Coe’s dream was to move to California and attend fashion school; the people around her discouraged her from following that path, so she stayed close to home, went to college, got an accounting degree, and took a job after school that provided her with security. Eventually though, security wasn’t the only thing she got from it: “I became uncontrollably miserable in that career. I looked around and saw how unhappy my co-workers were; they were unhealthy, their marriages were failing, they were exhausted. I decided to leave it and explore life.”
She and her best friend had been styling and dressing their Nashville musician friends as a fun creative outlet; over time, the pair had collected a trove of vintage treasures and accessories, and decided to open a boutique online. The digital store grew, and the duo soon opened a tiny storefront called Goodbuy Girls in East Nashville. Within the first year of its operation, Coe and her partner were featured in publications like Southern Living and garnering international attention.
After leaving her corporate job, Coe says she became extremely emotional; “I’d been a robot for so many years. After I left my
Coe kept her musical pursuits a secret from her family; one day, her brother, whom she idolizes, convinced her to play one of her songs for him, and he was in tears by the time she finished. “I took that as a good sign,” she says. “I don’t know if my dad knows about it, unless he’s heard about it through the grapevine. He’s very disconnected from us kids. Even though my dad’s not a part of my life, it’s like he is a part of my life, because he comes up in some way every single day. I find myself constantly having to talk about him, and explain myself to people, and tell them that I’m not him, I’m not like him. I felt a lot of pressure about putting myself out there…I’d thought about not putting this album out so many times, because I knew I was throwing myself in the line of fire, into the turmoil that surrounds him and our family. If I had a great relationship with him, it would make things a lot different. I just didn’t want to deal with things like ‘oh, you’re not as good as your dad’ or ‘you’re nothing like your dad’ or ‘you’re riding on your dad’s coattails.’ It’s really frustrating because anything I have, which is not much, I’ve gotten because of overcoming him. He casts a huge shadow.”
Her mother, on the other hand, is very supportive, though she thinks the first song on the album, the autobiographical anthem “Warrior,” is a little intense. “It’s one of my favorites; it tells my story and shares a different side of me, it’s angry, and I’d never really expressed that before,” say Coe, adding, “It’s the closest one to me. I start all my sets with that song. It’s empowering. All the times I just kept my mouth shut, it’s like I finally get to defend myself.”
The songs on the album tell her story, at times angry, always intimate, so intimate that sharing it with the world has been hard for her: “For sure. I’ve done a lot of self-convincing, with the release only a few days away. I’m not so nervous about people I don’t know hearing the songs; I grew up here, and I know a lot of people here, and a lot of them have never seen this side of me. I always try to be fun and positive, and this is like letting them see into the darker areas of my soul. I don’t really share the things I’ve been through. It’s very intimate. Even if nobody likes this record, it’s the most therapeutic thing I could’ve done for myself. It’s vulnerable, but I’ve come to terms with it, I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback about my songs helping other people deal with things. Even if it’s only one person, that makes it worth it. It’s worth being vulnerable if you can help somebody have something to relate to. I lacked so much of that growing up; I didn’t have any resources at hand to help me deal with things, I just had to keep everything to myself. I feel like if anyone has anything they can put out there that can potentially help someone else not feel alone, it’s like a duty to get it out.”