Singer-songwriter Anna Graves has roots in Minnesota, but has branched out to Los Angeles and Nashville in recent years.

Ahead of her performance at Palace Theatre on St. Paul opening for The Head and the Heart this Thursday, June 19, she joined Local Show host Diane for a conversation. Graves is no stranger to big stages, having performed all over the nation supporting country stars like Maren Morris and even legends such as Stevie Nicks.

In this interview, Graves shared what it’s been like releasing a continuous stream of heartfelt, personal music to a growing, enthusiastic fanbase across the nation.

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Diane here, host and producer on The Current and on The Local Show, sitting across from Anna Graves. How's it going today?

It is going good. I drank a little whiskey last night, but we are surviving. We are thriving.

Good for you. Drinkin' some whiskey is like a typical singer-songwriter drink. You're a fantastic singer-songwriter, and really got on our radar just a couple years ago … and now you're on tour with The Head and the Heart. No big deal.

Oh, I'm so excited. I'm so excited to be here too, and to think that it's already been two years since we met, and that you guys have played so many songs. I'm so grateful to be here, and I'm so grateful for everything that The Current does. So thanks for having me. 

You're in both Nashville and Minnesota. And in Minnesota, that's where you really write music. And I gotta say you've been putting out a lot of music. You're in this real prolific state of writing, and you just released a new single. Tell me about the experience of just being in that state of writing and releasing music to the world. 

Well, it definitely feels like being on a really fast train when you're releasing music every six to eight weeks, and you never really know how it's gonna go. And I'm trying to tease it online, and trying to engage with people and connect with people with the music, because in this day and age, I don't know how else to. I usually try to escape, go back to the farm in Minnesota. I grew up in Webster, which is 40 minutes south of here, a horse farm. And it's just a really inspiring place. And I moved back there from LA a couple years ago, and that's where I was able to reconnect with myself. And so a lot of the music that comes out, I think you'll feel the landscape of Minnesota. 

I even got to play a song [recently] that's unreleased about Minnesota, and it talks about the willow trees in our backyard, and I talk about the crows. I grew up feeding the crows with my mom, and the horses. So it's really a place where I draw a lot of inspiration, and then I go back to Nashville. And I guess I don't really know what I do in Nashville. I kind of just hang out in Nashville sometimes. 

Do you ever record out there, I imagine?

I do, yeah. I write with some people out there. 

I'm sure you gain inspiration from some of the musicians, because your sound definitely has a Nashville or even LA sound to it. To me, there's a level of sophistication with the production. Your voice fits that style so well, because your voice is so elegant and so relatable. It just has that aesthetic to it. 

I totally know what you're saying. And it's funny, because I have a song called "Fly" about feeling like a wandering soul on fire. And part of that, too, was written from the perspective of — I have such a random creation process. I'll go back and write in Minnesota, but then I really like some producers in L.A., and I really like some producers in Nashville. And I kind of just like to work with a lot of different people and explore art. And it's been hard for me to settle down. And I really want to release an album, and release a project. But I feel like I really need to settle down for a second and do that. But right now, I have so much music that I've written over the years. And I kind of just want to keep releasing it and, eventually, hopefully put out an album. 

Tell us about your new song, "Bluebird." There's a poignant line in there: "I'm just a bluebird with nowhere to land." A lot of thoughts come to mind — feeling like you're in an ephemeral space, especially going from place to place.

Well, a lot of my songs are about feeling lost and figuring life out and where I want to go, who I want to be, what I want to say. It's funny. I wrote that chorus when I moved back to Minnesota, about a year and a half ago, and I sat on that chorus for a while. I wrote different versions of verses to it, and it sat as a draft for a really long time. And I'll do that with songs, but I wrote the song when I felt really down and really lost. And then a year of life went by and I was able to reconnect in Minnesota. And that's when I wrote "Fly" and found that going home was a really beautiful thing and was going to be a very important part of my inspiration and my artistry. 

And then after that, I started working with this producer, Davis Naish. I met him in LA, and we had a really deep conversation, and I felt like that was the day to finish that song. And I remember how special that day was. That song is just about feeling resilient and being able to say that all of us have gone through pain in different ways, and we can come back from it, and it's okay to feel lost and feel like there's nowhere to land, because there's so much beauty in the flight. So that's kind of where that song came from.

Beautiful. We also were talking about how you just opened for the Teskey Brothers at Uptown Theater [in April]. And there were fans that specifically came for you, and they were singing the words to your song. 

It was so cool. 

Yeah, what's that feeling like in anticipation of not only that big experience you got to have opening for The Teskey Brothers in a big room with a lot of music fans, and then looking forward to The Head and the Heart tour?

It's all so new still, because I really started only sharing my music online a year ago. I remember when I came into The Current in 2023, and that was so much fun. That was kind of the moment when I was starting to think about moving back to Minnesota, and [that] night was one of the — it's happened before, but one of the first nights. It was really funny. I forgot my lyrics as I was singing, and this girl in the front row sings them out for me, and I was just like, “Thanks.” 

Which song was it?

I think it was "Made to Love Someone." 

Great song. 

What I love about songwriting is it's such a photograph and memory in time. It's such a moment. And every song I've ever released, I remember that day so well. And it's so interesting. It was amazing meeting people who listen to the music and we're singing along. And it's really incredible to see in real time how music can reach people. And it felt really good. I had so much fun, and The Teskey brothers were like the kindest people ever. It was a really great night.

You're doing all this just performing solo, which is another amazing feat. Because I feel like, to perform solo, you're a lot more stripped bare than if you have a band.

You can also make $5 instead of negative $500 [laughs].

I know, right? It's an affordable way to perform. 

It's so much more affordable, yes. I haven't played acoustic in a while ... I was playing with a band, and I definitely thought I needed a band with me, too, to be able to feel confident on stage. And I think about this last year and going back home. That was so good for my soul and grew a real kind of confidence that can help me go on the stage now with just a guitar. And it definitely helps when I see someone singing along. That's the ultimate – “Okay, I got this. I can do this.” It's crazy what we can do when we believe in ourselves. And that sounds so cheesy, but it really is.

Anna Graves opens for The Head and the Heart at Palace Theatre in St. Paul on Thursday, June 19. Tickets