Brandy Zdan on Music Industry Priorities and Touring in “Townes Van Zdan”

Photo credit: Alysse Gafkjen

Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?

The classic white ford econoline van named “Townes Van Zdan”!

Around 186,000 miles. No major repairs or breakdown stories thankfully. KNOCK ON WOOD!

How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?

As healthy as possible! You are what you eat!

How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?

I break zero strings per year. I use a heavy gauge. I barely ever change them either. I love the sound of dead flat wounds.

Where do you rehearse?

Rehearsal spaces have always been a room in my house through the years or a pro rental space if needed. Nothing crazy here, we just get down to business. AGAIN, KNOCK ON WOOD!

What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?

Title: I hate to say it

I think this one was from when I was around 10 years old “I hate to say it but it’s true, my love for you is almost through.”

Describe your first gig.

First gig playing my own songs was when I was around 15. A coffee shop in the north end of Winnipeg. Can’t remember the name and I’m sure it no longer exists but I was happy they would have me. I think my mom drove to the gig because I didn’t have my drivers license yet. Haha.

What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?

Ha! I’ve been in the USA for over a decade on artist visas which means you can only make money playing music. And that means you hustle hard for every gig to pay the bills. This was a challenge but it kept me consistently on tour for over a decade. This is probably why I’m taking a much needed break from touring now that I have my green card.

Favorite day job honorable mention- singing the Canadian national anthem at minor hockey league games as a teen. Canadian AF!

How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?

It is completely unpredictable. I started to produce records for other artists a few years ago and it was a welcome addition to my income, plus I do studio work. I also have song placements in film and tv here and there. Those are the only things that keep me in the game currently. Record sales don’t amount to much unless I’m touring. Which I’m not doing at the moment. With support slot guarantees staying the same over the years and I don’t know how middle class musicians are gonna be able to keep it up. I’m trying to learn other skills, get better AND diversify! With people playing less and less for music it seems like we are either gonna have to be on the road 24/7 or have day jobs forever.

What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?

The music industry does not necessarily reward quality art and originality. I would’ve loved to have known that the industry’s priorities are in the shitter.

It’s a long and winding road with no two stories the same of getting to the finish line. Is there even a finish line?

I try to remain in gratitude as it is a privilege to be able to make records and have people hear them.

When Brandy Zdan put the final touches on her third solo album, Falcon, she realized it captured a larger snapshot of her life than she ever intended to share. Equal parts proud and surprised, she sat down to pen a brief description in hopes of explaining how she got there. “Falcon is my story of the last two years,” she wrote. “A story of miscarriage, loss, grief, pregnancy, motherhood, trauma, isolation, depression, hope, and love. I gave birth in a pandemic, became a mother in isolation, pressed pause on my career, lost my livelihood, battled postpartum depression, and faced some of the darkest moments of life. Grand plans of big producers and fancy studios fell away, and I had to figure out a way of telling my story on my own.”

What happened next changed Zdan’s perspective on her album. When she shared the Falcon summary with a few collegues and friends to hear their thoughts, a trend emerged. All of the men told her it was incredibly heavy. All of the women told her it was deeply inspiring. To Zdan, the reasons why couldn’t be more obvious.

“Everyone talks about being vulnerable, but there’s something different about this. This is the type of shit women aren’t supposed to be vocal about,” says Zdan. “I wanted to express all of those tangled feelings, and I hope that it encourages other women to express their grief and loneliness in whatever ways they choose. It’s a stigma that needs to end, and now that I’ve broken that barrier in my own life I want to help others experience what a freeing place it can be.”

In many ways, Falcon was a long time coming for Zdan, even if she didn’t know it. For the past decade, Zdan—a lifelong Canadian who moved to Austin, Texas in 2011 before relocating to Nashville, Tennessee in 2014—has been working in the US under a strict artist visa. She eventually found herself growing exhausted while touring in support of her 2018 sophomore album Secretear. “I was questioning myself as an artist and the endless years that I’ve been on the road pursuing what I do, making art, and feeling like it wasn’t giving me what I wanted it to be giving me anymore,” she explains. Suddenly, Zdan learned she was in the midst of her first pregnancy and needed to put the concerts on hold, marking the first time in a decade that she had ever done so. Instead of getting to enjoy her time off, Zdan was catapulted into the most formative experiences imaginable—the heavy grief of a miscarriage, the isolation of becoming a new mother in a pandemic, the unexpected realities of dealing with postpartum depression—during the past year. So she did what any great songwriter would do: she wrote her way through it.

Connect with Zdan online and on the road.