Alaska Reid

Alaska Reid spent most of her life growing up in a city in Southwestern Montana and while Reid now works in Los Angeles, she draws great inspiration from her hometown. She sang in basements, at the rodeo, and in gyms before starting her first band, Alyeska. About her writing, Reid says, “I’m interested in the effects of place on songwriting and the idea of regional writing,” she says. “I like to think I’m in a healthy relationship with it, where I’m still really inspired by this idea of place, but trying not to be trapped by it. I was born in Michigan and moved further West to Montana when I was 4 years old, then later to Los Angeles in my late teens, so I was very keenly aware of having a mixture of experiences from different geographies and how that influenced me. When something weaves in and out of your life, you can’t help but study it in a way. Ask Reid how she’d define her sound and she’ll hesitate before landing on “Mountain Pop.” In 2020, she released Big Bunny, a project indebted to a coming-of-age chasing rabbits, throwing bottles in the creek, and kissing in damp old houses. Similarly, Disenchanter is as much a collection of stories as it is a collection of songs. “I love country music because I love storytelling,” Reid says. “Every track on this album has an element of my autobiography in it, but the dosage varies. I write composite characters, or characters based on myself and friends, squirreling bits of fiction in with truth.”