SINCE FRANK Album Story
Based in her chosen home of Nashville, Tenn., singer-songwriter Amy Stroup creates the kind of songs that transport listeners. Known for her ability to tap into rich, emotional honesty and vivid storytelling, the self-proclaimed “song farmer” will release her fourth solo album, Since Frank, this June. The album finds Stroup centering her singular voice, arriving four years after 2018’s Helen of Memphis. Stroup wrote Since Frank with friends and producers in LA and Nashville over the past few years, but the project came fully to life while she drove with her dog Frank from Nashville to dusty Norman, Oklahoma, to record it.
“The drive from Nashville to Oklahoma City is tall Tennessee trees turned to desolate rice fields, ranches, and field grasses. It’s like my head tall with thoughts would exhale into the expansive wide open landscapes, all with Frank riding in the passenger seat, my highway companion for the 11-hour trip. My life has been better with Frank in it in all areas including making music,” Stroup says.
“On the drive Frank and I took our time, stopping along the way at dog parks and trails in between our podcasts episodes and the music I was soaking in,” she continues. “Routinely, Frank and I walked around Oklahoma City before the city woke up and then we would drive the 30 minute trek south to Norman and record and write with Chad (Copelin) at his Blackwatch studios. Throughout the week word spread that Frank was in town and engineers, friends and other collaborations would frequently drop in with their dogs. At one point I think there were five dogs happily following each other around the studio.”
Since Frank finds a cohesive sound thanks to producer Chad Copelin (LANY, Broncho, Ben Rector) and his expert hand at transforming live tracking into an expansive finished product, with drips of overdubs and drum samples created by James McAlister (The National, Taylor Swift, Sufjan Stevens). These handmade elements frame a range of songs Stroup wrote with herself in mind—a change from the hundreds of songs she’s written for TV and film, which include backing moments on How I Met Your Father, This Is Us and Grey’s Anatomy, among many others. According to Billboard Magazine, she is one of the most licensed women in music today with her work in campaigns for British Airways, Google and Nike, to name a few.
“I loved pausing from the normal way I write songs to a slower process,” Stroup says. “With these chosen Since Frank songs, it sometimes took three or four years to refine the song, instead of the one day that many collaborations require. It allowed me to see where patience and creativity took me.”
The 10-song collection covers a wide range of subjects, ultimately settling on what it means to find a way to be okay on the inside. Stroup wrestles with the kind of heaviness—and reprieve—that lives inside all of us: the album begins with the lush strings of “Valley,” a stream of consciousness about how love can lift us from the depths of melancholy. “Break the Feeling” explores presence and grounding, while “Night Wave” struggles with intrusive thoughts; there is a yearning for a fresh start on “A New Life” (feat. Broncho), and a certainty of unconditional love in “As Long As You're With Me (feat. Andrew Belle). The album ends with a resounding and hopeful message: “We’ll All Be Alright.”
“These songs feel like freeze frames of pivotal emotional moments of me finding a safe place to live from inside my own body,” Stroup says. “I’ve done a lot of experiential therapy, self-nurturing work and beyond, to get to a more true place to live from, and a lot of the songs capture the process and pivotal points on that continued journey.”
Next Up from the album: BREAK THE FEELING February 17, 2023