DANIELLE MUSTARDE MEETS VIRGINIA-BORN SINGER-SONGWRITER LUCY DACUS

“I guess I’ve been doing music since I was born or something”, muses Lucy Dacus in her contemplative, Virginian drawl. “My mum’s a pianist and my dad’s a guitarist so we would always sing and stuff, but I feel like I’ve never really tried to do music – it was just such an integral part of my growing up. It was just always there.”

The 22-year-old singer-songwriter has never taken music lessons. “Which should be evident when you see us play”, she butts in. She’s laughing, but you can tell a little part of her believes that.

“When I was in middle school, I bought a guitar online for a hundred bucks and basically used it as a toy. I’d bring it to sleepovers and play with friends, and we’d write songs about the boys we had crushes on and things. It’s funny to think about that now.”

Dacus grew up in Richmond, Virginia, a small city a six-hour drive south of New York. “Not a lot of people leave Richmond. It’s really supportive in terms of the music scene. When people found out I wrote my own songs, they asked me to play. I didn’t have to elbow my way into the music community, they were already there with open arms. That definitely helped with my self-belief and confidence. I probably wouldn’t have booked my own shows, because I’ve never felt like I should take up space. I was in film school, I wasn’t trying to be a musician.”