Click here to listen or purchase Skylar’s music.
“I grew up in Ashland, Virginia, as a part of a musical family. My parents played instruments and had us listen to classical music, Laurel Canyon tunes, Broadway musicals, jazz standards, ’60s rock ‘n’ roll … and then the radio brought me Lauryn Hill and Reba McEntire.
I’ve written songs since I was little, but I don’t remember a particular moment that sparked my interest in pursuing music as a career. I do remember the feeling of going to grunge shows and hearing the electric guitar and thinking I was being transported to another place. Going into Hill Hall at UNC-Chapel Hill and playing their pianos late at night probably had something to do with it, too.
I’m excited to announce that my first full-length solo album, ‘Oleander,’ is coming out this February. I’ve been working on it with Chris Stamey at his studio, Modern Recording, and also at the Fidelitorium in Kernersville.
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I’ve been lucky to have so many awesome experiences – I think one out-of-body moment I had was playing the Enmore Theatre in Sydney, Australia, with Big Star’s Third and having Cat Power tell me my guitar should be louder during sound check. I was being shy, and she was so encouraging. I mean, when does anyone ever say to a guitar player, ‘Oh, would you turn up, please?’
I love to play The Pinhook in Durham – there is so much good music in Durham right now. Shirlette Ammons is on fire with her new single released on the record label she and her sister, Shorlette, just started, SugarQube Records. I’m also loving following the jazz trombone player Jeb Bishop and getting to see him play around Durham and the Triangle.
Like a lot of creative towns, Durham’s artists are a part of its service industry, so eating and drinking in Durham is like going around and visiting your city’s musicians, painters, beat makers, writers, actors, dreamers. I love to drink coffee at Scratch, eat hush honeys and the catch of the day from Saltbox, drink hot chocolate from Cocoa Cinnamon and eat tacos from La Vaquita. I love to listen to jazz at Beyu Caffe; go to Manbites Dog to see a play by any one of Durham’s awesome theater companies, like the new Black Ops Theatre Co. I like to visit Bull City Records and The Regulator, and then bundle up, climb the iron stairs to the top floor above Parker & Otis and watch the sunset and listen to the trains.
Some things people might not know about me: I’m a sucker for Roman and Greek mythology. I used to work at a theme park selling the pictures they take of you when you go down the big hill on a roller coaster. If music weren’t my profession, I’d be a sailor.”
