Carly Ritter – HuffPost 8.28.13

Mike Ragogna: Hey, what advice do you have for new artists?

Carly Ritter: You know, it took me a really long time to decide to go for it. I’ve always loved music and I grew up playing piano and harp, and the one thing is I always kept it so private. If my family would walk into the room while I was playing piano, I would stop. I think it took me a while to get to the point where I was like, “I’m just going to do it and do my best and whatever happens, kind of leave that up to the universe.” Once I made that decision, it was like everything I could read about, both the business and creative sides. So listen to as much music as you can and as many genres as you can so you’re not limited. Then the lucky part for me was that I just new these incredible people and they came to my side. If you have friends or family who can help you and support you and give you advice, just be open to that. But yeah, follow your heart and then work really hard.

MR: And you’ve worked really hard, too. You’ve not just been a musician, you’ve also had to earn a paycheck. You’ve been out there doing all sorts of non-musical things, too. Do you think that expanded your perspectives within your writing?

CR: Absolutely! I think just in my various jobs I’ve had… I’ve worked in Colorado on a ranch and then I’ve done a lot of administrative jobs and non-profit work. The great thing about that is that I’ve met so many incredible people, and for songwriting, not that you want to use someone’s story as a means to an end, but if you’re really open to getting to know people, everyone has an amazing story to share. I can point to who influenced different songs and some of the stories I’m sharing. There are also aspects of me in every song and it’s also personal, too, but I’m like, “Oh, that came from that friend that I met in Colorado.” So I think all of that comes back into you never know when something you’ve been through is going to come up in a song.