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The Aslyn Community

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Welcome to the Aslyn Community!

This community is dedicated to the amazingly talented Aslyn! Feel free to post concert experiences, encounters, photos, lyrics, news, tour info, basically anything and everything having to do with Aslyn.

Aslyn's Bio:
written by Aslyn Mitchell

"7 years old--- in gainesville, fl, i started taking classical piano.. however, these sounds were not a stranger to my subconscious... my mom and dad used to play mozart and beethoven while i slept as a baby... they were young and i think they had heard that classical music helped in the development of thought.... wouldn't you know before my feet could reach the pedals i started playing in festivals & studying musical theory

junior high and high school--- school didn't have choral program.. so we drove an hour to piano lessons each week and i just looked for any community or church opportunity to sing

influences: early years began with mozart and mendelssohn, influence of gospel music, as well as hearing a little frank sinatra, tony bennett, johnny mathis, the carpenters, and anything soft rock around the house... through early teenage years.. i listened to anything "top 40s radio" but never truly delved into the art of pop/rock and soul music til later

grew up one of five kids- and the only girl with four brothers... music (or football) was always in the house in some way... we would sing together around the piano... my bros went through stages where sports were cooler than tunes but i always knew that music was in their blood and they'd come back around.... and they have--- 3 of my 4 brothers are making music of their own....

after my high school graduation i added up all my money i received from sending out invitations, ($ expected to help me get some type of cheap vehicle) i think it was about 1500 dollars... i bought a keyboard instead. who needs wheels, right? little did i know the cheap car thing would come back around later- ha! and inspire the title of my debut record, "Lemon Love," a song that breathes those last breaths: the analogy of a junk car and a let-down lover. now not to mention my neverending car sagas would play into the irony of helping me buy gear throughout my pursuit--- tune in for another little ditty: i once was in a wreck in ATL where my car was totaled... a few days after the wreck, i went to the junk yard and begged for my car back-- the men their just probably thought the car had some mementos value or nostalgia.. they told me i'd be crazy and would be "under regulation" to drive it... but i acted like i was gonna get it fixed. really i just wanted to use the insurance check to buy gear. and i did... ( and was still driving that smushed car when i signed with capitol.)

growing into my own musically began after i moved to atlanta... i began working with jeremiah romo, owner of atlanta-based label, soulrock entertainment.... that's when the development began--- i was being handed "greatest hits" records one after another... see, i thought i knew the beatles and queen and stevie wonder... but what i knew was "penny lane," "bohemian rhapsody" and "isn't she lovely"... catching my drift? if it was on the radio i knew it, but it stopped there. and now i had been given a taste of some of the most incredible art i had ever heard. and i couldn't get enough... it was so overwhelming to me- to realize all i had been missing when i would only buy the single!

i've been inspired by so many artists old and new: the beatles, queen, stevie wonder, earth wind and fire, sheryl crow, the corrs, alanis morrisette, coldplay, the beegees, hall & oats... i could go on and on...

and really the journey of learning continues... if you were a fly on the wall you might catch me dramatically shut my cd player off abruptly cuz i hear a song that moves me so much i can't hardly take it.... or throw myself on the floor cuz i hear a change in a song that blows me away- or obsess in hearing something said lyrically that i've felt a million times but never heard put quite that way. all these things... although my responses certainly may sound over-the-top, continue to keep me in my place. i am a student. a student who never wants to stop learning, never wants to stop getting that unexplainable feeling that a song can give. the day that music becomes monotony is the day that i will be done with it. until then, i'm gonna be an artist and a writer who's full of heart - a heart full of ears.

i soon put a band together and began playing clubs here or there... all the while, learning to be nothing more than a true me... but encouraged to be no less than what i was capable of.

a fan favorite playing out, (i must mention because it's the oldest song that made the capitol record,) was "Dear Wally." "Dear Wally" sings the true life story of my grandparents' love for 55 years, written in memory of my mamaw. Every detail of that song is personal to their story... even beyond the lyrical surface. Of my whole set list, this was the song that strangers would stop me in atlanta to mention and sing back to me.

I was learning to be myself- and that was what kept me going. experiencing the feeling of knowing that i had connected with someone through the offering of song.. that feeling was what pushed me to be a little more vulnerable each day. and that was my fuel. now note that all this time, i'm experiencing a new excitement and progression in my music development- but my personal life was more resembling that of a vagabond... i was broke, and crashing in spare bedrooms and spare couches of friends or their families that lived in the atlanta area- moving from one situation to another- never really had a stable situation of my own...and doing it all in the name of faith-- or rather that relentless belief in myself and the conviction of devoting all of my time and thought to the pursuit for something bigger. and boy do i wish i could say that everyone around me was lifting me up with support- there were a faithful few- but there was also the mentality surrounding me that "if you try, and fall down... it must mean something's broke.." not to me- falling down is all about dusting off and moving forward. i knew that it was all timing... i had more work to do... so i continued to hone my craft- dusting off as i said- writing every day-- playing out-- never trying to write or be anything more than what i was feeling.

in early 2002, i landed accidently onto something... i was crushing on this guy who, it seemed to me, his interest in me was evident but solely surface.. that was getting under my skin... he'd invite me to be his company but never wanted to know anything else about me- he knew nothing of the very things that made me who i was... so i sat down on a friend of mine's upright and wrote a song called "be the girl"... this was the beginning of the twist and turn.

i had been working with different producers in ATL for a minute, trying to focus in and find a sound that best represented the songs i was writing... but now i had a song that still felt personal to me, but actually half-way fit what was becoming more acceptable on radio... and a few months later, i was paired with producer/artist butch walker in atlanta. a fresh stir started... and like a whirlwind. in november 2002, i began showcasing for labels... and this time around i didn't care so much what anyone thought... if people thought i had a big song, that's fabulous, but it was no more than a beautiful accident to me- i was just doing what i do and living my art. and at the capitol tower found my match. i met with andy slater, president of capitol records, and was asked to play my most recent song written (which then was "4931023," a song on the record that relents on trust, loyalty, and friendship forgotten and the unconvincing consolation of that loss)... and the rest is history in the making.

the record:

i had a little down time as we figured out the details for recording the record... during this time wrote "Here's To Believe," an addition to the original songlist for the record. People are surprised to hear that I am shy in relationships... i guess because when it comes to my music i try to lyrically put things exactly how i think or feel them... "Here's to Believe" is a confession of what is often brewing beneath my silence.

soon i was off to england! recorded 8 tracks with Guy Chambers (Robbie Williams, Jewel) at Real World Studios in Bath, England as well as in London... it was the most amazing experience- i don't know, sounds a bit silly or ignorant, but i guess because the English speak English, my expectation of the culture was that it would be much like America... but it was quite different-- and every little detail exciting to see-- everything from learning that a biscuit is a cookie to the approach on my music. Guy approached the production from song stand point rather than a producer-driven sound. i feel so blessed to have been so hands-on involved in the production ideas and string arrangements and vocals... it all just made every detail of every song feel so personal and intimate... a month after i returned from england, i headed for LA to record 4 songs in with Eric Valentine (Smashmouth, Good Charlotte, Queens of the Stone Age).. another incredible experience... and a fun person to watch work. i'll never forget showing up on the first day and there were like 10 different pianos in the live room... i knew right off that we were gonna get it right.

this record is very very special to me. it is not only a compilation of songs, but a compilations of 12 individual stories. stories of love found and love lost, of loyalty ruined and masks mistaken, of the ironic freedom and glass box of religion, and of the desire and passion for an unknown tomorrow-- but as a whole, it is the unveiling of something very personal, and more private than i would normally uncover... that is, the secrets underneath."

Current Tour Dates

Aslyn will also be preforming on the Rock Boat VII!!
Jan. 11-15, 2007
Departing Ft. Lauderdale, FL
and stopping in Turks and Caicos!

Also, please help promote Aslyn and this community.

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