Salty's Live Music: Independent Artist Lily Vakili on Music-Life Balance, Album Release & Tour Plans

In this episode we sit down with independent artist Lily Vakili, who shares her multifaceted journey from being an attorney to pursuing her passion for music. Lily discusses the profound impact of her family on her songwriting and artistic expression. 

We go deep into the challenges of balancing music with personal responsibilities, the release of her new album 'Oceans of Kansas', and the importance of live music experiences. Lily also reflects on her musical influences and her upcoming East Coast tour, emphasizing the need for genuine connections in the music industry.

This episode is proudly sponsored by Band Groupeez, a live music service connecting music lovers with independent musicians and local venues.

Access your local music scene now at https://bandgroupeez.com

About Lily Vakili:

Lily Vakili is an artist defined by her unrelenting curiosity and devotion to storytelling. Born in Honduras and raised across multiple continents, from Thailand to Puerto Rico to Iowa, Vakili has lived a life steeped in diverse cultural textures and human experience. Her journey to music has been unconventional: before taking the stage, she was a dancer, actor, lawyer, and mother. That personal complexity now fuels her art, giving rise to songs that pulse with authenticity and emotional intensity. Over the past decade, Vakili has released five studio albums, each one expanding her boundary-pushing approach to rock and roots music, earning her recognition as a fiercely original voice in the independent music scene.

Her latest album, Oceans of Kansas, marks the most intimate and adventurous chapter of her career. The record unfolds like an emotional map, blending blues, balladry, and rock with poetic vulnerability. Inspired by a visit to Kansas’s prehistoric fossil beds, Vakili uses the metaphor of an ancient inland sea to explore memory, transformation, and resilience. Songs like “Okoboji,” “Hold On They Say,” and “One Human Being” showcase her gift for balancing grit with grace, merging raw storytelling with a timeless, human touch.

This fall, Vakili brings Oceans of Kansas to life on tour, performing with an ensemble of seasoned musicians whose chemistry elevates her electrifying live shows. To our local Georgia folks- Lily takes the stage at Eddie’s Attic in Decatur, GA, on November 16 2025.

With her new album Oceans of Kansas, and current tour Lily’s momentum is building towards a flourishing music career.

Check out her music, tour stops and show her some love at the links below!

Tour Dates: https://lilyvakili.com/shows/
Lily Vakili on Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/lily-vakili/1204275767
Lily Vakili on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2OOa7vr0q0sr4eBuujgNXa
Lily Vakili on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilyvakili/

#indiemusician #independentmusic #independentartist #artistinterview #musicindustry #indiemusic

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Transcript

Brad Banyas (00:06)
All right, everybody, welcome back. You're listening to Salty's Live Music. I'm Brad Banyas. I'll be your host today. This interview is sponsored by Band Groupeez and we have Lily Vakili on today, and she's an amazing artist. Her story's just, you're gonna wanna listen to this. And she's promoting a new album out called Oceans of Kansas. And ⁓ so Lily, welcome to the show.

Lily Vakili (00:28)
Thank you, thank you, thank you for having me. This is a treat.

Brad Banyas (00:32)
Yeah, I was excited. was reading just, you know, it's not all, I love people that have broad experiences, right? You are an attorney, a mom, an actress, a dancer. And like when you, you know, the older I get, when I see that, I'm like, it's just so cool to see that people have done so many different things that kind of shape their life. So.

Lily Vakili (00:57)
Some of us are rolling stones, what can I say? ⁓

Brad Banyas (01:02)
I love it. love it. so you're, you're songwriting, like, you, this is this, just tell everybody like, who you are, you know, what you love and what you're about, because I, can get into the songs that I think are amazing. And I love the background of oceans of Kansas is very, very intellectual as what that means from behind prehistoric times. This is your show. You tell the world about Lily.

Lily Vakili (01:29)
my gosh, I was hoping you'd do that. you know, so, ⁓ you know, I guess it could be a long tail, but I'll keep it brief. You know, you asked me what's important to me and ⁓ you mentioned a few things that are important to me and they are, you know, my family and my friends and nature and ⁓ considering kind of.

Brad Banyas (01:32)
Ha

Lily Vakili (01:57)
what I can do in life to kind of...

I kind of think of it like making things a little bit easier sometimes for people in whatever way you can. And sometimes, you know, we have these ideas that it has to be something super big, you know, and the fact is I've been the beneficiary of such kindness, small acts of kindness that have carried me through.

And so when I finally kind of came back to music and songwriting and this all came out of ⁓ my beloved mother who's no longer with us, suffered from Alzheimer's. And, you know, so I would spend a lot of time with her ⁓ and she would be sometimes in and out. But

She is really the reason in a lot of ways that I ended up pursuing this. I went to her and I said, you know, mommy, ⁓ I'm kind of having a hard time. And I would just talk to her because I knew, I just believe this is my mother and, you know, I'm going to be here with her in love, with love, and I'm going to talk to her just like my mother. And so I came to her and I just said, you know, mommy, I don't know what I'm going to do.

I feel like I need to ⁓ come back to a creative life. And if I don't, I ⁓ don't know what I'm gonna do. I was going through some hard things. And...

And she had kind of been looking off and she looked over at me. She had these beautiful green blue eyes and this red hair. You know, even though it was gray at that point, but I just always see her in her beauty, you know. And she said, what are you waiting for? No one else will do it for you.

Brad Banyas (03:57)
Wow! That's amazing!

Lily Vakili (04:00)
And I, I was, it was such a, it was such a, it was like a zap on the head, you know, because it was so like her to be both clear eyed, give good advice, unfiltered, direct, but with love. And, and she gave me that. I wouldn't even say permission. She gave me the path.

Brad Banyas (04:18)
Right.

Right. And it's so profound.

Lily Vakili (04:30)
And I thought, all right, you know, I'm not a spring chicken, but I'm gonna get out there and try and make some of this music and try and make my way. And I've got the love of my family. I've got my kids and I'm lucky to have that. And so let's not be afraid. Let's just go ahead.

Brad Banyas (04:52)
That's amazing. so many people, both my parents that raised me ⁓ had Alzheimer's and one of my dad had Lewy bodies, which is a mix. it's just a horrible thing to watch someone go through that. just like you said, that...

That moment of clarity, like when she told you, we'll go do it because no one else is gonna do that, right? I remember my dad when they said he was gonna, I know I'm going off music here, but I think people should hear about like the experiences around this because it's pretty common. But.

Lily Vakili (05:20)
Was it good?

Yeah.

Brad Banyas (05:27)
They told us that he was gonna pass. He'd been out for two weeks. He hadn't talked to anybody. And of course, I'm at his bedside. That's your dad, right? And so he hadn't moved or talked in two weeks. And so he could feel me at the bed and he flips over and I'll never forget it. Cause they said like, he's gone, right? Like, and he's gone. ⁓ they said, ⁓ he turned over and he says,

Brad, you're a good boy, like I'm a little kid. And he goes, you don't need this shit. It's time for you to move on and let this go. And then he just looked at me, turned over, rolled over, and then he didn't talk to anyone. He made it for while. But my point is, in that moment, like that was... ⁓

his way to tell me it's okay, just like your mom, right? It's okay, you need to let it go. So anyways, I want to share that with you because I know what a burden, I know what a burden on your heart that is. Not on just having to take care of someone, but the burden on your heart to watch your beautiful mom go through that. So I'm sorry I digressed ⁓ listeners to something else, but.

Lily Vakili (06:18)
Yes. Yeah.

Thank you.

But this is what we all, this is what we share. We all know this. We know it's true. We know what it's like to care for someone, to lose someone, to love someone, to want something so badly, and sometimes it doesn't work out.

and to feel alone and all those things. And on the flip side, to feel great joy at the privilege of seeing a new day, the privilege of seeing your children grow. And those are the things I write about. mean, it is about music. think that it comes back to, I find so many people are artistic in different ways.

Brad Banyas (07:10)
Right.

Absolutely.

Lily Vakili (07:30)
They can be artistic in a very kind of technical way. Like that's their art. They're bringing their whole self to how they're thinking about a particular problem. And that may turn out in, you know, that may turn out in like a mathematical equation. Like my dad, might turn out he's a geneticist and thank heavens is still with us. And also he's a sculptor, he's an artist. And again, you know, I'm always amazed by.

Brad Banyas (07:36)
Right.

haha

Lily Vakili (08:00)
the potential in people ⁓ for creative expression and for, ⁓ you know, gumption and toughness too. Because my mother was also extremely tough in the most ladylike way, but you know, she had a backbone of steel.

Brad Banyas (08:02)
Absolutely.

Yeah.

Yeah, obviously. Yeah.

Well, you know, I think, I think what even like in the music side, you know, in business and you've been in business side and other sides of life, you know, every, everyone only sees what happens after someone's been working for some time or they see the success or they, you know, they, kind of don't realize it. You know, that singer, that artist, that entrepreneur, that attorney, that whatever you are, it's all across vocations or passions.

It took a long time for you to be sculpted into what you are, like where you're at. You might have always had those pieces, but to be sculpted now to be able to focus or have success, people don't, they just look at what you are right now, not the journey that it took for you to become whatever you are right now. You know, I don't know if that makes sense, but.

Lily Vakili (09:16)
It does. mean, that's just human nature, right? And I think ⁓ that's why I'm always so grateful when people kind of ⁓ just, you know, are down to earth and can say, yeah, of course I want to be fabulous. But of course I do. You know, I made sure my hair wasn't too crazy this morning, you know, but I also don't want to be, I don't want to give the impression that

Brad Banyas (09:44)
Right.

Lily Vakili (09:45)
everything comes easy. know, something sometimes they do well good for for whoever receives those those gifts, you know, but a lot of time, you know, there's a lot of there's a lot of legwork there's a lot of, you know, persistence, but that's, again, what we do.

Brad Banyas (09:47)
Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely, absolutely.

Sorry, for every human out there born, living, walking around right now, I mean, it is what it is. strap it on, get tough, find something you love, find some joy in something, whatever it is, and get through the hard times. So what has it been like? I mean, I know you've been a musician for a while and now you've kind of come back to it and putting it kind of as your career or what you want to do.

Lily Vakili (10:14)
Yes, yeah, you know.

Brad Banyas (10:33)
What has that been like for you? mean, obviously the new album out, your touring is pretty cool, right? I mean, it's pretty cool for saying, I'm not really an attorney anymore. I'm not a, you know, so what's that like?

Lily Vakili (10:37)
E?

But

you know, well, I mean, one, mean, I guess maybe once an attorney, always an attorney, sorry. ⁓ you know, look, I've got my day job, you know, and part of the strategy of how I've been able to do this ⁓ is really piecemeal, just.

just little by little and with the help of other people along the way. There's no way you do it alone.

Brad Banyas (11:20)
Right.

Lily Vakili (11:20)
And

you got to have that thing that you want, that you're seeking, but how you then translate that, you know, a lot of times I think there's this false idea of like, you know, you're, you're one thing. Well, nobody I know is one thing, you know, great artists are, you know, could also be, you know, have a fabulous plumbing business. mean,

Brad Banyas (11:34)
Right? No.

right

Lily Vakili (11:44)
Really, like,

you know, I was like, what's the guy, whatever, Han Solo, right? In Star Wars, right? He's a carpenter. And, you know, I just think that my dad always would explain to me, it's like the right and the left brain. He's like, it's just the right and the left brain talking.

Brad Banyas (11:49)
Yeah. Yeah.

Right, that's true. Yeah, that's true.

Lily Vakili (12:04)
You know, but I also think that as an independent artist, know, almost any almost anyone I'm dealing with has another two or three jobs. So, you know, it's kind of keeping that going. I don't mind that. I don't mind talking about it, you know, because ⁓ it also keeps you me focused on like, am I being responsible from a family standpoint, from, you know, what my obligations are?

Brad Banyas (12:14)
Yeah. yeah. Absolutely.

Lily Vakili (12:34)
I do have obligations, not like I'm 18, 20, 20. I'm in my full life now with kids and a house and all that stuff. So how am gonna do that and still pursue this thing that I feel so intensely about?

Brad Banyas (12:40)
Right.

Alright.

Right.

That's amazing. And that's amazing. And I don't want to get off on it because it do a shameless plug, but it's the whole reason that we created that the band group is platform is because artists couldn't be found if they're doing that, even playing local gigs, whatever. I mean, they needed a way to be able to kind of get that promoted. And I'll be honest with people, social media and putting stuff on Instagram and all this stuff, it's we do it and everyone does it because it's the thing to do, but it's really not.

Lily Vakili (13:19)
Okay.

Brad Banyas (13:21)
It's really not connecting you with fans who resonate with your genre or whatever and want to follow you. And your story of that with every musician, I was kind of blown away because I'm, we were naive to the, to the musician world, right? We love music, but you know, we're thinking, yeah, you guys doing your, you're playing all, you're doing pretty well. And they're like, Hey man, if we can put gas on the bus and, get a, you know, get a good steak dinner at the best, know, best Western or something.

Lily Vakili (13:37)
Yeah.

This is so cool.

Brad Banyas (13:50)
Like that's a good deal. So most of the audience and people really who listen to music are truly clueless to like the process and what goes on behind the scenes. They see the big famous people, they're clueless. Like me, I was clueless.

Lily Vakili (14:09)
It's, you've got to find ways to connect. And, you know, if band groupies is creating an environment where people can actually connect with, you know, touring, do it yourself, independent musicians, ⁓ it's a great, it's a great help. You know, I think that, you know, these social media platforms have their place, you know, but fundamentally you've got to find other ways to, connect to people, to talk to people about what you're doing. And, ⁓

Brad Banyas (14:22)
Right.

Absolutely.

Lily Vakili (14:39)
I think independent musicians are always looking for, how can I, if I'm out on tour, how can I reach people that I've never been to a place? How do I let them know that this is our sound, we'd love for you to come out, give us a chance? mean, that's what it is.

Brad Banyas (14:49)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, even just like, you know, I was listening to your songs last night and just like, I like your sound. I had no idea. Like I, I didn't know what to expect. I mean, I hadn't, you know, there's a lot of people we haven't heard of that they're probably famous. I could be sitting next to Post Malone and not even know who the hell he is. So I got to tell people, take offense. I don't know. But my point in that is, you know, finding that new sound or finding an artist that you resonate with.

Lily Vakili (15:16)
Yeah!

Thank

Brad Banyas (15:29)
⁓ to me has been really interesting through interviewing all these people because there's so many talented people like you that, that are really great musicians. And you're like, how come I've never heard of this person? Right. You know, so, but, well, tell, tell me about the album. Tell me about like why, what, what kind of songs to expect? What's your favorite song? ⁓

Lily Vakili (15:44)
I know.

Brad Banyas (15:57)
so that we can get some of that out where people can try to go listen to listen to it.

Lily Vakili (15:59)
Sure. Well,

mean, the best, I think the best thing about it was that like, know, so it's called, here it is. Here it is. All right. Cause you know, so the UPS guy delivered these boxes yesterday and he was kind enough cause he dropped them on my, you know, not dropped them, but he put them on my front step. And I was like, ⁓ you know,

Brad Banyas (16:06)
Yeah, show, put it up there.

Lily Vakili (16:24)
Could I ask you to bring them in? I hope I'm not getting you in trouble. But anyway, he was so nice. He brought them all in. And then it turned out that he was born in the Dominican Republic. And we started speaking Spanish because I speak Spanish. And he was like, so what's in these boxes? And I'm like, this.

Brad Banyas (16:27)
Yeah, right.

Right. That's

awesome.

Lily Vakili (16:46)
This straight from Minneapolis, by the way, ⁓ a little outfit called copycats media. And I used to live in Minneapolis, so I kind of had a soft spot and they did a great job. So here it is. It's oceans of Kansas. And yeah, you're getting the first view.

Brad Banyas (16:49)
⁓ that's great.

I love it, I love it so.

I love it. That's great. I mean, I love albums. I think they need to bring it back. Get rid of Spotify and all this stuff and let's get... Yeah.

Lily Vakili (17:11)
We're trying to bring it back.

And one of the reasons why I thought, I'm going to make this investment in this. One, I've got great people to work with. All the photographs are by Laura Callahan, and she's amazing. This long-term musician who I've played with multiple times in various incarnations, Bruce Hansen, did the whole design. ⁓ My daughter,

I'm not going to say her name just so she won't freak out. But my daughter was the one who said, mommy, why don't you use your own handwriting with a title? And I said, I don't know if I can do that. And she said,

Brad Banyas (17:37)
Hahaha!

yeah, that's great.

Lily Vakili (17:49)
She was standing right over me and she said, mommy, here, here's it. Just, just, just relax and just write it out like you want it, like you imagine it would look. And that's what came out. And I totally credit her with just giving me that idea and then helping me execute on it. So anyway.

Brad Banyas (17:57)
Ha

Yeah.

That's great. It's clean.

It's clean. ⁓

Lily Vakili (18:11)
Yeah, so and the lyrics

are inside because I was like, I always like reading the lyrics. And I like having a physical thing that I can look at, you know?

Brad Banyas (18:17)
Yeah.

Absolutely. Old school. It's old school. mean, I think society needs to go back to just, that's why I love, I've kind of fallen in love with the live music experience again, because after all the BS, it's just such a better, it's it's a feel. mean, I, I'd rather, you know, some of well, they don't sound as good live. Okay. Well, they're not in studio and the sound gear might be shitty wherever they're at or whatever it may be. It doesn't matter, you know, so.

Lily Vakili (18:33)
Yeah, it's so much more fun. my god, it's so much more fun.

Right.

That's right.

It's the energy and you know, it's that, it's that direct communication. ⁓ yeah, I just find it so much more interesting. And you're right. Sometimes the sound quality isn't great, but you know, that's part of the risk that you're taking to actually, you know, you can, it depends on what the listener wants to, like, if you just want to put something on, cause you're going for a walk with a dog. Fine. But

Brad Banyas (18:54)
Absolutely.

Lily Vakili (19:17)
If you got home, you're sitting there with a beer or whatever, you just want to listen to some music and you're like, what are the lyrics to that song? Sometimes I like the fact that I don't have to pick up my phone or look at my lap. I can just look at a vinyl and just sit there in my own privacy, read it, think about it. To me, it's just enjoyable. But I think the live performance, which I love that you're doing,

Brad Banyas (19:34)
Yep.

Yeah. ⁓

Lily Vakili (19:46)
and promoting that for bands that are coming through, that's the thing that, I mean, that's how you see people doing what they do. Like for real, for real, real, you know, and you see how the musicians communicate.

Brad Banyas (19:56)
Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, it's my favorite thing to do, ⁓ to be honest with you, because then we do a short interview like this after, but just to sit there and listen to them. I mean, we've had, I honestly, I believe that I don't, if we had 17 or 18, if there's probably seven to nine of them, that if they get a chance or get a stage, they will be known.

Lily Vakili (20:04)
Great.

Right.

Yeah. Yeah.

Brad Banyas (20:28)
they

will they will be known obviously in the states, maybe worldwide. mean, that kind of talent, it's insane to sit here and just like listen to it.

Lily Vakili (20:37)
There's

so many good musical artists out there. I mean, I'm constantly listening to different writers, bands. I'm just always interested in what's out there. I find it really hopeful too. mean, you know, and some of it I'm like, ⁓ that's not to my taste, but hey, it's still really good, you know?

Brad Banyas (20:46)
Right.

Yeah.

Absolutely. I think I love all kinds of music. like I, you know, I could be listening to rap, to blues, to country, to, you know, hard rock, to, you know, classic rock, to, I don't know, bluegrass. So I don't, you know, I don't kind of.

judge music across that. just kind of, it's good or it's got a good beat to it, I'll definitely listen to it. So who influenced, like, if you thought of someone, like I would say, if I was probably going to be a rock star, I'd probably be influenced by Jim Morrison and The Doors, with a cross of maybe Van Halen and some other type people. So like, did anyone influence you or you feel like you have a draw to the way you like they sing?

Lily Vakili (21:40)
⁓ So many, so, so, so, so many. So, and I will get back to Oceans of Kansas, by the way, because there's a really good story there. We go there now and then I'll come back to the influences. So the great story there was I got the opportunity to join a tour, a West Coast tour ⁓ as an opener, ⁓ solo, right? And this was something I'd never done before. And this was last, this was in 2024.

Brad Banyas (21:49)
Let's do that. Let's go there now. Then we can go your info. Yeah, let's go there now.

Lily Vakili (22:10)
and with this amazing ⁓ artist out of the UK named John Douglas. So he was doing this tour. I joined him. I went out to LA and then ⁓ rented a vehicle because we had two different vehicles. And ⁓ I told my family about this and I come from a big family. And they all were like, Lily?

First of all, my eldest sister calls me. She says, Lily, I think daddy's worried.

Brad Banyas (22:43)
Ha

Lily Vakili (22:46)
He's like, that you're gonna do this all by yourself. Like this is just as, you know, we're all a little worried. And so I thought about it and I thought about it. And so I reached out to one of my brothers. Now I have three brothers and two sisters. And so he happens to be a former Submariner. And he agreed to come with me and be my roadie.

Brad Banyas (23:15)
that's awesome.

Lily Vakili (23:16)
He's my elder by three years. And I'm just saying that for anyone from a large family, right? So I'm the fifth of six. And so he was the roadie. He was my merch guy. You know, he was like, you know, the muscle, not that it was ever needed, but and we had an amazing journey.

Brad Banyas (23:22)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Lily Vakili (23:43)
up all the way up California up to Seattle and then since we were there I was like I said you know I'm gonna basically use this as an opportunity to visit all my family and so and so we're like we've got cousins in Idaho so we went over to Boise and stayed with cousins there who were just amazing and like we we pulled in they were already having a party they were like yeah we're just we just told all the cousins to come to work.

Brad Banyas (23:44)
Cut. ⁓

Yeah.

That's awesome.

Lily Vakili (24:12)
since you're

coming through. And we had a great time. Then we drove down to Colorado and then Colorado across to Kansas. And you know, first of all, just mind-blowingly beautiful country. I mean, we all know this, but, I mean, being out there on the road, long hours of just looking at the landscape.

was, ⁓ I mean, it was emotional. I was struck by the beauty of it and the variety of people and kind of the sameness too. Like, you know, we're keeping it really close to the bone in terms of where we're staying, how much we're spending, you know, what we're eating. I mean, all that stuff, because it's really like, as they like to in business, thin margins.

Brad Banyas (25:06)
Right.

Right, right, understand.

Lily Vakili (25:12)
Super thin margins. ⁓ But we left Denver, going across Eastern Colorado, and then we crossed into Kansas. Now, my mother's family is all from the Midwest. And ⁓ we crossed into Kansas, and it was so funny. But my brother and I were like, thank God we're in the Midwest. We're in the Midwest. Like we felt like it had been this epic journey. And now we had some sense of familiarity. But we were pretty tired. We had to get to Kansas City.

That was a long haul. And so I called my husband and I'm like, honey, we can't go direct to Kansas City. We've got to stop somewhere. So my husband, was a very smart man. He's like doing his research and he me back and you're going to stop in Hayes, Kansas. And I'm like, well, why Hayes, Kansas? He's like, trust me, you're going to stay there overnight. But you got to get there before five o'clock.

because there's someplace you gotta go. ⁓

When did you become my tour manager? We don't have a gig there. You know, we're just going to go fall asleep. He's like, no, no, no, no, you got to get there before five and then go to this place. What place? The Sternberg Museum of Natural History.

And I'm thinking.

All right, I'm gonna trust him. We've been together a long time. So we get in, we rush over, my brother and I, and we get to the museum. And it's basically like being staffed by like two high school students or something. We walk in, there's nobody else there. And they were super nice. They were like, yeah, just go in and look around. And... ⁓

Brad Banyas (26:37)
You

All right, yeah.

Lily Vakili (26:59)
Again, my mind was completely blown, right? This museum, and I just urge anybody who's in the general area to go there. It has some of the most extraordinary fossils from when Kansas was an ocean, which was 80 million years ago. And here we are in this museum all on our own, going around looking at these.

Brad Banyas (27:20)
Yeah.

Lily Vakili (27:27)
extraordinary fossils of huge sea creatures and amazing kind of like flower-like organisms that had all settled at the bottom of the sea in some catastrophic event and they were all they were families of these things that look like flowers are called crinoids they're also called lilies they had all collapsed to the bottom of the sea as a family

Brad Banyas (27:50)
that's awesome.

Lily Vakili (27:55)
and I was looking at now 80 million years later, ⁓ I was so struck by this. And the fact that I was there with my brother, who's not just a Submariner, but also a fisherman and has had a great love of the sea forever, it was so meaningful. And I really started thinking about the way our lives are so layered. And, you know, we find out.

Brad Banyas (27:59)
Yeah.

Right.

Lily Vakili (28:23)
new information, sometimes late in life. We uncover things, we remember things, and I'm like, how do I? I want to songs and make an album that kind of honors that. And so, Oceans of Kansas.

Brad Banyas (28:43)
That's great.

That's amazing.

Lily Vakili (28:48)
It made such an impression on me, you know, and that, you know, you were telling me your story and that's what about the origins of salty MF. I'm like, yeah, it's these things that happen that you don't necessarily, you weren't looking for necessarily.

Brad Banyas (28:56)
Yeah.

Right. But it, you know, it is like in today's busy world and all the, you know, ADHD kind of there's a butterfly, which I'm like that a lot too, is to reflect on that and the profoundness of that, that Kansas was an ocean, whatever, like, you know, nine out 10 people would never even think of that. Or first, if you said, you're like, what are you talking about?

Lily Vakili (29:29)
I know! ⁓

Brad Banyas (29:31)
What

are you talking about? But the depth, mean, that's where I like where the depth, there's things that are always typically deeper when someone does something. And I always want to know, okay, you didn't just drive through Kansas and say, the wheat fields are great or in the oceans of Kansas. I knew that there was some deeper meaning to that. And to me, I think that's just amazing. Curiosity, never become

Lily Vakili (29:33)
Yeah.

Yes.

Brad Banyas (30:00)
Not curious, always have curiosity.

Lily Vakili (30:02)
And being open, being open

to the wonders of the world that are out there and that are really available to us in so many ways. You know, I have this one photograph of one of my daughters and ⁓ she's probably about three at the time. And she's, I love it because she's just scrutinizing as if it were the entirety of the universe. She's scrutinizing a leaf.

Brad Banyas (30:27)
Hahaha.

Yep.

Lily Vakili (30:33)
And I was like watching that childlike wonder, you know, and focus. And I was thinking, we often lose that. We lose sight of it when we're so pulled in so many directions and have a lot of daily obligations and, you know, and woes and pains and this and that, and this and that. And you really, really got to sometimes fight to hold that.

Brad Banyas (30:36)
Right. Yep.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Lily Vakili (31:00)
As this poet once wrote, this, hold your quiet center, hold it and don't let it go.

Brad Banyas (31:07)
Absolutely.

Absolutely. Well, I mean, that's a, that's, love the album. I love the whole story about even your daughter involved in your family. And as you and I were talking before, mean, family, friends, and you know, that's what this, this is all about, right? And ⁓ that's really what life is about. So I love that you get your inspiration from that and that your, that your brother was willing to go with you to do that. That's, that's awesome as well. Yeah. I'm sure.

Lily Vakili (31:16)
I don't

Yeah, there are some other stories about that adventure that maybe we can

talk about off the record. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Trust me, there were some road stories. Influences, you asked about influences.

Brad Banyas (31:38)
Yeah, we'll have a beer or something after.

That's great. Well, that's great. Well, yeah,

let's just, you know, just curious because, I mean, you do have a, I say that, but I think your vocals are kind of unique. So I'm always curious. If there's not someone, it's fine. Like, I just started singing.

Lily Vakili (32:01)
Thank you.

No, mean,

vocally, didn't, I never considered myself a singer. Really. Like, I think I've been learning to find my voice as a singer, but it's a process and ⁓ I've learned, I've had the benefit of.

Brad Banyas (32:11)
Right.

Right.

Lily Vakili (32:26)
learning from a lot of other people. And in some ways, this one person told me, you just have to sing like you're talking, but singing like, like, you know, it's like a mental like, get yourself where you're so that you don't pretend to sing. I think I was pretending to sing for a long time. But I was singing up here or something like that, you know.

Brad Banyas (32:45)
Yeah.

Right? Yeah.

Lily Vakili (32:51)
And then, and then I, over time, it kind of crystallized. But I'll give you some names, though. I mean, of course. So the fifth of six siblings means that your musical education starts with them, all of your older brothers and sisters. So for me, that was, you know, one sister's collection of Joan Baez.

Brad Banyas (33:11)
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Lily Vakili (33:21)
one of my brother's, you know, entire collection of the Who, the Guess Who, America, Nitty-Gritty Dirt Band, ⁓ my other sisters, Sly and the Family Stone, ⁓ and other brothers, Selection of Kiss, and then my younger brothers, ⁓ let's see, The Cure or The Clash. I mean, you know, it was, and then, you know, and then I lived in Minneapolis, Prince,

Brad Banyas (33:26)
Ha.

Lily Vakili (33:51)
There are so many sources. grew up mainly, I grew up mainly in Puerto Rico and we went to school at an Air Force base, the US Air Force base. And I lived in an agricultural research station, basically kind of like it was government housing, you know, like a, ⁓ but like in a beautiful jungle. Tremendous amount of freedom, I will say that ⁓ as a child. So.

Brad Banyas (33:51)
Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

Lily Vakili (34:18)
got to explore a lot. But, you know, we went up to school on a bus to the military base. And, you know, if you if you grew up around military, you know, they're coming from all over the place. And so but still a lot of country, a lot of blues, a lot of soul, R &B. So, you know, those were the sounds I was hearing. You know, I remember my mother also, like I think it was my mother who introduced me to Johnny Cash.

Brad Banyas (34:27)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Lily Vakili (34:49)
you know, ⁓ Willie Nelson, obviously. But I also eventually started hearing other things like jazz singers, know, Nancy Wilson, Billie Holiday. my gosh. These, expressiveness in their singing, you know, really.

Brad Banyas (35:09)
Right.

Lily Vakili (35:13)
caught my ear and I wondered what is it about any given singer or performer that makes that connection with people? What is it about the way they're performing? In Puerto Rico, I listened to like Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe, who is this amazing salsa singer. I mean,

Brad Banyas (35:24)
Right.

Lily Vakili (35:35)
I could sing like him. One, guess I'd be a man, but you know, he's just got this great voice. And so I, I do spend time really listening to how people use their voice, not to mimic them, but to understand how they've enabled their own voice to come out. You know, the pretenders, Debbie Harry, Patti Smith, right? That rawness.

Brad Banyas (35:36)
Yeah, that's great.

Right.

Yeah.

Lily Vakili (36:05)
Nick Cave in The Pretenders, and the Bad Seeds. Lou Reed. Springsteen. You know, I mean.

Brad Banyas (36:12)
Yeah, Lou Reed was great.

Yeah, I mean, say your influences, much like everybody comes, you know, I think just from the broad base, which is awesome. Cause you know, Mike, I've got four kids and they all come like that. And I finally got the last one. He's from my music. So he's still listening to it. And he's so he's 20, but everyone's like, how do you, what is that? How do you listen? goes, my dad's like,

Lily Vakili (36:34)
⁓ cool.

Brad Banyas (36:41)
literally conditioned me from the time I was born to listen to this music. So, so, so absolutely.

Lily Vakili (36:44)
Yes. Totally, totally. It's all those influences, right? I mean, I love

it. Sometimes I think it's because like I thought I was thinking about the covers. I don't do covers very often because frankly, I think the people who, you know, do them super well are the ones who had the hits with them. But every so often I'll do a cover and I was thinking about the covers I do and I'm like, that's really an eclectic mix. mean, you know, and it's like.

Brad Banyas (37:01)
Right, absolutely.

Yeah, that's

Lily Vakili (37:14)
Right now I've got these two that hopefully I'll perform at Eddie's attic, know, when I'm doing the show there. ⁓ And one is On the Road Again, but not the Willie Nelson, as wonderful as that is, it's not the Willie Nelson song. ⁓ It was put out by this group, I don't know if you know them, Canned Heat, canned heat, kind of blues, American blues. I mean, and I was introduced to it, you know. ⁓

Brad Banyas (37:26)
Right.

Can't eat.

Lily Vakili (37:40)
by friend and I just loved the sound. And it is of course based on a song written by a black blues guitarist, like in the fifties or something. And it's just got this great kind of like hypnotic drone.

Brad Banyas (37:53)
Yeah.

Lily Vakili (38:00)
And I realized I'm like, one, I love that. And two, I've incorporated that before I even heard this music in some of my own music. And so there's this kind of cross pollination that happens, you know, where, you know, and anyway, ⁓ Julian Welch, I've just become, you know, late to the party, but

Brad Banyas (38:07)
Right.

That's great.

We'll tell it like... ⁓ yeah.

Big fan.

Lily Vakili (38:30)
big, big fan of

her lyrics and music.

Brad Banyas (38:39)
Well, let's like, so you're getting ready to start the East East Coast tour that's starting in New York, right? So I think over the next couple of months, let's, let's tell the fans like, ⁓ you know, where you're kicking off and then, you know, where you're coming. ⁓ I know that Eddie's attic here for listeners that are in Atlanta will know Eddie's attic. It's, know, it's classic music scene here in Atlanta. So I know you'll be there, but like share, share with us when that kicks off and.

Lily Vakili (39:06)
Sure. So this Thursday, we're getting things going and we're going to have a band show ⁓ at Drum in New York City. And then Friday, we head on up the road to Massachusetts and we'll be at the perfectly named venue, The Lily Pad. ⁓ I know. I like, I think I have to play that venue. ⁓

Brad Banyas (39:11)
they're okay, great.

Haha

Yeah, absolutely.

Lily Vakili (39:36)
and we're to do a show there on Friday night and then we come back and kind of do some other album related stuff head back out on the road on November 13th. So November 13th we're doing a show at this wonderful place and this is really eclectic but it's in Marksboro, New Jersey which is out in a very rural part western part of New Jersey.

Beautiful. ⁓ And we're going to be playing at Ruthie's ⁓ Speakeasy Garage. And ⁓ I'm just delighted because it's a combination of like it's right next to this mill where they're milling the grain that's been picked in the field and developing this whole like sustainability thing with local farmers. And this Speakeasy Garage is

Brad Banyas (40:11)
⁓ killer.

Lily Vakili (40:32)
part of this whole mill area. And so, you know, it's going to be super kind of casual, like show up. One of our friends there will be bringing his blues guitar and, you know, we'll just see how it goes. Yeah, I love that kind of stuff. I love that kind of environment. and then we go, then we're heading down. Oh, we're going to be in Bowling Green, Virginia.

Brad Banyas (40:34)
Right.

that's awesome. Those are the best kind.

That's, that's kind of.

Lily Vakili (41:02)
on the 14th of November at The Heist, which is a great place. Anybody around there, like Charlottesville, they should head over, it's just about an hour away, or Fredericksburg, come down to The Heist. It's a fantastic venue, been there before, and they've been super welcoming and love it. Then we go to North Carolina, to Charlotte.

Brad Banyas (41:06)
The heist.

Lily Vakili (41:28)
I'm super happy because as part of my mission to always find places where I have family, I have family. So I get to see the nieces and nephews. I mean, you know, this is the good stuff, right? And so we're going to.

Brad Banyas (41:34)
That's great.

Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome. Auntie's

in a rock and roll band. Auntie's a music star. We got to go see Auntie. That's awesome. Yeah.

Lily Vakili (41:48)
I love it, I love

it. You get to bounce a couple of babies on your knee and then you go, you know, rock it out. Right, why not? ⁓ So we're gonna be at Petra's with some great bands there, Spirals, Friend of a Friend. ⁓ Then we go to Eddie's Attic. That's on the 16th. ⁓

Brad Banyas (41:51)
You ⁓

You'll like Eddie's attic.

Lily Vakili (42:11)
And an amazing artist I was only introduced to recently, Jessie Williams. She's a local artist in the area. Just amazing. And she's going to join us as opener at Eddie's. ⁓ Super happy about that. Just love it. Can't wait to hear her music live. And then we kind of make our way up again and we hit Philadelphia on the 18th. We'll be at World Cafe Live in the lounge.

Brad Banyas (42:22)
great.

Lily Vakili (42:40)
with ⁓ Mighty Joe Castro and the Gravaman. How about that for a name? And again, great friends there. So I get to visit friends there. And then we go to ⁓ Java, Java, Jamanjava, which is in Vienna, which is DC area, suburb of DC. And I'll be crashing on my friend's couch.

Brad Banyas (42:40)
That'd be great.

Philly! That sounds like a good name for Philly, man.

You're

Lily Vakili (43:08)
I'm trying to figure out where the couches are.

Brad Banyas (43:08)
right. It sounds like a real artist lifestyle. You get back to crashing on luxurious couches and stuff. That's right.

Lily Vakili (43:17)
Every dollar counts. So,

you know, it's kind of like this is when you know who your friends are and who your family really is. You know.

Brad Banyas (43:25)
Absolutely. Well, that's great. Well,

I love it. I think it's amazing that you're, I think it's amazing that you've kind of invested back in this and, you know, release this album and, you know, you're having fun and you're writing about deep things that people should, you know, actually listen to. And I, I, I love it. I'm proud of it. It's awesome. We'll come see you here in Eddie's Attic in Atlanta.

Lily Vakili (43:52)
Please do, please

do. I would love to have you come to the show. We've got a great group of musicians. One is from Decatur. ⁓ He's the bassist. Drew, Drew, it's a shout out, Drew, and a couple of other musicians who played on the album with me. ⁓

Brad Banyas (44:06)
See you.

Lily Vakili (44:13)
Eric Burns and Joe on drums. So this is a great group of musicians and I think, you know, we want to show up and make music for people and ⁓

Brad Banyas (44:27)
Well, I can tell from just

listening to your songs last time, mean, you're going to like, people are going to like it. I mean, it's, like, it's not something that I think anyone that likes any genre music, I think can enjoy it. And, ⁓ I think he'd be good also for, Matilda's on the pines down here. So the good news is we're, we're starting to like, as we're aggregating all these live music venues and band groupies, ⁓ we're starting to be able to like, no, like, Hey, you should check out this.

Lily Vakili (44:34)
Thank you.

Brad Banyas (44:57)
musician and band groupies and book them for your venue because they fit exactly your whole crowd. And that's been pretty interesting because now we can like match, mix and match people.

Lily Vakili (45:00)
Nice.

Thank you.

Well, sometimes you need

like a translator or like, you know, a matchmaker because, know, you can go and tell people we're fabulous. You're really going to love our music. But until somebody else has kind of vouched for you, which is, understand it. That's the way it works. And, and, and often should work. You want someone to vouch for you because then you know, it's, you know, the real deal.

Brad Banyas (45:16)
Right. Right.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Yeah. Well, I think you're the real deal. in, in, in, in, in, wrapping and wrapping and getting to closure, like where do you want people to, where do you, the best place for them to find you on your, on your webpage, like, ⁓ tell everybody, and we'll put all this stuff in the show notes and all that, but just give you the chance to tell everybody.

Lily Vakili (45:44)
Yeah.

Thanks.

Well, I mean, you know, always visit the website. I'm always, you know, I think that's a great place because that's like my place, you know, and it's just lily vackely dot com. And that's where you'll find the shows. You'll find the links to everything else. And you can kind of decide where you want to listen to the music. You do you want to on a streaming platform on Apple Music, you know, do you want to get a, you know.

Brad Banyas (46:04)
Yeah.

Lily Vakili (46:24)
vinyl or a CD. You know, I'm still into the CDs because the radio guys love and gals love the CDs because then they've got something in their hand and because oh look I'm doing my job. Woo! So we got a CD and you know again and the lyrics are in here. I'm always like no that we have to write the lyrics.

Brad Banyas (46:26)
Right.

There it is.

So can they buy that? Can they buy it off your website? Can they buy? Okay. All right. Hey, I'm sorry. Sorry ass. just, you know.

Lily Vakili (46:50)
We're setting it up. mean, hold me to it. But my, no, no, no,

it's good. My, my web guru, Nick, if you're listening, I'm talking to you. Remember we talked about putting stuff up. Yeah. Nick, get this stuff. So people can buy it. ⁓

Brad Banyas (47:04)
Nick, get on it dude, get on it Nick.

Lily Vakili (47:12)
And I also write on Substack because I like to, I thought at some point I want to write about what I do and just in a way that is honest to me and that I can share with people and not necessarily on like social media. So I have a Substack page, which you can subscribe to free if you want. And you want to put a few bucks in the tip jar, it's always greatly appreciated. ⁓ but that's another place you can find me and otherwise, yeah, you know, YouTube is, has also been very

Brad Banyas (47:22)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Lily Vakili (47:42)
very good friend to us. And I think a lot of people access our videos and things like that on YouTube.

Brad Banyas (47:44)
That's great.

Well, you're I'm gonna when we get off, I'm gonna talk to you a little bit about what we're doing. You're gonna like what we're doing. So but but so I'm gonna wrap it up. Lily Vakili, you've heard of her. You now know her. You've heard her story. She's a deep thinker, a deep writer. It's something her voice is great. You're gonna love here. So check her out. And on any of the channels locally here, we'll get her on on Band Groupeez You can see her EPK profile live and follow her anywhere in the world.

Lily Vakili (47:55)
Alright.

Brad Banyas (48:18)
but we were gracious for you. We're looking forward you to be here in November at Eddie's Attic. We will be supporting you. So, Salty's Live Music, Salty Nation, that's it. You heard it, an amazing artist. Until next time, stay true. Thank you.

Lily Vakili (48:25)
Thank you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is great.

All