Followers of Nashville rock will recognize Buick Audra's name. She’s one-half of the phenomenally melodic heavy-rock duo Friendship Commanders, and has been an outspoken activist on a variety of issues, in her music and elsewhere. Friendship Commanders is a partnership that dates back many years, but Audra grew up in a musical family, started playing very young and released a few solo records during the Aughts and early 2010s.
In recent months, she’s been at work on a new solo LP. She began with five songs that she wrote long ago but never recorded, and then wrote five new ones in response to them — it’s a conversation of sorts between her younger self and her contemporary self, and appropriately enough, it’s called Conversations With My Other Voice. There’s a muscular heft to the music, but the influences of country, folk and ’90s singer-songwriters who performed with rock bands shine through. The record and a companion book of essays are set to be released together on Sept. 23 (you can preorder various packages via Bandcamp), and she’s set to play a release show on Sept. 28 at The Basement (tickets haven’t gone on sale just yet).
This week, she published a music video for the second single released from the record, “The Melody.” As she explains in a release, the song reflects on a time in her adolescence when she struggled to live up to the expectations of someone close to her and internalized the pressure to conform.
“I took this one person’s indifference toward me as a shortcoming on my part and did everything I could to be the kind of person he wanted to be around,” Audra writes. “When none of it worked, I still held on to this belief that I could make him see me as a valid musician and songwriter, even after we no longer knew each other. The whole idea makes me reel now, but it was true when I wrote this song. I couldn’t care less about what he thinks about me today, but I stand by ‘The Melody.’ ”
Above, check out a music video for the song, directed by drummer and creative partner Jerry Roe. It’s a simple but stylish affair, in which Audra and her band perform under lights that can’t outshine them no matter how bright they get. Also check out a great talk Audra had with Guitar Girl Magazine, who premiered the vid; you’ll read more about the origin of the song, as well as discussion about tone and Audra’s small army of guitars. Keep up with her on Instagram for updates.
