linktree. I think that's awesome.
Speaker 4:
Well, we thank you for helping us make this a successful event this year. We're looking forward to a long time. We hope to see you again in the future. Absolutely Thank you for having me Thank you.
