Musician Alva Leigh on Balancing Life, Parenting, and Holding onto Your Voice
Words by Erin Austen Abbott
Photos by Brooke Bragger
“When you’re young, all you do is sit in someone’s spare bedroom and play music together. It’s not a thing I have done with a lot of regularity as an adult, which has been so joyful, but also kind of a little bit like finding my feet again.” — Alva Leigh about rediscovering music and writing a new record
Born and raised in Gulfport on the Mississippi Coast, Alva Leigh—affectionately called “Allie” for short—grew up in a very musical home, although neither she nor her brother was formally trained. Leigh and her dad could be found in his place behind the piano, her brother on drums, until her dad’s passing when Leigh was just 11 years old. “I have a lot of lovely memories of me and him [her dad] sitting at the piano together. I grew up playing piano and loving music, but didn’t really learn to sing until I was a teenager,” Leigh shares, finding her voice much like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. It was there all along, sort of hiding from her and those around her, but was sure to shock and awe sooner or later, laying the foundation of what was to come.
Discovering the underground music scene of the early 2000s, Leigh and her brother would make the nearly three-hour trek from Gulfport to Jackson to see live bands play. For Leigh and her brother, that meant diving into the DIY culture—moving beyond traditional music venues and seeking out local and touring bands playing in church halls, community centers, and anywhere else that would let a bunch of kids host a show.
“There wasn’t a ton of tertiary culture, other than sports and marching band, for teenagers, so we loved going up to Jackson and being a part of that scene. It was just this very free, creative, safe space,” Leigh says. “Now, as a mom, I’m like, ‘Wow, that was unique.’ It was cool that the grown-ups in our lives cultivated that and made it a possibility for us.”
In 2005, Leigh left Mississippi and headed to college in Nashville, which was still a smaller city at the time. She carried that DIY energy with her, once again drawn to a vibrant musical community, and joined the singer-songwriter circuit. There was room to try new things and make mistakes; people were more approachable then. While still a teenager, Leigh made her first record for Esperanza Recordings under the name Allie Peden.
Entering her 20s with so much to say and just beginning to find her footing, she teamed up with producer John Mark Painter, who took her under his wing, serving as both a mentor and a kind of family. He and his wife, Fleming McWilliams, showed her that a life in music was possible. “It was just this very lovely family cocoon that I could enter and be very creative and learn, and he would send me home with records,” Leigh says. “His wife would cook me dinner, and I would bring so much laundry to their house. And it was such a gift to me in a season of life.”
It was during this season of diving deeper into her music that Leigh and her husband, Will, got engaged. In 2009, newly married, they stayed in Nashville while Will attended divinity school at Vanderbilt University before relocating to London, England, in 2012. While in London, Leigh continued to play music throughout the U.K., touring, joining bands, playing solo shows, and putting out records, all while navigating day-to-day life, building a family, and adjusting to a new country. Like so many parents, she eventually found herself hitting pause, waiting for her children to grow past those earliest years, not wanting to miss a thing.
You might as well enjoy making something that you’re proud of.
But it was in that pause that she continued to write lyrics, tweaking her compositions.
“It’s so hard to capture the whole state of creativity because you don’t have a lot of time. It’s more fragmented. And when your time is compressed, you tend to get out of your own way more quickly and get down to the business of doing what you need to do, because you realize you don’t take your time for granted,” Leigh says.
She continues, “I feel like there’s a little bit of pressure taken off. For me, it’s been, ‘Hey, you should have fun with this. Nobody’s making you do this. You’re choosing to do this with your time.’ And you might as well enjoy making something that you’re proud of, because literally no one is saying, ‘Hey, where’s that whole album on motherhood? I’m waiting on that.’ It’s like, no, do this at your own pace. Life is filled with these other things—working, raising kids, marriage—all these different commitments you have. When you get to carve out time for the thing you love, you must be intentional with it. And I think it affects your work in a positive way, but it also means it takes longer.”
As their daughters grew older, Leigh and her husband felt the urge to be closer to family, so they moved back to the States and settled in Chattanooga, Tennessee. With the realization that she still had a lot of songs in her—and as she grappled with the loss of their third child at 20 weeks—Leigh felt the music pour out. It was healing. There were so many feelings, all at once. With no clear guide for navigating the loss, writing her latest record became a way of building her own compass, one that could make sense of the wildness of emotion. “I always laugh that motherhood is such a contact sport. Sometimes, just like physically, they beat you up, you know?” Leigh says. “And they love you and like you. It’s your job to be their soft place. It can feel like a heavy burden. And it’s a thing that you feel really honored to do, but I also think that we should be allowed to say that it’s hard.”
Today, Leigh is easing back into the world of touring and putting out records. And because the thought of late nights just doesn’t align with the compass-building, slow approach she’s cultivated for herself, the artist is leaning into an out-of-the-box approach to add live music back to her routine: playing smaller venues, in-store performances, and house shows. The idea is to play in places where families can all join, play early (before bedtime), and appeal to the generation that just isn’t interested in late nights on a weekday.
They love you and like you. It’s your job to be their soft place. It can feel like a heavy burden.
Alva Leigh’s Guide to Chattanooga, TN
Start the day at Niedlov’s Bakery & Café and order the fancy breakfast sammie—it’s worth it. Next, stop by Yellow Racket Records, a must-visit for any music lover, before grabbing a coffee at Velo Coffee Roasters and heading out to take in all the natural beauty this small city has to offer.
As the first National Park City in the United States, Chattanooga is surrounded by rivers, creeks, and mountains and is packed with trails to explore. Make time for the Big Soddy Creek Gulf trails, and if you’re traveling with kids, don’t miss Coolidge Park along the river because there’s a great ice cream shop nearby called Clumpies. Then walk it off by browsing the shops along Frazier Avenue.
After a day outdoors, take in the city’s creative side with visits to the Hunter Museum of American Art and Stove Works. Back on Main Street, pop into Lo Main and order the Murder Burger. A few more local favorites worth visiting include The Reading Room, The Book & Cover, Studio Ours, and Lucky 37. And don’t skip Hungry Mother, where the zucchini sandwich is, in Leigh’s own words, “to die for.”
If you still have a little energy left after a full day of exploring, end the night at Mean Jeen’s, a bowling-themed dive bar, inspired by elements of the 1998 film “The Big Lebowski,” that’s as quirky and unforgettable as the city itself.
Alva Leigh’s new record “Wilderness,” from Esperanza Recordings, is out now.
