Morgan Bosman is a solo artist originally from St. Louis, with music in her blood. She came to Nashville 7 years ago to attend Belmont University for undergrad not knowing what to expect, since she’s not a country artist, but she has continued to vibe with the growing music city, partly due to meeting Creatives’ Day President Brian Sexton. We chatted about her experience so far with the Creatives’ Day Residency at the Hutton Hotel and all the ways, at 25, she is growing as an artist and a person within the music community.
If you missed it, be sure to check out the Creatives’ Day Residency at Hutton Hotel overview.
What instruments do you play?
Piano and flute. Now I play ukulele, wanting to grow and learn on that.
How old were you when you started playing?
I started taking piano lesson when I was 9 or 10. I was singing in the church choir since I was about 7. Just because it looked fun, I begged my mom to take me to the rehearsals. I started playing flute about 10 years old. I took some private lessons from my dad and then played in band and classical quartets in middle and high school.
If you could play another instrument what would it be?
Definitely bass. I would love to learn bass and guitar. You don’t see a whole lot of female bass players but there are some that are badass.
What were your earliest musical memories or influences?
Definitely influenced pretty early with my dad and uncle, they are a jazz musician duo called the Bosman Twins. My dad would always teach at the house, and he would have band practices at the house. I would do my homework while they were practicing so music was always there.
What instruments do they play?
My dad plays most of the woodwinds, clarinet alto and soprano, sax and flute, piccolo, my uncle does more of the tenor sax and baritone.
What musicians do you admire?
Stevie Wonder I completely admire as a musician and a song writer. Lauren Hill is a heavy influence. I grew up wanting to be Alicia Keys, she has always been a heavy influence. Some of the newer people I admire Corinne Bailey Rae, Lianne La Haves. Michael Jackson, of course.
If you could meet/play with any musician alive or dead who would it be?
Ooh, ahh, ok… alive, I gotta say Stevie Wonder. Dead I would love to meet Ella Fitzgerald.
How has it been working with Creatives’ Day?
It’s been really great. It felt like I was doing everything on my own. Working a fulltime job and writing and creating and booking shows all while handling all the emails and administrative stuff all on my own meant very long days and nights, and it has been so crazy helpful having Brian in my corner taking on some tasks and having him plug me into some things that I’ve been interested getting into.
What have you learned from Creatives’ Day Residency?
We took a day trip and went to the Entertainment One Studios downtown, we went to BMG, we went to the Grammy office in Nashville and it was so cool because we got to ask questions and listen and talk to the representatives there. Particularly it was interesting being at the Grammy office and hearing what they’ve been doing in Nashville with legislation to make things better for songwriters and laws with streaming. They’ve been fighting for songwriters and producers to get paid more, which we all know is pennies off each song streamed, but the Nashville office in particular is really fighting to change that. At Entertainment One it was interesting to hear what they look for from a label end, the things they find intriguing, things that for an artist work and don’t work. Something common they all spoke about was being innovative and genuinely being a good person to work with, which seems obvious, but with a diva I guess sometimes it’s not even worth it no matter how talented they are. I learned the importance of just being innovative and getting people to really feel and understand what you do.
What are you most looking forward to about the Creatives’ Day Residency experience?
I’m really looking forward to performing at Analog. It’s got such a nice vibe. Perfect for me, it’s like a lounge. I would love to do some stuff there with Creatives’ Day and then to be able to come back and do some more stuff there.
What do you hope to learn from the entire Creatives’ Day experience?
If anything, this jolted my creativity. I’m just on fire, this is awesome, I want to create. Not just working hard but working smart. And the collaboration. They really encouraged us to pop in on other artists sessions. I dropped in on Emma Delimma and Caleb dropped in on mine so that really got the creative juices flowing. They really encourage, whatever the vibe is just go with the flow. It’s just really open.
How is it working in the writing rooms?
The Hutton experience has been incredible. First of all, it’s such a neat idea, it’s so innovative. Especially in Downtown Nashville to have writer’s rooms and studios in the hotel. Everything sounds so crisp in there, the mics are pristine and it’s just such a good vibe. I think that’s so cool to have that in the hotel for artists! In my session having Brian be present and my friend Katie came in and we finished a song and then my guitarist came in and added some water colors on one song. That’s why I love collaboration because it can just take so many different directions that you hadn’t planned on before.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
In 5 years I would love to be touring a good bit of the year, playing a lot of festivals that I want to play and being able to travel a good bit with music and record. I would love to be able to bring my band to different places and tour. To be able to make a living doing that in 5 years that would be great. I have an organization called Aartandssoul and I would love to see that grow.
Tell me about Aartandssoul.
I launched it in January to put together live music as well as local artists and do showcases and pop-up events. I love to set it up in non-traditional spaces like warehouses and a break dance studio in north Nashville. I give locals and new comers a community, so if you need cover art for your album you can use someone here. Clothing designers for merch, can just be set up next to the stage. I’ve done one in Denver, St. Louis, Memphis, and I’m going to keep coming back and keep building this community in those cities. It’s been really fun. I would love to see where that goes, even overseas.