Conversations with Leah Belle Faser

Hi Leah Belle, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’m Leah Belle Faser and I’ve been a singer for as long as I can remember. I started out as ½ of a musical duo with my brother, Hoke, who is 4 years older than me.  He could self-accompany on piano from very early on so that’s what really got us started singing together. We spent a lot of time working on songs together and we would perform together around Atlanta at coffee houses, festivals and showcases hosted by our music school, duet at family functions and collaborate on Youtube. By middle school, though, our musical paths began to diverge with his taking him into musical theater (he is currently pursuing a BFA in Musical Theater at the University of Michigan) and mine into commercial music; particularly country, roots and Americana music. With us going in different directions, I knew I couldn’t rely on Hoke to accompany me on piano going forward so I learned to play guitar. When I was 14, my vocal coach introduced me to two very seasoned local Atlanta musicians, Mark Miller and David Ellis, who later invited me to join them on stage to sing at some of their gigs. Having them as early mentors gave me a ton of confidence and they helped me begin to build my repertoire of cover songs with suggestions of classics like Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billy Joe, John Prine’s “Angel from Montgomery” and Emmylou Harris’ “Boulder to Birmingham.” It was around that time that I really began to gravitate to the storytelling aspects of country and roots music. As my guitar skills improved, I started playing around with chords and weaving the feelings and things I was experiencing at the time into the lyrics of songs. Then, during the year that I was attending high school online due to the pandemic, I was able to continue honing my songwriting skills and was fortunate to work online with some very seasoned songwriters in various online workshops and some great people I met through the Atlanta chapter of the Nashville Songwriters Association (NSAI). In the spring of 2020 when studio musicians were getting back into recording sessions, I went up to Nashville to work with Grammy award-winning Casey Wood to produce a collection of 7 original songs called Crossing Hermi’s Bridge (named after the bridge in Vinings where I grew up).  Once public gatherings were back in full swing, I resumed playing live shows on my own as a solo acoustic act and building my platform and client base round Atlanta and North Georgia with the goals of honing my live performance skills and earning money to fund more studio time for original songs.  As my songwriting continued to develop, I started playing more music and songwriter festivals in addition to the cover song gigs at restaurants and bars that I’d been playing. With that came new opportunities to co-write and meet other local musicians. One of those new connections led me to form a band in 2022 with guitarist Christian Schaffer, drummer Corey Alhlquist and bassist Chris Hein and we’ve had some success in finding our place in the Georgia rotation with opening opportunities for nationally touring acts like Jimmie Allen, Maggie Rose, Boz Scaggs, Christopher Cross, and Jake Owen. Being able to play music with Christian, Corey and Chris, who are all really seasoned musicians, has breathed a whole new life into my songwriting venture.  Working as a group on new original material is really gratifying. It’s no longer a process with just me and my guitar but I can hear the songs coming to life in real time which is really cool. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I think, for a lot of musicians on the grind, ours is a journey that can include a ton of hard work and sacrifice. That journey is often marked by a steady progression of relatively small wins and, sometimes, a period with no wins at all that can seem pretty bleak in terms of breaking through. Those who are tapped by “lightning in a bottle” with a viral video or song that leads to an instant fan base are the exception. The commercial music industry is a crowded space. Something like 60,000 tracks each day are released on Spotify alone. Finding an audience for your music can be difficult and my experience is that it takes constant dedication and an enormous amount of work to fan whatever small flames come your way. While it may be tempting to pray to the TikTok gods for a break through, that’s no more of a strategy than hoping you’ll win the lottery. The plus side of advancing through the struggle by continuing to work hard each day to build a fan base one fan at a time-one show at a time-one song at a time –is that you’ve built a skill set along the way that has a significant worth at the point when you finally do get that big break.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I play out somewhere weekly so come check out a show near you!!  You can find my schedule on my website at http://www.leahbellefaser.com. I just released a new original song called “Trash Talk.” on all platforms.  There is a VEVO music video for the song that captures my time in the recording studio with amazing co-producers Zack Odom and Kenneth Mount at ZK Productions in Johns Creek, Ga.  Check it out on my Youtube channel. And follow me on socials @leahbellefasermusic if you are so inclined!

The most important lesson I’ve learned in my journey is just how important it is to have a mentor early on. This can be anyone (teacher, friend, family member, fellow artist or colleague) –just someone in your corner who believes in you and knows the ropes enough to show you the way…or at least open the door and point you in the right direction! Plus, its so nice to have someone to celebrate even your smallest accomplishments with along the way. In the future, I hope to reach a point where I can be this person for someone else.