Singer Stephanie Sammons digs deep into discomfort for her new album release
RICH LOPEZ | Staff writer
rich@dallasvoice.com
In early May, local singer-songwriter Stephanie Sammons debuted her first full-length album. She had dropped two previous EP albums, but in Time and Evolution, she’s expressing herself deeper than before — not just through her personal thoughts, but also through her craft.
This was the moment for her to bare it all.
“I’ve come a long way with my songwriting since my two previous releases,” Sammons said. “I’ve always had a sense of melody in my writing and the ability to write a song, but I’m at a whole new level now.”
The Dallas-based Sammons has been traveling to Nashville to work on her songwriting. Classes and workshops with Grammy winners and established songwriters such as Mary Gauthier, Emily Saliers and Beth Nielsen Chapman have helped her break through into diving deeper and unlocked feelings she hasn’t expressed before.
Now she’s sharing all that new music with an album release party on June 8 at Opening Bell Coffee.
Time and Evolution, would seem more than an appropriate title, because this album reflects just that. But it also seems to serve as something of a catharsis for Sammons. She described the songs as representing difficult themes in her life that’ve been on her mind for the past few years.
“For me, it’s a tough subject matter around my upbringing and being lesbian and growing up in a traditional Southern Baptist home,” she said. “I had this struggle of shame that most of us are familiar with, and I had to explore what faith really is for me. So all these are themes throughout the album.”
Sammons admits that in her previous releases, she was frightened to be vulnerable. She didn’t want to talk — or sing — about things that might upset her family.
The magic of music, though, is that the right songs happen at the right time.
“I’m ready now, I feel. This is the most authentic I’ve ever been,” she said. “It’s scary. ‘Billboard Sign’ is my coming out story. But being immersive in those workshops gave me the space I needed and the permission to have the courage to write.”
The song was released as a single in April and perfectly appropriate for Pride Month.
Sammons is also glad to release the music now in this chapter of her life. Self-described as middle aged, she feels like her own life and the years in it have led to this particular moment of expression.
Could she have done the same at say 25?
“I questioned that, but I’ve lived some. I got some wisdom, and only now I think I could do this,” she said. “There’s a stigma about being past a certain age in the business, but I also wondered, why not me? Why can’t anyone over 50 pursue their art just as intensely?
“I got more experience to draw from for my songs,”
If her name is familiar, she does have an audience in a different arena. By day, Sammons is a certified financial planner and often focuses on LGBTQ clients. She’s been doing that for more than 25 years in her own boutique firm, Sammons Wealth.
“I love what I do, and I take good care of my clients,” she said.
And in her time as a financial planner, she’s released three albums. Clearly, Sammons has found her balance between the two vastly different careers. But there is one particular clash between the two: “It doesn’t leave any room for me to tour the country.
“I have to be strategic about live performances,” she said. “But I’ve found so many opportunities, like a festival in Montana or shows in Nashville.”
Sammons was recently named a Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk finalist, and she appeared at the festival just recently.
Sammons is fine without any massive touring schedule. She’s figured it out.
“I get to be selective, but the best part is, I’m creating my own adventure,” she said.
Visit her website at StephanieSammons.com. For tickets to her album release party, visit OpeningBellCoffee.com.