The Long Road Sit Down with Stella Prince
Woodstock raised, Nashville honed, and Laurel Canyon inspired, Stella Prince creates soul-baring indie folk pop representing the next generation of artists on the country/Americana/roots music scene. Authentic and from-the-heart, her evocative and relatable self-penned songs delve deep into the listener’s spirit and appeal to a diverse, multi-generational audience. Stella was last over on this side of the pond in 2023, where we saw her at The Bedford in Balham, located in southwest London but she recently returned with new music on the way as she performed at this summer's The Long Road festival in Leicestershire where we had a long overdue catchup.
It's great to see you again.
“You too.”
It must be two years? I'm trying to work it out.
“I think it was three.”
Wow that’s crazy, but welcome back.
“Thank you.”
It’s a very different setting to a pub in Southwest London.
“It is pretty much the opposite in every way.”
A few more people as well.
“Just a drop, yeah a few more ha-ha.”
It must be quite nice as well because it’s quite different to playing a US festival as some people get multiple chances to play.
“Yeah, I’m playing the Front Porch and VIP which are both today.”
The Front Porch is so pretty, just log cabin and the chimney will have smoke coming out so it’s the perfect setting for you as well, in terms of how people like to listen and hear some stories but more importantly, get to hear some things that are going to be on your debut album that is on the way. So, with that, what sort of stage are we with it? Are you still writing towards it? Have you got the songs? Are you kind of cutting them? Or are we at that really frustrating part where you've done it and it's just a case of waiting for people to press buttons and being told about strategy.
“It’s that one! We recorded everything. this past June in Iceland and it was quite an experience. It was my first time in Iceland, I was there for two weeks which was really intense but fantastic and we recorded twelve songs, where we just dropped the first single off of it, called “Ruby Boots” which came out a week ago.”
It's great to see you again.
“You too.”
It must be two years? I'm trying to work it out.
“I think it was three.”
Wow that’s crazy, but welcome back.
“Thank you.”
It’s a very different setting to a pub in Southwest London.
“It is pretty much the opposite in every way.”
A few more people as well.
“Just a drop, yeah a few more ha-ha.”
It must be quite nice as well because it’s quite different to playing a US festival as some people get multiple chances to play.
“Yeah, I’m playing the Front Porch and VIP which are both today.”
The Front Porch is so pretty, just log cabin and the chimney will have smoke coming out so it’s the perfect setting for you as well, in terms of how people like to listen and hear some stories but more importantly, get to hear some things that are going to be on your debut album that is on the way. So, with that, what sort of stage are we with it? Are you still writing towards it? Have you got the songs? Are you kind of cutting them? Or are we at that really frustrating part where you've done it and it's just a case of waiting for people to press buttons and being told about strategy.
“It’s that one! We recorded everything. this past June in Iceland and it was quite an experience. It was my first time in Iceland, I was there for two weeks which was really intense but fantastic and we recorded twelve songs, where we just dropped the first single off of it, called “Ruby Boots” which came out a week ago.”
I was going to touch on that as you wrote that with Matraca Berg which must have been a really cool one as she wrote songs like “Strawberry Wine” then “You and Tequila” which are such iconic country songs. Where did “Ruby Boots” come from?
“That was something that she actually brought to me and we both sat down, it was like five minutes into the write where she said, I just have this title. It's called “Ruby Boots”, I don't know what it means, but I just wrote it down because that's kind of cool. I was like I don't know what that means either, but I think it sounds cool too, so we wrote it in about an hour and it just totally flowed.”
There is a video coming for it as well.
“Oh, yeah, we do.”
How fun was that to do a proper music video? Was it something that you’ve always wanted to do and get into that sort of fun side of doing things with songs in that way?
“Well, it's funny, you know, I've done little music videos in the past, I've done a lot myself, but this is my first real video, so that was a whole other experience with a real team, a real camera and a real director, so it was incredible.”
You've been spending a fair bit of time here on this trip as well, you're not just in and out like a lot of people are because you've been spending a bit of time at a lovely vegan cafe, up in Camden. Green Note is a really cool little venue but I find the stage is in a strange place as they walk past it to come in or go to the bathroom.
“Yeah it's small and a little dark, but it's great for listening. It’s really sick as people Listen to every word and I did two nights there which we sold out, so that was great.”
It's taken you a while to get back over here and I festivals are a great opportunity for people to discover new artists but it’s the array of music on the bill at The Long Road. It must be really fun in that way where you've got a blank slate to an audience and they'll give you the chance, especially with The Front Porch stage as well, because of the way the footfall goes around the site, everybody walks past you so they are going to see Stella Prince whether they want to or not. Is it just going to be you and your guitar up there?
“Oh yeah, just me.”
Then hopefully we're not going to leave it three years or whatever it is until I see you again.
“For sure, it has to be sooner, please.”
Have a lot of fun playing here, it's a really nice festival. We all enjoy this festival a lot and it will be a great crowd but thank you for the hang and we’ll catch up soon.
The new single “Ruby Boots” from Stella Prince is out now and to keep up to date with all that Stella is up to you can find more details on her WEBSITE or following along with her socially on INSTAGRAM YOUTUBE or FACEBOOK.
The Long Road Festival will return to Stanford Hall in Leicestershire in 2027 between Thursday 26th and Sunday 29th August, with early bird tickets set to go on sale at 9:30am on Thursday 3rd September. You can find ticket details and further information on their WEBSITE and you can be the first to know all updates ahead of next year’s event as well as looking back on this years by checking out their socials on INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK.
“That was something that she actually brought to me and we both sat down, it was like five minutes into the write where she said, I just have this title. It's called “Ruby Boots”, I don't know what it means, but I just wrote it down because that's kind of cool. I was like I don't know what that means either, but I think it sounds cool too, so we wrote it in about an hour and it just totally flowed.”
There is a video coming for it as well.
“Oh, yeah, we do.”
How fun was that to do a proper music video? Was it something that you’ve always wanted to do and get into that sort of fun side of doing things with songs in that way?
“Well, it's funny, you know, I've done little music videos in the past, I've done a lot myself, but this is my first real video, so that was a whole other experience with a real team, a real camera and a real director, so it was incredible.”
You've been spending a fair bit of time here on this trip as well, you're not just in and out like a lot of people are because you've been spending a bit of time at a lovely vegan cafe, up in Camden. Green Note is a really cool little venue but I find the stage is in a strange place as they walk past it to come in or go to the bathroom.
“Yeah it's small and a little dark, but it's great for listening. It’s really sick as people Listen to every word and I did two nights there which we sold out, so that was great.”
It's taken you a while to get back over here and I festivals are a great opportunity for people to discover new artists but it’s the array of music on the bill at The Long Road. It must be really fun in that way where you've got a blank slate to an audience and they'll give you the chance, especially with The Front Porch stage as well, because of the way the footfall goes around the site, everybody walks past you so they are going to see Stella Prince whether they want to or not. Is it just going to be you and your guitar up there?
“Oh yeah, just me.”
Then hopefully we're not going to leave it three years or whatever it is until I see you again.
“For sure, it has to be sooner, please.”
Have a lot of fun playing here, it's a really nice festival. We all enjoy this festival a lot and it will be a great crowd but thank you for the hang and we’ll catch up soon.
The new single “Ruby Boots” from Stella Prince is out now and to keep up to date with all that Stella is up to you can find more details on her WEBSITE or following along with her socially on INSTAGRAM YOUTUBE or FACEBOOK.
The Long Road Festival will return to Stanford Hall in Leicestershire in 2027 between Thursday 26th and Sunday 29th August, with early bird tickets set to go on sale at 9:30am on Thursday 3rd September. You can find ticket details and further information on their WEBSITE and you can be the first to know all updates ahead of next year’s event as well as looking back on this years by checking out their socials on INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK.