Ep. 15 – Stacia Thiel

Stacia Thiel is a classically trained musician, born and raised in rural Wisconsin on an eclectic mix of old time country, '60s folk, and barbershop harmonies. She has been writing and performing music since childhood and cut her first full-length album of original folk/pop songs at age 17. With a master’s degree in vocal performance (opera) she uses her voice and registers in ways that fans have described as 'powerful and achingly beautiful.' While her music combines the classic elements of Americana, Folk and Country her soaring melodies, poetic lyrics and vocal prowess serve up a sound that feels fresh.  

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SPEAKER_04 0:10

Hello, everybody, and welcome to another edition of Acoustic Northeast, where we talk about the singers and songwriters and the acoustic music scene in the Northeast. Yes! And we interview musicians who play live for us and you in studio. I am co-host George Malice.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

And I am co-host Dave Goldenberg. And today we're sponsored by HearitThere.com, which is a wonderful website where you can check out what's playing live, where and when, uh, in the New York Tri-State area. That's at HearitThere.com by WBXO Internet Radio, streaming from beautiful Hopewell Junction, New York, playing um not just classic rock but lots more, even rumor has it, playing this show. Absolutely. Um and also Hudson Harding Folk Radio Promoter. So you folkies, uh give Hudson Harding a call.

SPEAKER_04 1:08

And you can listen to us, obviously, wherever you're listening right now, or any other streaming platform. Uh, we're also on YouTube, and our website, what you can listen to the show, is acousticnortheast.com. And like we said, also on wbxo.com. And today in studio we have a wonderful singer-songwriter, and her name is Statia. Did I say it wrong? No, you said it correctly. Oh, God, thank God. Stacia Thiel. And Stasia and I met two or three years back. We were playing down at the bitter end in the um was it the New York songwriter showcase, whatever they called it.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

It was the John Platt.

SPEAKER_04 1:53

Oh, it was John Platt on your radar. Oh, okay. Yeah, and I was listening to and watching Stasia perform, and I was like, I was blown away. And so when we started this show, I said to Dave, Dave, we've got to have Stasia on, and Stasia's here. So welcome to the show. Thank you.

unknown 2:10

I'm happy to be here.

SPEAKER_04 2:11

Will you kick us off with a song and tell us what you want to play?

SPEAKER_01 2:15

So I'm gonna start off with a song called Sunny Days off of my album Straight to the Middle.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

All those sunny days keep me out of trouble and show me the way. I can't seem to find it myself. Get you on the double. Don't hesitate. No one's crying woe of today. I'm not time when you make it come on now, take time to be the lucky one. Let it slip away. And how the sunny days show me what it's all for and pull me out of the haze. The sweet lights so blind then maybe it's the lonely heart. She locked up the gates, nothing left to do but climb up on there, and I'll take time when you make it come undone. I'll take time to be a real lucky one. Let it slip up way and I'll take time to be the lucky one. I'll take time to be the lucky one slipper. Oh, who stay.

SPEAKER_03 5:40

That's Stasia Teal, sorry, playing uh Sunny Days. And I will tell you, I'm sitting maybe six feet away and I had to hold on to my seat so I didn't get knocked over by your pipes. I I'm gonna guess that that's a trained voice. Tell us tell us a little bit about your musical background.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

It is. I I will, yes, it is a trained voice. Uh I did go to uh graduate school actually and studied vocal performance, studied opera of all things, uh, many moons ago. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:10

Wow. Do you still and you still do some opera stuff occasionally?

SPEAKER_01 6:13

I do some classical. You know, I really I'll pretty much sing anything. I do a lot of classical, I'll do musical theater. Uh, you know, singing and songwriting is really my kind of sweet spot. Uh, but I do enjoy anything that moves people. That's really that's really kind of the thing that draws me in. If it's something that moves me and I feel emotionally inspired, I'm in.

SPEAKER_04 6:34

Beautiful. So you you kicked us off with Sunny Days, which was from your first album, Straight to the Middle, although we did find out there was a previous album and you were telling us. I didn't know if you were gonna share that. We we're not we're not gonna stay on that subject too long, but I found it very interesting that I think you started playing guitar at about 16, and then at 17 you recorded this album.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

I did. I did. I got my first guitar at 16 and taught myself how to play, got a chord book and just started kind of looking things over, and these songs just started tumbling out.

SPEAKER_03 7:11

That's that's amazing. Yeah. What what I mean, 17. So you were a junior or senior in high school.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Senior, senior in high school.

SPEAKER_03 7:18

What what drove you to? Was it adolescent angst or was it just some kind of mm-the magnetism of music?

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Definitely some some angst, I'm gonna say I grew up in a really small town in the Midwest called Seymour, home of the hamburger.

SPEAKER_03 7:31

And well, what state?

SPEAKER_01 7:33

In Wisconsin. And I it's it was a lovely place, beautiful upbringing, and at the same time, I could not wait to get out and see the world. And music and writing music just felt like this kind of I could escape. I could get out, I could express myself. And yeah, I started writing songs. I'd climb out of my bedroom window and sit on the roof of our house.

SPEAKER_03 7:57

And that's a classic image, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Yeah. Play songs and sometimes smoke a clove cigarette, which God only knows why I was doing that. What what were you listening to at the time that kind of inspired you and and you know, I have to say that when Tracy Chapman's fast car album came out, changed my life. I felt I had lived such a kind of kind of sweet yet sheltered life that when that record hit and I had a cassette tape and a little headset I would play, and I'd go to the local park and swing on the swings and listen to that thing into the night. Wow. And I felt like, wow, this is this really speaks to me. I belong in this space, was how it felt.

SPEAKER_04 8:40

Was there a musical was was your family musical at all?

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Yeah, my family is very musical. My parents met also in music school. Um, and we sang. My dad was a big barbershop director.

SPEAKER_04 8:52

Yeah, I saw that. So you sang in a barbershop quartet.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

We sang as a family as a barbershop quartet many, many times.

SPEAKER_04 8:59

Like the cough, like the cow cells.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 9:02

I would love to see a photo.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Oh, I've got we've got video, we did shows. I mean, it took a little while.

SPEAKER_03 9:09

So how many, how many I guess it was a quartet, there were four of you.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Four of us, yes. My mom, I have a younger brother, and my dad. And my dad taught us our first tag. So the tag is like the final portion of any barbershop song where you ring that last chord. And my brother was probably five. I think I was seven or eight, and he taught us around the kitchen table uh all the different uh voices, and yeah, we sing our first our first barbershop.

SPEAKER_04 9:37

So harmonizing is never an issue for you.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

No, it's really we still, my that side of the family, we still, when we gather around the campfire, where we break into, we call it woodshedding, we break into lots of harmonies and wow.

SPEAKER_03 9:50

So I mean, your days at home could have been like an operetta. Take out the garbage, no.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

It's funny you say that, Dave, because my dad he carried a pitch pipe in his pocket at all times. And if we got arguing as kids, he would blow the pitch pipe and we would break into our dun dun dun dun.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

Like Oh my gosh. There's a memoir. That'd be a memoir. It was a little wild. It was a little wild. But speaking about harmony, you know, being a trained opera singer, how does the structure of harmony play into your songwriting and to your production?

SPEAKER_01 10:21

That's a great question. Um I I think the voice actually has a big role in how I write. I don't know that I think about it specifically, but I really do consider it an instrument. And so you'll notice in a lot of my songs, I use my voice as kind of a solo type instrument where I will use it to express something that I'm feeling in the moment. Not always a guitar solo, which I love, but um I do implement with that a lot. I really lean into it as a place of great expression.

SPEAKER_03 10:54

And as an opera singer, what is your part? Are you a soprano?

SPEAKER_01 10:58

I'm definitely a soprano. Um, I studied a lot of coloratura, so very high, kind of crazy high magic flute type. Yeah, I have uh yeah, my chess voice is definitely really present in what I write, but it was always the really high, yeah, kind of so let's let's um move forward a little bit as far as you ended up in New York City at some point.

SPEAKER_04 11:22

So well, first of all, you went to college.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

I did.

SPEAKER_04 11:25

And was where was that?

SPEAKER_01 11:26

I went to undergrad in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Okay. And I went to graduate school at Wash U in St. Louis. Okay. And then also NYU for social work.

SPEAKER_04 11:36

Okay, so that's what brought you to New York?

SPEAKER_01 11:38

Uh actually, it was after the Wash U. I moved to New York to study with a very well-known vocal teacher, Cornelius Reed, who's no longer with us, but taught me for many years uh on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. And I was auditioning and playing music in the evenings and writing, and yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:56

Cool. Yeah. Can you can you like sing in Italian and French and German?

SPEAKER_01 12:03

I haven't in a while, but I can. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 12:05

And do you have to know the language to do that, or is it just like learning it by transliteration?

SPEAKER_01 12:10

No, you yeah, you basically you don't have to learn the language. It's definitely helpful. But you take, I took so many kind of diction classes and making sure that you're saying it correctly. You do a lot of translation if you don't speak the language. Um, yeah, it's a whole beautiful part of the art forum.

SPEAKER_04 12:28

Wow. So um you do have a day job.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

I do have a day job.

SPEAKER_04 12:33

Unfortunately, so many musicians have to have a day job. And tell us a little bit about that. And does it lend itself to your writing?

SPEAKER_01 12:43

Uh, so my day job, which I feel I have to say, I feel really fortunate to have. I love my day job. Uh, I am a licensed psychotherapist. And while it does not cross into my artistic self, the the themes are really similar around just my curiosity, around the kind of the human experience and psychology and being really an empathic person. And while my clinical work is definitely very boundaried and separate, my artistic work gives me the space to really explore who I am as a person, self-awareness. Uh, and I think those kind of traits and skills are so important in a therapeutic setting. So they they really work well together for me.

SPEAKER_04 13:30

So you said you got into songwriting when you got your guitar at 16 years old. And you know, again, Stacia wrote her first album at 17, just wanted to let everybody know that again. Um But I lost my train of thought. How what um so what's your process through songwriting? Do you like are you um do you have like a set time where you go and you sit down, or does something like strike you or I wish I could tell you I had a set process.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

I it is a very feelings-based uh motivation where I will start literally in my body feeling like I have something to say, and I don't necessarily know cognitively what it is, to be quite honest. And I just know this feeling now where it starts in my body. I pick up my guitar and I start to play. And I do it very solo. I make sure I'm kind of away from family or people in my home, and something typically comes out, and sometimes it's horrendous, and sometimes it feels really special. Um, I always record it because once it kind of tumbles out, I don't always remember what I just did.

SPEAKER_03 14:41

Yeah, it's a voice memo kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 14:43

It's a voice memo type thing, and it's almost always the lyrics and the melody.

SPEAKER_03 14:48

Do you do we've talked about this before, and it's a funny thing. Driving, driving in a car for some reason, for some for some artists, seems to be an opportunity to hatch ideas for songs and threads for songs. Does that ever happen to you?

SPEAKER_01 15:03

Not driving for me, it's walking or riding my bike.

SPEAKER_03 15:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Like something about the movement, just the freedom. Yeah, things start percolating.

SPEAKER_03 15:13

There's a rhythm.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:14

You know, of the wheels, of the car, whatever it is you're riding.

SPEAKER_04 15:17

Yeah. We remember we we interviewed uh Jay Beckenstein. Oh, right. Who's the um that's great? He's the founding member of Spyrogyra, and he's on the road all the time, and he was telling us, and we asked him about driving. He goes, he goes, I write to the rhythm of the wiper blades. Oh, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 15:35

So adjustable. You can really set your wiper blades to like 130 beats per minute.

SPEAKER_04 15:40

Yeah. So that was pretty funny. Are you one of these people who will wake up in the middle of the night with something?

SPEAKER_01 15:47

Um I have, though it's not my typical No. I get that feeling and I sit and out, out it comes, is typically how it works for me.

SPEAKER_04 15:56

Yeah. Those are the type of people I really don't like. Because it's like it's not supposed to be that easy. It shouldn't be. Well, I guess you're working on it in your sleep, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:08

I think I'm working on it subconsciously somewhere. I really do. Yeah. I think it's some, it's just happening and I don't know it. And I and then there's like a I call it the nudge. There's something that's nudging at me to say, slow down, you have something that needs to be expressed.

SPEAKER_04 16:22

That's great. I know I've watched like I remember watching a documentary like on George Harrison and then getting up after it and just walking over to my keyboard and writing something just out of the blue. Like, I think I'm, you know, something gets into your head that makes you want to be lyrical or musical or creative, let's put it that way. But speaking of creative, I think we should have another tune.

SPEAKER_03 16:48

What do you think, Dave? Yeah, that's uh maybe uh I I'm not gonna make a request now because I don't know what you've prepared, but your music seems to have a lot of emotional energy. And riding the controls as you're singing is an and this is an adventure here. So um buckle up, Dave. Right. Here we go. Tell us what you're gonna play.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

So this next song is called Stay Stars. And I wrote this song, this is one of those that tumbled out, um, on a morning that I was sitting on my front porch. My kids were younger at the time, headed off to school, fall day, happened to also be around the time I had lost my dad several years prior. And I was just in this space of really experiencing time passing a bit too quickly. Uh, and I had also been on a deep dive watching and listening to Neil deGrasse Tyson, the physicist.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

And he was talking about how we were all made of star stuff. And I loved this idea that even though these people in my life are moving too fast, growing up too fast, passing away, that somehow we're still connected. And this song was the result of that.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

See the sparkle in your eyes. You wanna jump in the world and go for a ride. Oh, I want you to, I swear I do. Could you hold on a second or two slow it down this crazy pace? Sometimes I don't recognize your face, it seems to change in front of me. I don't even notice, and then I see you fly, fly could you just wait a while, or could you just wait a while? Everything's a great mystery, and everywhere is where you wanna be. You're jumping in with both feet high, never-ending fourth of July. Now I know it sounds cliche, but I'm gonna say it anyway. The days are long, the years go past, pretty soon the future's past you. Fly fly could you just wait a while? Could you just wait a while? Oh, those twists and turns we're moving through space, making our way together. Oh, I know this place, and maybe it's fate. We'll all stay stars together just stay. Did I do right by you? Did I seal your fate time? She learns at every turn. You'd think by now I would learn Could you just wait a while, could you just wait a while Could you just wait a while? Could you just wait a while?

SPEAKER_04 22:00

Wow. Where do I go from here? That was uh that was gorgeous. Oh my gosh. And and and your voice is just soothing. It's strong, it's it's beautiful, and your writing is is gorgeous. What I wanted to ask you is you you had something which was pretty cool in your career. You had a song that you got in a film. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

I did. I feel so fortunate. I had played a show um as part of something called the Montclair Story Salon, which is this wonderful um non-for-profit that raises money for different organizations and has artists come and perform. And I was asked to perform there, and there was a couple there that had written a film and heard a song that I played and liked what I did and came up to me after and said, you know, we have this film, we'd love to maybe use that song. And I said, I that's amazing. Uh I said, Can I see the film? And it wasn't wanted to make sure it was something I wanted to put it in. It was fantastic. And when I saw the film, I had a different song in mind and and gave them this song called Turned Up Collar, which they had not heard. And they agreed that once they s heard the song, put it with the film, that that was the one. And so it got to be part of the credits of this of this film that they film? It's called Game Night. Cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:29

Yeah, that's that's a thrill.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

It was really exciting. I even got to go to the Chelsea Film Festival and they had it screened there and sat in the audience and just kind of was beaming in the darkness of excitement.

SPEAKER_04 23:41

So you got to walk the red carpet.

SPEAKER_01 23:43

I did get to walk the red carpet. How cool.

SPEAKER_04 23:48

So I just wanted to say, so now you say the last album you put out, I think, was 2018, straight to the middle, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:56

Yeah, it's been a while.

SPEAKER_04 23:57

So now you're working on I have my next album.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

Yes, I'm not going to share the title yet. Okay. But the songs are done, and my plan is to have this thing out by the end of the year. I'm really excited about it.

SPEAKER_03 24:08

Very cool.

unknown 24:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:09

Tell us a little about the recording process. Um, did you put together a band for it? Did you just work with a producer?

SPEAKER_01 24:16

My last album, it was a full band and a wonderful producer and musician. His name's Scotty Moore. He's fantastic, and we play together from time to time. He's just wonderful. So he really assisted me with that last album I did. Um, this next album, I'm looking to have it be my acoustic trio. So I play with an upright bass and a guitarist, and I'm really gonna get this kind of um live sensibility about it. I want it to really translate to what I do when I'm performing at shows. So we'll be recording together, the three of us, which is exciting.

SPEAKER_03 24:50

And do any of them dare to sing with you?

SPEAKER_01 24:53

My upright bass player, which I did not realize he was a singer, just told me recently that he was. So uh we're gonna be playing with that a little bit, I think. Yeah, I would love some harmonies. Why not?

SPEAKER_04 25:03

Come join me. Oh, that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:06

So, like you said, you're not gonna share the title of the album yet, but how many cuts are you gonna have on this?

SPEAKER_01 25:11

Right now, I've got about 12 in the hopper, and we'll see if I edit any down. You know, a lot of times something may get shuffled around in the mix, but at this moment there's a good 12.

SPEAKER_04 25:22

You know, we talk we talk a little bit about the music industry today here also, and you know, it's kind of I know a lot of people are releasing like EPs, and a lot of people are just releasing singles. Absolutely. So um we recently interviewed somebody by the name of Brian Larney, and Brian did like how many cuts were on his album, Dave? He did like a single every month, right? I think it was, and then he took all of those singles and turned it into an album.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

I love that.

SPEAKER_04 25:50

But are you planning on on gonna send you gonna put out some singles first?

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Absolutely, absolutely. I really think kind of just in the way the world is today, I I think one at a time might be a little bit more palatable also, just to kind of get people drawn in and hearing what I do and hopefully wanting to hear more.

SPEAKER_04 26:08

Yeah, you know, it's unfortunate, and Dave, I don't know if you agree with me on this, but I don't I don't know a lot of people who are sitting down and listening to albums like we used to growing up, putting our headphones on and just staying with it.

SPEAKER_03 26:21

People aren't even listening to whole songs. You know, videos let you track how long people are listening to songs, and it's usually under two minutes. So my question is what's the point of making a song that's longer than two minutes if people aren't going to listen to it? We used to sit down and put on records or put on tapes and you you have to listen to the whole song. But now people just don't have the attention span for that.

SPEAKER_04 26:45

Well, the problem was back then, Dave, is you had to get up to turn the record over. You actually had to move.

SPEAKER_03 26:51

You were too high to do that.

SPEAKER_04 26:53

Now you just you're hitting a button and next or whatever. Or yeah, it's it's it's crazy. But um what I wanted to ask you was give everybody your socials, what you um where they can website you. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

My Instagram is Stacia Theo, not super original. So you can just please. It's S-T-A-C-I-A-T-H-I-E-L. And that's really where I post most everything. You can follow me. I do all put all my shows on there. I'm playing uh Montclair Porch Fest here in a couple weeks, and a really great private um, I guess it's it is for the public, but it's this beautiful uh place called the Sarah Gardens that I'll be posting. I'll be playing that late spring, early summer, outdoor with fire pits, and it's a wonderful, beautiful kind of garden, magical garden center with a stage. So one of my favorite little spots to play.

SPEAKER_04 27:48

And I just want to say one thing. And Stasia is going to be playing a acoustic Northeast house concert.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

That's right.

SPEAKER_04 27:56

And that's September 27th in Brewster, New York.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

Yes, very excited.

SPEAKER_03 28:02

And you're gonna be don't want to miss it. Um and I don't know if you want to sit in the front because Stacia's voice will absolutely blow you away. You're gonna be like that guy sitting in the chair where the speakers go, Oh, Maxel.

SPEAKER_00 28:16

Maxel, is that what that was? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:18

So it's been wonderful having you.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

It's been such a pleasure.

SPEAKER_03 28:21

Um, we would love you to take us out with a song.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

Yes, I would love to. So this next song is a new one. It is called Home, and it will be on the next record. And uh the one thing I want to say about this song is that I purposefully left the chorus without words because I want people to really kind of interpret it and experience it in a way that speaks to them. It's a song about love. So, regardless of where you are in that journey, you may be grateful for it, you may be wanting that. And I've kind of left it open to interpretation. It's called home.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

It takes me by surprise. Doesn't matter how far down this road we go. You unburden my soul. Twist and wind away. Contemplate the beauty in the edges, worn and free. It doesn't matter how far down this road. You pull me back when I'm off track and I don't even know. You unburden my soul take me out. It's too clear when you're near. I don't even feel the need to make a break for it. When the words of everyone that's too much I come on down and I don't know where to go take me back home.