Addi Grace, a 14-year-old singer-songwriter from Palmyra, has her new song “Not Gonna Make It” available to hear on the music platform of your choice.
LebTown profiled the rising star back in 2022. This is the first song she has uploaded for streaming.
Read More: At just 12 years old, pop star and fair veteran Addi Grace has big dreams ahead
“We had our good friend Kevin Whitaker – he’s another awesome musician from the area – (help out),” Addi said in a phone interview. “We had no idea what we were doing, so we called him and he helped us set everything up through DistroKid. It was very smooth sailing.”
When the song finally went up, Addi described the experience as “weird, it was crazy – it was really cool.”
“We all stayed up til midnight,” she said. “My family was over, my best friend, and we all stayed up and listened to it when it came out. It was awesome.”
The song also debuted on The Local Show on The River 97.3 on April 14.
Addi has a big, soulful, rich voice, a bit like Fiona Apple in its tone and grit. She’s in 8th grade at Cougar Academy cyber school and will eventually switch to Palmyra High School.
She says she has no other extracurricular activities – “We’re going for this, we’re in for the ride with music,” she says. She started playing guitar when she was 9 or 10. Songwriting followed naturally.
“I’ve always been writing down my thoughts in a little journal; I just always remember having a journal with me,” she said. “But really writing songs, I’m going to say maybe the past three or four years.”
Addi wrote the lyrics and music for “Not Gonna Make It” after a teacher told her that her dreams of making it in music were never going to pan out. Instead of discouraging her, it made her want to, as she sings, “go the extra mile.”
“It (happened in) third, fourth grade in the library,” she said, calling the lyrics “very close to” word-for-word of the conversation. But it took a while to actually get it down on paper.
“I didn’t really realize what happened until a couple years later and I was like, ‘oh, well, that kinda happened, that’s not ok.’ I think I wrote part of the song at the end of sixth grade, not thinking of it as a song, more just like strewing my thoughts out in my songbook.
“And then I started to think about it, I (thought), this could be something, I’m going to finish it. So I finished it around the beginning or middle of seventh grade, and then we actually ended up going to the studio (The Green Room in Lancaster), end of seventh, beginning of eighth,” she added.
The other musicians you hear on “Not Gonna Make It” are Green Room owner Derek Euston on guitar, Bob Welsh on bass, Noah Gibney on keyboards, and Logan Bedard on drums.
The song shows a preternatural gift for storytelling and detail. Addi spoke about some of her influences in that regard.
“My influence in general is Grace VanderWaal (winner of “America’s Got Talent” back in 2016) – she inspired me to play the ukulele,” she said. “I started when I was 7 – I’m actually holding the ukulele as we speak. She’s my main inspiration.
“My local inspiration is definitely Olivia Farabaugh – she let me play during one of her set breaks when I was 9. She’s one of the really big people who’s helped me.”
Read More: Lebanon area native Olivia Farabaugh is making her way in Nashville music scene
She also cited Dave Grohl and his band, the Foo Fighters, whom she calls her favorite band.
“They’re not all different genres of songs, but they’re different from one another,” she said of his work. “The lyrics that they put into it and the different sounds that come out of it are just so inspiring.”
Addi was named the Central Pennsylvania Music Hall of Fame’s Best Youth Artist back in 2021 and nabbed the honor for the second time at the 2023 ceremonies held in March.
“I was not expecting it – I was very surprised,” she said. “All of those kids in that category are insanely talented and they’re all super sweet. It was just an awesome night.
“We got to see and meet a bunch of other musicians – we can’t really do that because when you gig, most of the time you can’t go out and see other people. (So) it was nice to get out and see everybody,” she added.
Addi recorded two other songs at The Green Room that are ready for release.
“We’re not sure exactly when but we’re hoping for (June), most likely,” she said, “I’m writing, so I’ll definitely have some more out in the future.” She also wants to do an album at some point – “that would be awesome,” she enthused.
Here’s where to catch Addi nearby in the coming month; her live set consists of two originals (including “Not Gonna Make It”) and covers by artists like Taylor Swift, Janis Joplin, Foo Fighters, and Dolly Parton.
- May 10, 5 – 9 p.m. – Bridgewater Public House, York
- May 11, 6 – 8:30 p.m.: Cassel Vineyards, Hummelstown
- May 17, 7 – 10 p.m.: Blue Bird Inn, Lebanon
- May 18, 2 – 4 p.m.: Baron Brew Fest, Manheim; and 7 – 10 p.m., Snitz Brewery, Annville
- May 25, noon – 1 p.m.: Schoolhouse Antiques, Palmyra; 6 – 8 p.m., Hershey Italian Lodge, Hershey (reservations recommended)
- June 8, 1 – 8 p.m.: Proudly PA, Fort Hunter Park, Harrisburg (she’ll be on the Corncrib Stage); the show is headlined by The Ocean Blue and The Jellybricks
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