Growing up, Callie Truman’s (12) Wednesday nights meant guitar lessons with her uncle. They meant Taylor Swift on full blast, impromptu ukulele tutorials, and Simon Cowell’s voice attacking contestants on America’s Got Talent.
For Truman, Wednesday nights meant music.
“My first memories of loving music was actually with my uncle Preston, who lived with us at the time, in fourth grade,” Truman said. “Every
Wednesday night he would babysit me and my brother, and we would watch America’s Got Talent. He would play his guitar and ukulele while we watched. That’s really where my interest started.”
Truman’s uncle, Preston Reeves, has been a musical mentor for Truman from car seats to behind the wheel.
“I remember her being a little kid singing Taylor Swift in her car seat to where she is now, playing her own music. It’s been pretty cool to watch,” Reeves said.
When Truman was in the younger years of school, she was struggling with insecurities, mental health, and classwork. Her calls for help and compassion were ignored. In this unstable time, she found support from her uncle.
Years later, she realized that he was in a similar position.
“When I was in third grade, I was going through one of the hardest years of my life. I was really struggling with school, and my teacher was not handling the situation well,” Truman said. “During that time, my uncle moved into our basement, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s cool’. I didn’t think much about it, but now I know that he was also going through one of the hardest years of his life.”
Together, Reeves and Truman grew their uncle-niece relationship and broke through their hardships with music. Reeves was able to find a career where he shares his love for music with youth other than his niece, inspiring them to find the same enjoyment.
“I didn’t realize I was going to be a teacher until Callie’s piano teacher heard me playing and said that I should probably start teaching people,” Reeves said.”I gave it a shot, and I really enjoyed watching other people get excited about music and helping them grow.”
Truman found her passion in playing guitar, singing, and writing her own songs with the help of her uncle’s mentorship.
“When I got my first ukulele, he was the one to teach me how to play,” Truman said. “He was the one who taught me how to play guitar and all those things. I started writing songs, and it completely changed my life. We have a shared love of music. He really inspired me.”
As Truman grew from elementary school, so did her love and aspirations for music. During her freshman year, she began releasing her own music on Spotify which she wrote and produced from her personal experiences—A window into her life.
“Everything I write about is what’s going on in my life at the time, what I’m feeling, what I’m dealing with, or what I’m thinking about,” Truman said. “It’s a look into my brain.”
All of Truman’s music pays tribute to the turbulent times in her life. She aims to be genuine and authentic in her art to provide her listeners with an escape to a place of comfort and acceptance.
“Everyone at some point in their life feels like they’re not good enough,” Truman said. “My main goal with my music is to help people know that they’re not alone in what they’re feeling, and to give them just a little light if they’re going through a dark time, because we’ve all been there.”
The songs on her newest EP, “UNSPOKEN”, encompass these messages. Truman’s song “what you call beautiful” is especially meaningful because her lyrics express the vulnerability of the teenage experience. Her favorite lyric says, “Elevated expectations, gilded measures of beauty. How awfully must you think of me?”
For songs like these, Truman goes through a long process to release them on Spotify, a process much longer than songwriting.
“First I write the song, and then I will go into a studio and we’ll record it, but that is a long process,” Truman said. “My most recent EP that I released, I recorded vocals first, then went back later and recorded the guitar. Then, we had to put it together. They had to master it, blend it, make sure everything sounded right, and add other effects in. It’s a long process; it took a couple months.”
Truman is a powerful, dedicated song writer and musician. Even though music has proven to be difficult at times, she wants others to tap into their talent.
Once she did, it became her life.
“Just go for it. Save up for that ukulele, that guitar, those lessons, because it completely changed my life,” Truman said. “Even if it’s just joining the choir at Monarch. It’s such a good break from the real world and a way to process your feelings and be in community.”
