Photo credit: Laura Partain
Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
Well, my old touring vehicle was a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan but she kicked the bucket a couple years ago, with over 250,000 miles. I don’t have a tour vehicle now so it’s rental vans or borrowing from folks. One time we broke down in Winnipeg in the middle of March. I forget the repair, but that was truly a rough one.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
This is really tough! I go for the Whole Foods hot bar actually because it’s pretty healthy and has lots of options for folks who are vegetarian or gluten-free. You can make a robust salad from their salad bar and it’s pretty reliable no matter where you are. But then the problem is that it’s sometimes hard to find a Whole Foods in the middle of nowhere.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
I break maybe one or two a year, but I change the whole set relatively frequently. I use D’Addario light gauge strings on my 1953 00-17 Martin guitar, and I buy a pack of 10 sets for like, $70 bucks and that will usually last me a year.
Where do you rehearse?
I rehearse and write in my living room! Over to the side I have a desk that I like to write at, right in front of a window looking out on the street. I mean, I live in Brooklyn so sometimes there are weird New York sounds happening outside. I live in a neighborhood with lots of families with kids, so it can be tricky to be recording an idea and have a crying child in the background, haha.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
So I’ve got two stories for this. The first songwriting I ever did was to add on to this Dolly Parton song called “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind.” I love that song and in high school I guess I wanted to continue the story so I added two more verses. Truthfully, I don’t think they were very good at all, but my little sister still loves this song and she’s been begging me to record a version of it. (Erin, if you’re reading this, it’ll be your Christmas present this year!) I joke now that I co-wrote with Dolly, but she just doesn’t know it!
Then, I guess the real first song I ever wrote was called “Moon Song” and in retrospect, it was just awful. I wrote it in the middle of the night at Miles of Music Camp with a group of songwriters. We were all hanging out pretty late and we just had one guitar that we were passing around. We started playing this game where we had to write a song on the spot, kind of stream of consciousness, whatever you come up with in the moment. I started recording them on my phone because since everyone was so tired I think we all felt really free and unencumbered. All the songs had this late night / early morning magic to them. With my song, the first line was “The moon is high tonight / Milky Way she shines so bright” and oh man, I’m sorry but that’s just a terrible first line to a song!
Describe your first gig.
This wasn’t a gig in that I didn’t get paid, but it was my first one of the first performances that I remember. I was in second grade and I competed in the Franklin County Fair Fiddle Contest up in my hometown. I played this fiddle tune/song called “Little Liza Jane” and my dad backed me up on guitar.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
So for the last five months or so I’ve been a nanny to this sweet toddler named Wesley. Spending time with a toddler is really fun! You read a lot of books, you play with a lot of Play-Doh, with blocks etc. and we spend a lot of time at the Park Slope playgrounds. I think one of the biggest challenges is deciphering his language, but I think I’ve learned to speak toddler pretty well.
One of my other favorite day jobs was working at Flock, a women’s clothing boutique in Boston. I loved my coworkers and the culture of working in the shop hanging with all these really cool women.
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?
As you grow as an artist and as your audience grows you can start to play bigger venues and each time, hopefully you’re making a little bit more money at the door. In the early days of Lula Wiles and also playing solo, we’d play for like 50 bucks or drinks and tips or something. But as you put in the work of touring and performing, you’re able to make a bit more with each passing gig, but it’s definitely a slow process!
The other thing I’ve done to supplement my income, especially during the pandemic, has been to teach songwriting and harmony singing lessons which I find really fulfilling as well. In 5 to 10 years I hope that I’m continuing to tour, but also writing and co-writing more. It’s definitely a goal of mine to have songs cut by other artists and hey, having a country hit would be a great way to put any potential future children through college! A girl can dream.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
I wish I had known how to soundcheck a little more skillfully. There are tricks and various ways to make things easier, especially at festival sets when you have only 10/15 mins to line check, that I wish I’d known earlier. Knowing the lingo and terminology makes everything go more smoothly when communicating with the sound engineer, and that’s something I wish I’d known as my younger self.