So Christiane is with me. She's been writing music and singing songs since she can remember. She's been living in Montana for 13 years with her family and continues to gravitate towards music as a way of self-expression. She has our next act lined up for Press Play, the monthly benefit concert we hold here at the Interlake office. thanks for joining me, Krissy.

Yeah, thanks for having me. Yeah, this is exciting. So I've been listening to your music a little bit. You have such a lovely Joni Mitchell like sound, from what I've heard. what draws you to …

So Christiane is with me. She's been writing music and singing songs since she can remember. She's been living in Montana for 13 years with her family and continues to gravitate towards music as a way of self-expression. She has our next act lined up for Press Play, the monthly benefit concert we hold here at the Interlake office. thanks for joining me, Krissy.

Yeah, thanks for having me. Yeah, this is exciting. So I've been listening to your music a little bit. You have such a lovely Joni Mitchell like sound, from what I've heard. what draws you to writing these kind of songs? Well, it's funny that you say Joni Mitchell, because, I think a woman with a guitar singing, it's like everybody wants to talk to me afterwards.

Often compares me to someone that they know or that they associate with. And I'm always find that interesting to get that feedback, because I would never think that I sound like Joni Mitchell. But I love that that's your experience with it. And, yeah, like I said, being a woman with a guitar is a powerful thing. And so when someone asked me that people always want to know what style of music do you play or, who do you play or sound like?

And I can never answer that question. And I've always been a person who doesn't like fitting in a box or being stuck in with a label or genre. And so I'm always like, it's like bluesy, folky, country, bluegrass. And the other day, even a venue had jazz under me. I think it was like jazz. And then I was playing my songs.

I was like, oh yeah, yeah, I could, yeah, there is a little, you know, jazz sprinkled in. So I when I write my songs, it's really not so much of like what I'm trying to sound like, but more of what I'm trying to convey and the feeling. And so sometimes it's like I'm messing with my guitar and a beautiful chord progression comes through and I'm like, ooh, and what does that feel like and what what is that trying to say?

And then putting lyrics to that. Or sometimes it's like, something inspires me. And then I'm like, I got to make that into a song and that's how can I fit that emotion and what style? Whether it's like blues, I need to get some blues out or I want to make a tender finger pick, you know, lighthearted song or like, major chords for something Happy.

So yeah, yeah, that's so cool. who are some of your musical influences? well, besides the Byrds and the Rivers in the wind, besides nature and just life itself, if you're wanting specifically song singer songwriters, I would say a few of my favorites, are Patty Griffin. She. Something I love about her is, she gives me a real visceral reaction, like, like chills or goosebumps, and she just has a sound that is so unique and her songwriting is fantastic.

And that's something that I hope for when people tell me that they got chills or goosebumps or teary eyed, I'm like, yes, that's the biggest compliment. And she does that for me. another one is Gillian Welch, and she is just like a classic, like really the heart of, like, American life and struggles and beauty. She's fantastic. and then Greg Brown actually, I was just listening to these people on the way, like, I'm going to get, you know, my the spirit infused in me and Greg Brown is on, and I took a wrong turn and a song right then came on by him called Wrong Turn.

And he. So I don't know if you know him. He's a real giant guy with a deep voice and he's so funny and charismatic, but he writes songs about everyday moments and turns it into everything. yeah. And one of my favorite songs by him is Poet Game, and there's a line about going out under the stars to to take a leak, and he looks up at Orion and Pleiades.

That must be Mars. All as clear as we long to be. And every time I'm out camping at a cabin and I go out to go to the bathroom in the woods, I am like, that line is right there in my head. And I'm like, that is fantastic as a songwriter to like, stick in people's heads or like that moment, you know?

So that's the say this stuff, the specificity, the specifics of things, you know, like getting that energy. And I met him to a couple times and he just gave me a big bear hug. And he's a midwestern guy, like like me and, real humble. And so I kind of like to emulate that a little. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, it sounds like you're talking a lot about nature. It sounds like that is a big part of your life and a big part of your music. I read in your bio that you've a career closely tied to nature, and I'm super interested to learn what that is. Could you tell me a little bit about your day job?

Yeah. So I'm actually kind of in between jobs. I am a mother of two young girls, and I just was working for six years for the Whitefish Trail system doing all their education programs. So kids and adults, and that's what I've done my whole life as a park ranger with nonprofits. I trained nature guides. So I studied in school.

interpretation, which is a form of communication, to connect people to a resource. I resource, nature specifically for me and then graduate studies to environmental education. So my passion growing up, I love being in the woods and through like hard times as a child. Nature was this place, like a sanctuary of like acceptance and and also imagination.

And I create and play. I was a child of the 80s and we were free range out in the woods, Michigan and the lakeshore. And so I, went to college thinking like, I want to do that for my life, and I want to get other people doing that in some ways and connecting. so I've been doing that forever.

And then, yes, it's like I, I write poems, I've been studying poetry for five years and everything for me, nature is this like vehicle. It's like so steeped in metaphor. So, you know, maybe I can't express completely like this sorrow, but I can use the moon waning to, like, you know, I'm just seeing an example and that can be this vehicle.

And that's what poems do. They take something, you know, this tangible thing and like, put this human emotion to it and nature does that. And recently I studied, to be a therapy nature therapy guide. And that's my new sort of pursuit is and that's less informative, like less teaching but more getting people. It's like a process to get people into their senses and out of their away from their phones and away from destruction in their their senses, in nature.

And then like amazing therapeutic things can happen for people and one of which is creative insight. And so nature for me is just always been a source of inspiration and creativity. Yeah. I mean, nature so creative. I mean like just yeah, it's like the creator. I mean, sometimes you look at stuff like this and you're like, how is that not a painting that someone visualized it, you know, it's just so beautiful.

it's. Yeah. It's everything. Yeah. So you're moving more into, like, nature therapy type of stuff. Is that like forest bathing? Yes, exactly. Yeah. I should have said that. That's exact. That's the exact thing a lot of people know is that. And, you can call it a lot of things I like to call it like sensory immersion or, you know, yeah.

Yeah, I did that once, and I was very inspired and I was moved to kind of like things come through when you step out of your, like, like people say, I love nature and I hike all the time, and I bike and I'm like, that's wonderful. There's so much there's so much beneficial to that. But are you talking to someone the whole time, or are you going from like your destination, your goal?

You're like when you do forest bathing or nature therapy, it's like there is no agenda. Besides like you get an invitation to go do something that sensory based, out of your thoughts, and you end up doing something you would not have done or interacting with another being that you wouldn't have, whether it's a tree or a mouse, you know, or a stone, I don't know.

And then all of a sudden you have all or you have memories from childhood or, you know, and you just engage and it's so it's so amazing. Yeah. It really makes you pay attention. Yes. And, Mary Oliver, one of my favorite poets, I support you, really influences my music. So that's why I talk about poetry. But Mary Oliver was her quote.

I write it down. Oh, attention is the beginning of devotion. There's a quote from one of her poems, and it's like, so true when we are less distracted and can focus and, like, connect with our senses, it's really a way into the heart space and devoting to to the moment, to being present in the moment. And I think music has an impact.

You know, people stop thinking and they're all of a sudden immersed in their own, their senses or their. Yeah, yeah. I love Mary Oliver, I know who does it. I mean she is kind of the, it's almost cliche because she's such a famous poet. But it's like how can you, how can you not. I mean she just blows me away daily.

Yeah. Especially nature lovers. You know, that's easy. so, you live in Whitefish now? but again, in your bio, I read that you traveled quite a bit. You're originally from Michigan. Can you tell me about that part of your life where you left home and started kind of venturing out? Yeah, yeah. So growing up in Michigan, in Flint, Michigan specifically, which is notorious for, various struggles, industrial boomtown that kind of unravel the water crisis, all the things that I get comments about.

but being from somewhere like that does build character does make me, aware and sensitive to, those kind of struggles that do come through. I do have a song about my hometown called This Town. And, but leaving I went to college, and it was sort of like there wasn't much there besides family for me. And I really wanted to see a lot of the world.

So I spent all of my 20s going, as you know, moving 2 to 4 times a year lived in various states Guatemala, Mexico to, and just seasonal jobs or nonprofit government jobs. And then around 30, I was like, okay, I'm tired. And I was like, kept going back to Colorado. I was like, well, I guess we'll take that as a cue if I keep going back there for different seasons, maybe that's the spot.

So I was like, I'm going to commit to staying here. And then that's when when my husband and he and I were there for about two years, got engaged, and he works for the Forest Service and got a promotion up in Hungary. Horse and he went to school in Missoula, loves the area. So I was like, okay, like there's skiing, there's mountains.

And one thing I missed so dearly was lakes. And like, so much water and swimming like I had in Michigan, that wasn't so much. In Colorado, we lived at 10,000ft. So a little cold. but we moved here. And one thing too, that was kind of a surprise was like the community. And we found love. So it was 2010, I think, when we moved here and and then we got married on the Flathead River.

We've had two children here. And I'll still we'll I'll take them home to Michigan and I'll say, okay, let's pack and get ready to go home. And they're like, home. Like, what is that? This is not my this not their home, but I still like the vernacular, you know, you can't get it. And we, we go to the cottage up north and it's just how it is.

so I can't take that out of out of my, my roots. So that does come through in my music too. I'm going to switch back to music just a little bit, if that's okay. So, how did you decide to pursue guitar? Okay, so I grew up in a family of four. I was the baby and I'm a mom now, so it's made me more sympathetic to motherhood.

And we are just doing the best we can. And so my mom raised us, and one thing she gave us was music. she made us play an instrument. So my oldest brother played saxophone, was an amazing jazz musician, and he was really into classic rock too, and influenced me. They were teenagers when I was little in the 80s, so it was like they were my sister and brother.

They were older, were like amazing to me. And my sister Sue played flute, my other sister played saxophone and they all had to do marching band. And I was like, no, like that is not like. I mean, I, I am and I admire marching band people because it just was. It's just not something I could do. and so I was like, I'll stick a piano, we have a piano, I'll stick a piano.

You just. I play it at home and I would like, I played for like 6 or 7 years, but I was, in retrospect, I kind of bummed because I wasn't playing what I should have probably been playing pop music at the time, or jazz or, ragtime. It was mostly classical. It was what people told me to play and the teachers.

And so I kind of didn't pursue it the way I wish I could have. But at the same time, it gave me that foundation. And when I left home, I was like, I want to write songs, I want to be musical. What can I, you know, a guitar is so transportable and so, so I, I got my first guitar when I was, in college, and I took a couple few years of lessons, and that was like therapy.

I'd go see a guitar teacher that for a couple years, and he was wonderful at just like, I don't know, we just play music. And, so I fell in love. Yeah. while you're traveling and moving different places throughout your 20s, it sounds like music was still really important to you. what did that look like back then?

And were you still just, like, were you writing songs when they came to you or. Yeah. So I still have some old songs that I wrote 20 plus years ago that I still perform once in a while or like a couple that are really strong ones. and then I've evolved. But yeah, I would say I, I, I've always been writing songs.

I had a really hard time putting lyrics or singing with piano, and so it's interesting. Something in my brain can do guitar but not piano. and so that was liberating to have a guitar and be able to put that together. So, you know, as a young adult, when people are young adults and, and I moved around so much and I was so introduced by different people from all the people I met.

And so that was really neat. because like, right, Brown was introduced to me. No, not through my family, you know, my sister and brother. And being in the 80s, like MTV was like everything. Oh my God. So I love 80s music because it was such a part of me. Like just it was so influential. And the song can come on from the 80s, like, oh, I still get that little feeling I got when I was eight.

but then being being out of the house and being introduced to stuff that other people know, and that was really, pivotal to. That's when I started really listening to more singer songwriter type musicians. Yeah, yeah. What inspires you to write music right now? Like in this moment? Music is a form of creative expression for me and and creative expression.

I consider myself kind of an amateur artist in many things. And so I like to paint and I like to draw, and I take photography and I write poems and read poems and, and write songs. And it kind of like when you're creative, the more active you are in any of those things, the more at each other.

It's like a synergy. And so, sometimes songs just come to me and they just like Fly in Like a bird and I'm like, got to get this down. And sometimes it's like, whoa, that just happened. And sometimes it's like a laborious process. And the thing is, is like devoting time and energy to creativity is like tapping into the source for me, you know, like, spiritually speaking of I think that the universe is a creative place and it's also destructive.

And I do feel like creativity is a form of activism. It's a form of saying like, whether or not you're productive with it. Productive, right? Like at some point in our lives, in their culture, I feel like a lot of us are, are we somehow get convinced that, it's not worth our time, to be creative because it's not lucrative or it's we don't have time because we have to.

We literally do have to work and pay the bills or we're not good at it, so it's not worth it. But like, where do like, I work with children and, you know, we make a good pie content or like a bake off with mud pies and kids get so into it. They're so sensory and and they're so proud of their work.

And it's like what happens to us adults? Like, it's like we're so critical. Or we think that if it doesn't sell or if people like it that take that aside and let's get back to the creative process. Right? So for me, making music and writing poems and doing art is so fulfilling because it feels so good to be in that flow of the universe, that side of things, to counteract, like the things that are bringing us a little bit down or stuck.

And so I encourage people, and that's part of what I'm doing now at this point in my life, I've been like, I'm actually it's time to share my songs and stop. Like keeping them in my bedroom because their songs are their own little life. And that's what was the turning point for me of, believing in my songs and making it less about me being like, do people like me?

Do I sound good? It's like, this song is like killer, and it needs to be heard by people, and I love it. And I can get behind my song. So it takes a little bit out of that. Like self-consciousness or like, am I good enough, to do this? Because I could compare myself to people all day, like she's a better musician or he's more charismatic or whatever.

It's like, no, but the cool thing is, like, when you ask me what what makes me play this kind of music, it's like I'm just being true to like me and like what's coming through me and my sound. That's why I don't want to be put in a box. I'm like, it's just me. And so when people say, what started playing?

Like, you just have to come, listen, you just have to come see. I think you'll like it, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I just encourage people to, to find something, whether it's building or sewing or just like things that help you get present in the moment and create. And it feels good. Yes. It's really good for you.

What do you do? well, I like to write. Yeah. And obviously, you know, as a reporter, but I also like creative writing. And so I have a few little fiction stories I work on every now and again. Yes. I just got goosebumps. Oh, I love it. Well, and, you know, being up here, like, I'm sure nature inspires you, it's really, really great.

source of inspiration for me, just, you know, the backdrop of it all. yeah, that's kind of my bag. And I love to sing, but it's not like I go and do it anywhere I could car, but. Yeah. Yeah. Or just singing in your car. Yeah, yeah. And that feels great. So good. Oh, good. Yeah. So you said that you wanted to stop hiding your songs in your bedroom and things like that.

Does that involve more live performance? Yes, that's kind of the hope. I would say the one problem I have is like the self promotion thing, it's hard for me to like walk into a place and be like, can I play here? And, I struggle and I don't know if it's like a generational thing or if it's a personal thing or being a woman, but I do find that, it's hard.

I, I do find that part of it hard to, like, put myself out there. It's real vulnerable to share our art, first of all, but also try to, like, go in and then be told no. And then, you know, or whatever. We're all full. And as a woman, I look at some of the the venues sometimes and it's like, oh, there's one woman in this whole lineup of men.

And I think that there's a real opportunity to like, uplift women. So thank you for having me and like supporting my work. because I do think that personally, for me, it's hard to take up space and to like, ask for space. And so I do want to be bolder because like I said, my songs, they want to be heard.

I feel like it's like, I don't know, like like I'm saying you tap into the universal flow and you're like, okay, okay, like I have this gift and I need to share it. and so that's what I want to do more of. And like, I don't really have an expectation of like, you know, like some people make jokes about being famous.

I'm like, no, it's it's just like, if I get paid to do something I love and that I have created and I'm doing it for myself and not some company or someone else, it's amazing. It's like, boom, it's magic. So that's just a bonus. Getting paid. But but the rest is like, yeah, I do want to share my talents and my gifts.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, we're so excited to have you, for our next press play. That you'll definitely have the audience at press play, we're finding is really unique. And, you know, we have, like, different kinds of musicians come in. A lot of them mostly play bar venues. And it's very. And of course, it's inspired by Tiny Desk concerts.

I don't think that's like a big secret, but you really have everyone's attention in a way that is pretty special. And, you know, there's it's, you know, everybody's just excited to hear local music. A lot of times it's people who might not want to get out late at night and go to a venue to hear live music, so it's easier for them to come here in the day.

So I don't know. I'm very excited. So yeah, I'm excited too. And I'm gonna cook up a really good diverse, you know, play a set list and, and yeah, I think it'll be great. And I'm so honored and really touched to do it. So thank you. Well, thank you for being here. And tell me a little bit about your story and your music.