Please introduce yourself. What do you do? Why? What do you want people to know about you?
Tabitha Meeks moved to Nashville, TN in June 2020 as part of popular female folk band, Mona Lisa Tribe. While in Nashville, she rediscovered her love for songwriting on her original instrument, the piano and began her journey as a solo artist. Her music has a soft nostalgic touch to it and is often compared to Norah Jones, Ingrid Michaelson and JJ Heller.
Her career in Nashville has taken off as she has already performed in prestigious venues such as the Ryman Auditorium, backed up numerous top artists such as Charles Kelley from Lady A, Emily Weisband, Karen Fairchild from Little Big Town, Lauren Alaina and more, as well as belonging to the up and coming artist collective “The Pitch Meeting”, who have been featured in billboard magazine, forbes magazine, as Fender Artists and more.
What qualities make you different and unique from everyone else in the industry?
My music will often linger in vulnerability as you hear the true stories of infidelity, heartache and search for more in each of my songs. I’d say what makes me different is that my music is creating it’s own genre. I’ve been told by numerous recording engineers and producers in Nashville that I don’t really fit into a box, and while that’s scary, it’s also exciting. I am not intentionally trying to be different, I am just being myself and letting myself write authentically, with a strong desire to share what’s being created.
Describe THAT moment when you realized you’re doing what you were born to do.
I realized I was born to do this when I was driving back to my house one night and asked myself the question “Could I live without performing music?”… I surprised myself when I answered yes, but it’s true. I could be happy in life being around people I love, doing things that hopefully make the world a better place, even if I didn’t perform music.
Then I asked myself if I could be happy not creating music, and I realized I could not even fathom what life would be like without being able to write my songs. It’s such a part of who I am, the thought of not doing that is so dark.
With my song “Good Life”, set to come out in March, which is about infidelity and dashed hopes of becoming a wife, I’ll never forget when a waitress at the bar I sang it at a few months ago came up to me with tears in her eyes saying how much she loved the song. Moments like that are why we share our hearts through song.
What’s been the biggest challenge you’ve had to go through and how did you grow through it?
I was hired to be a background singer pretty early on when I moved to Nashville for an established artist. about 30 minutes before the taped dress rehearsal, the director called me and the other singer to the side and told us we weren’t making the cut. We heard a handful of reasons afterwards of why, but the challenge of not letting that moment define our attitude and outlook as we moved to this new city was huge.
It also was a great growing moment because it taught me to be grateful for every opportunity afterwards, knowing it could be taken away in a second, and it helped me take this career into perspective, knowing that after every failure there are always more opportunities.
Who are the TOP 3 people you’d want to meet that could elevate your career or business? Why these specific individuals?
Joy Williams. I resonate with her songwriting on a whole different level and her persona.
Norah Jones- she’s been the biggest inspiration in my piano playing and connecting the folk/jazz style into my songwriting, which taught me to not need to play more notes just because “I can” but rather do what suites my song and what I’m writing about.
Ingrid Michaelson- She’s been a huge influence since high school and hearing her songs in Greys Anatomy and other TV shows made me try to reach for that career goal which I am slowllyyy achieving! I love her songwriting and authentic style as well.
Chris Thile- sorry, I know this one is fourth but he’s just a complete musical bad ass who puts his chops in his songwriting so delicately.
Follow Tabitha’s social media profiles:
Instagram.com/piano_tabs
tiktok: @piano_tabs
Facebook.com/tabithameeksmusic
youtube.com/tabithameeks