KUAF continues to host our Live Sessions performances, recently at the Fayetteville Public Library’s Maker Faire. Musician Tiesha spoke with Ozarks at Large’s Sophia Nourani about what it’s like being a creative in Northwest Arkansas. Later in the show, we’ll hear one of her two performances, an original song called “Haunted.” First, a bit of that conversation.
Teisha: I’m Teisha. I am an Arkansas native. I enjoy making a lot of folk music and kind of blending that with alternative R&B and sort of techno—something. I don’t know.
Nourani: I feel like genres are just a box.
Taisha: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Nourani: I love that. And you mentioned you’re an Arkansas native. Where are you from, and how did you first start getting into music?
Tiesha: I’m from Jonesboro, which is not that fun, but—
Nourani: We’re familiar with Jonesboro.
Tiesha: Yeah. I grew up going to church, and my mom was always an avid singer. Literally every Sunday morning, it was a whole big thing. She was always an inspiration for me. Most of my family is musically inclined, so it just kind of naturally happened. It was just something I fell into.
Nourani: When did you start going from singing with your mom and family to deciding to record and become an artist full time?
Tiesha: Well, actually, I started writing songs when I was maybe five years old. I would steal my mom’s flip phone and go in her little voice memos and record a little ditty.
Nourani: I’m sure she loved finding those.
Tiesha:: Yeah, she’ll recite them back to me all the time. Once I moved here and got into a space with so many creative people, that kind of inspired me to actually do the thing and go for it.
Nourani: I love to hear that. Tell me a little bit about the songs you played for us today—the meaning behind them and how they came together.
Tiesha: A lot of my music is centered around grief and processing that. I’ve seen a lot of it in my life. I don’t know how it unfolded this way, but there seems to be a recurring character in my songs. A cowboy who is either ending a relationship or embarking on a new adventure. I think he’s a really good symbol for what grief means for me and how that process is
Nourani: Kind of like a journey.
Tiesha: Yeah. It’s a lonely road.
Nourani: In one of your songs, you mention walking out into 500 miles or just out into the distance and being alone. It really sets the tone. Your music is lovely—I love the tone, I feel it matches with that really well.
Tiesha: Thank you.
Nourani: You mentioned that when you came here, you were able to blossom more as an artist. Tell me about your experience in Northwest Arkansas, the creatives here, and maybe some issues you’ve faced.
Tiesha: I moved here in 2022, and I didn’t really know anyone. For maybe the first six months, I just spent a lot of time going out on my own—kind of like the cowboy—and exploring the scene here.
When I moved here initially, there was a really big, thriving scene before all the new developments started happening and shutting down all the third spaces, which is always a bummer. But it gave me motivation.
The first event I ever went to was Sweatfest, which was put on by HopOut before they lost their space. God. The energy in that space was just incredible. I immediately started connecting with people. Since then, it’s been all good things—except there’s so much pushback on how much we can do in this area.
Nourani: I definitely see that shift with Backspace closing down and it being the Alley now.
Tiesha: Oh, the Alley.
Nourani: Yeah, no, but I appreciate hearing that there’s still resiliency, because across the board, what I’ve heard is that the biggest thing that helps artists is collaboration and being able to work with other people in this area. So, that’s great
Taisha: Yeah.
Nourani: Where can people find your music?
Tiesha: Right now my music is only on SoundCloud. I know, I know. Tomatoes.
Nuorani: No, I think that’s okay. Spotify has some issues.
Tiesha: And you can find me under Tiesha.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
