Tzatziki Recipe (I’m Greek!):
Ingredients:
3.5 Cups Full fat Greek Yogurt (Fage)
4-5 Garlic cloves
1 Big cucumber
4-6 Tbs Olive oil
2 tbs VinegarSalt and pepper
1. Grate and drain the cucumber.
2. Mix the yogurt and the grated cucumber in a bowl.
3. Add the finely grated garlic, the olive oil and the vinegar4. Mix everything with a whisk or a mixer. Season with salt and pepper
1. Hello Marla, can tell me a little bit about yourself, before you became a country singer/songwriter?
Hi! I am originally from a small town in Connecticut outside of New Haven. I moved down here to Nashville in 2010 to attend Belmont University and to pursue my music career. When I was in high school I made frequent trips to Nashville to write. The first time I ever performed was when I was four-years-old and I have been performing ever since! I’ve been writing most of my life, too. Musical theater was a large part of my life, too, but songwriting was always my main pursuit!
2. What is your process when you are writing a new song?
Every song seems to have a different origin story, but most of the time I prefer writing with a hook in mind. I am constantly generating ideas so I try to make sure that I always bring one to the session. A lot of my song ideas come from me singing to myself, mostly when I am in the shower! Often times lyrics come out through the melody I’m singing. I also write a lot by myself, even though I co-write nearly every day. Solo writing is something that I have always really loved and I have been doing a lot of lately. That process tends to be a little different than co-writing because you have nobody to bounce ideas off of, so you have to really trust yourself. I’ll sit down at the piano or I’ll start playing guitar and if something sounds interesting melodically or sonically or if I like my lyric idea then I’ll run with it! Then it becomes a puzzle!
3. What is your favorite song off your latest EP “Marla?”
Ah that is hard- it is always different! The song “Try Telling My Heart That” is a very special song to me. I wrote it with Grant Vogel and Witt Mckay. The song is a very defining song of mine. The lyric, the melody and the concept embody everything I am as an artist. We wrote it at the end of 2014 and my love for it, and other people’s love for it, hasn’t seemed to fizzle at all, which I think is telling. I came up with the title one day while I was sitting at my piano and I started writing some seriously melodramatic song that I didn’t like ha! I loved the hook, though, so I took it to Grant and Witt the next day and the chorus poured out. It took two more sessions to nail down the verses, tough. Once we figured out what we wanted to say it wrote itself. I am very proud of that song.
4. Is there anything new coming up with your music in 2019?
I am going to start releasing a lot of demos and live acoustic videos on YouTube. I finished recording my EP a year and a half ago so I have written a ton of new songs since then! I’ve never been more excited about new music as I am at the moment. There are also lots of songs I have written in the last five or so years that I really want to get out that I love just as much!
5. What are three things you enjoy doing in Nashville?
6. If you have to describe your music in 3 to 5 words, what words would you pick?
Heartfelt, Accessible, Energetic, Pop/rock influenced, Honest
7. Who are some of your musical icons and if you could sing a duet with any singer or group who would it be and why?
Growing up, my idol was Celine Dion. My music is nothing like hers but that’s ok she is untouchable! My mom listened to classic rock and my dad listened to country. Fleetwood Mac was constantly playing in our house, as well as Phil Collins, Elton John, Garth Brooks and Shania Twain, just to name a few. I used to listen to George Strait’s “I Cross My Heart” incessantly, thanks to my dad! It would definitely be a dream of mine to sing that with him. The first record I ever bought was Christina Aguilera’s first album. She will always be a favorite of mine. I was always (and still am) a huge Lady A, Rascal Flatts and Carrie Underwood fan. Currently, I am obsessed with Dua Lipa! She is a killer entertainer.
8. What is one of your favorite quotes?
I’m a ginormous Harry Potter fan, so this may be predictable, but I have always loved this quote.
“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”- Albus Dumbledore
9. Is there anything else you would like to share?
Stay tuned for new music in 2019! I am truly so excited to put more music out there. Follow me on YouTube, Instagram (marla.music), Twitter (helloitsmarla) and Facebook! Also, check out my EP on Spotify and Apple Music.
Country musician Marla is from Connecticut. She started to sing and perform at 4 years old and grew a liking for piano and the guitar. Some of Marla’s musical influences are Celine Dion, Shania Twain, Fleetwood Mac and George Strait.
Marla left the East Coast at 17 years old and attended college at Belmont University in Nashville; TN. Marla started to like the fact that her kind of songwriting did not fit into any of the normal Nashville boxes. She spent some of her time in Nashville refining her songwriting and vocal skills by learning the art of country music, the music she became a fan of when she was a child. By the age of 21, Marla put out three EP’s; all of them were featured on iTunes and rapidly allowed her to gather a loyal fan base, reaching people as far away as Australia. She also started a fan base by spending some time on the road playing at many different colleges and universities around the country. It was not long before Nashville started to take a notice, as she has been an opening act for artists like Chuck Wicks, Kix Brooks and Lorrie Morgan.
Marla has spent the last couple years writing and creating her team, which includes Grammy-nominated producer Brad Hill (Maren Morris, Brothers Osborne) and upcoming producer/songwriter Joe Fox. Her first single, “Try Telling My Heart That,” was shown on the popular Wild Country playlist on Spotify and also the “Hot Tracks” playlist on Apple Music, along with over 400 others. This song also has already over 200,000 downloads just on Spotify. The music video debuted on CMT in the CMT’s Artist Discovery program. On September 21, 2018 Marla put out her latest EP “Marla,” on this EP there are 6 songs including “Try Telling My Heart That.”
If you would like to find out more about Marla then check out her website at http://marlamusic.com.
Social Media Accounts:
dixiedeeblog.com 