Mountain Brook native forges music career in Nashville

Remy Garrison knew early on where she was headed.

Growing up in Mountain Brook, she was singing since she could talk.

“Music was something that I was always loving and passionate about and always wanting to do,” said Garrison, now 20. “It was sort of natural to me. My mom and dad always gave me confidence, saying, ‘You can do this for a living.’”

So last year, after graduating from high school (she was home-schooled during high school), Garrison moved to a townhouse in Nashville, where she lives with her mother, Shari, to pursue her songwriting and performing career.

Her first single, “Sorta Kinda Maybe,” is available on music streaming sites, and there’s much more to come. She’s been called a pop country artist, but she leans more to pop, sorta kinda maybe like another young woman who struck out for Nashville at an early age.

“Early on when I got interested in music, Taylor Swift came out with her first song, so I really gravitated toward her,” Garrison said. “She’s fantastic. She has definitely paved the way for all girls who want a shot in music.”

Garrison definitely wants a shot. She grew up in a musical family. Her mother is a singer; her father, Lewis, an attorney, is a pianist and a songwriter; and her twin brother, Will, older than Garrison by about two minutes, is a guitarist who is studying at Nashville’s Belmont University.

“My dad was always playing music in the car, so I grew up listening to what he was listening to,” said Garrison, counting classic rock and country among her musical genre influences.

Songwriting just seemed to come naturally to Garrison.

“I started writing when I was 14 or 15,” she said. “I have a habit of walking around the house, and I sing melodies and make up lyrics and songs while I’m doing that. I can do it anywhere, not really thinking about doing it. … I love people, and I love to ask questions about people and their lives. I like sharing their stories through my music and songs. Everyone deserves their stories to be told.”

In Nashville, Garrison has performed in clubs on the city’s famed Honky Tonk Row, and she works with her management team on her career moves. That includes co-writing sessions with other songwriters.

“I was absolutely frightened going into my first writing session with these Nashville writers, but it’s been going fine,” she said. “It works differently with different writers. My dad’s writing sessions with co-writers is different from my sessions with co-writers. I usually walk in with a melody, a title, chorus or verse and tell them where I want it to go. They say, ‘OK, let’s do it.’”

Garrison, for the record, doesn’t plan to write with her father. Songwriting sessions can delve deeply into emotional issues, and “you don’t want to get that personal with your dad,” she said with a laugh.

Garrison has a music video out for “Sorta Kinda Maybe,” and in December, she’s releasing a Christmas song called “Dear December.”

“It’s about the month and how it makes people feel,” Garrison said. “It’s such a good time of year. Everyone wants to be with family and celebrate the meaning of Christmas.”

After that, Garrison doesn’t know where her career will take her, but she knows she’ll remain in the music business.

“There’s no Plan B,” Garrison said. “This is what I’ve wanted to do forever.”