Graci Lane

Hi. I’m Graci Lane. I love my mom, tattoos, love itself, glitter (generally sparkly things), Taylor guitars, hardwood floors, fairytales, and inside jokes. I’m a firm believer that Pluto should still be a planet, I can’t make snap decisions, I’m a good girl, I laugh during sad or tense situations, and this is my imaginary interview with Rolling Stone.

Where have you grown up?
“I was born in Ojai, California and moved to Templeton, California when I was three. So I’ve pretty much lived in Templeton my whole life. I would love to move to Tennessee. Nashville, Tennessee.”

Why Nashville?
“Why not Nashville? It’s the country music capitol of America. And that’s what I want to do with the rest of my life. Move to Nashville, work really hard, get hired with a song writing/publishing company (specifically Sony/ATV publishing) and then more hard work where I finally get signed with an independent label and release an album. Then open a few shows for George Strait, win a few awards, headlining tour, but mainly I just want to look out and see a sold out crowd full of thousands of people and have them singing my songs back to me.”

Wow. Sounds like you have it all planned out what you want to do with your life.
“Yeah, [laughs] I’m pretty OCD about it I guess. I have this book that I planned out each event that I want to happen in my career and when it’s supposed to happen. I also just realized I’m crazy. I’m an over analyzer so I guess I if my life goal/dream never works out then I’ll be pretty disappointed. But I mean, it won’t.”

It sounds like you’re pretty adamant. How did you start this huge “becoming a country star” project?
“I’ve been exposed to such amazing music since I was little thanks to my mom. I’ve been singing since I could talk. And then when I was four, I heard “I Hope You Dance” by Leann Womack. I loved everything about it, the dobro, the fiddle, and the twang. Her twang is what makes the song. And then as I started getting older I watched my grandfather play the guitar and I was exposed to even greater music. So after the 1999-2002 era where there were boy bands and girls that just bounced around on stage and were a puppet for their labels were fading away, I discovered Michelle Branch. She played guitar and wrote her own songs, and sang. From then on I listened to her constantly. I wanted to be her. So its 10 years later, she sings country music now, and I have taught myself guitar and I I can’t go a week without writing a whole song or at least half of a song.”

Who are some of your other inspirations?
“Well obviously Michelle Branch, but I really love Stevie Nicks, Tyler Hilton, Butch Walker, Hillary Lindsay, Ashley Monroe, Leann Rimes, John Shanks, and George Strait.”

What do you write songs about at such a young age?
“[Laughs] That’s a really good question. I get that a lot when I’m playing a gig and people find out I’m only 13 (now 14). I definitely didn’t want to be this 13 year old girl who writes about break-ups she hasn’t experienced yet. That’s kind of ridiculous. But I think it’s just important for me to write about what’s going on in my life or what I see going on around me. It might not even happen to me but if I see someone I love going through something, I’ll write about it. There was a long period time where I lost all of my friends and sat alone at lunch for a while and then I made one friend, and she’s been my best friend since. I wrote about how hard that rejection was. I write about unrequited deeply in like situations, I write about let downs, I write about anything if it’s significant. I just can’t wait to get older so I can get the experience so I can write more songs and have people take me seriously. But mainly I just want to write a song that means something to someone. I never want to write a song and put it out on an album and have it be so personal that no one understands it. I want people to relate to my songs. I want to give a song to that girl that was alone at lunch like I was, I want to give a song to someone that’s going through such a hard break up, and its confusing and frustrating and hurtful, but I also want to give a song to the person that’s so madly in love with someone that they want to shout it to the world, or maybe they can’t because that person doesn’t like them back. These songs are my diary. I just want to write. That’s what this is about. That’s what this will always be about.”

Why do you think your friends ditched you?
“I think because I started becoming my own person and I wasn’t just being a follower. I knew what I wanted and I was going to get it. But I think listening to country music and coming to school with band aids on my fingers from playing my guitar so much definitely made me different. And different isn’t good in middle school. It took me a while to realize that if I wasn’t comfortable with who I was then I was going to end up alone and really dark with a lot of problems. Because when you keep trying to be some