Local singer-singwriter reaches for the stars

To say the music business is in Tess Henley’s blood would be an understatement. Her mother sang in a soul band and her brother is an award winning guitarist. Her sister helps manage her music business and her father looks for other ways to monetize her music.

“Music was always around the house,” she said while relaxing in her family home, a secluded house in the Kent-Covington area. “It was a natural progression that we started learning how to play more pop contemporary music and the music that we wanted to actually play instead of classical.”

Henley has made $35,000 from winning two music competitions, and now the young singer-songwriter has her eyes set on a third: the Guitar Center Singer-Songwriter Competition with a hefty reward of $25,000 and an album recording deal among other prizes.

“It’s a blessing for someone like me, as an independent artist, for opportunities like this,” said Henley, whose brother competed in the contest last year.

The 26-year-old Kentlake High School graduate knows firsthand how expensive the music industry can be, she sunk almost $60,000 into the production of her second album.

“They’re really lifesavers to me,” she said, “because everything just costs so much in the music industry as an independent artist.”

Her inspiration comes largely from personal experience. Her first album centered on memories of her first relationship, which she developed in high school, while her second focused on personal experiences from college. But she always tries to make sure that — while personal in content — the themes relate to a wide audience.

“I really strive to write music that lasts, and music that will test of time, that will still be relevant in 20 years,” she said. “And I try to write music that is emotionally moving in one way or another. I try to write songs that people can relate to, because I’ve seen the impact music has had on me.”

Henley learned piano at age 3 and continued to practice through junior high and high school, where she discovered soul, Motown and R&B — her mom’s singing genres. Despite her talents, she didn’t study music in college. She changed her major three times, finally settling on communications. The change coincided with the release of her debut album (which she recorded and released by herself), and Henley says it was the point in her life when she realized she wanted to pursue music as a career choice.

“I had no business plan behind it,” she said. “I was just like ‘OK, here. I have an album and I’m going to play shows,’ and I had no idea what I was doing,” she said with a laugh.

She continued performing three or four shows a week during her studies at the University of Washington, and was able to support herself through her work.

“I started playing shows while going to school, playing maybe three times a week,” she said, “and then playing bigger shows where you’d promote for a long time, and eventually, by the time I graduated, I was just going to commit everything to music.”

Coming home, working on music

After graduating in 2010, she returned home to focus on her music. Being at home affords her the resources, relaxation and scenery she needs to practice and write her soul and Motown songs.

“It’s definitely helped, and I sometimes wonder how people can do it without that sort of support,” she says. “My brother just moved to (Los Angeles), and it’s so expensive down there. … It’s really hard to have the money to put into all your musical projects and still pay rent and living expenses and gas and so this has really helped me.”

From home, she focused on outreach and growing her brand by relentlessly contacting producers around the country. Instead of waiting for someone to discover her talent, Henley made her own luck by contacting an album producer and coordinating with him to get in touch with Motown producer Dice Raw in 2011. They immediately set her up to fly to Philadelphia and record demo tracks. By mid 2012, she was recording her second album, High Heels and Sneakers, in Philadelphia.

“I was supposed to be out there for a month, and things always take longer, and I probably flew out at least 10 times.”

The sophomore album’s release expanded her name and brand, and provided a jump start to her career. She’s spent much of her time traveling to Southern California and Philadelphia to perform. Just before Thanksgiving she performed at the Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles and later sang the national anthem at a Seahawks game in December.

It was the second time Henley performed at CenturyLink Field, but for a person who would rather spend her downtime with her family or at home, she recalls the experience as extremely stressful.

“In that type of a situation minute by minute it could change,” she said. “I could be OK one minute and the next I’m thinking about something that’s stressing me out and then I’d have to calm myself down the next minute.”

While Henley credits much of her success to her family’s support, there’s no doubt the budding artist has taken inspiration from her musical idols both in her musical style and personal conduct. Whether it’s the humble attitude of James Taylor or the honest songwriting of Adele, Henley has incorporated what she’s learned from these icons into her both her performing and writing.

If she had to choose one? She says she’d go with performing, although her initial reaction is writing.

“Being able to share your music with people and feed off of that energy,” she said, “you don’t really know what to expect. It just makes for great memories and experiences”

While Henley prepares for the Guitar Center contest, she’s also considering the next steps in her career, which she sees as performing outside of the area.

“At this point there’s a ceiling in Seattle, especially for soul and R&B music, and so I’ve been a little more present in LA and New York, and trying to lock down a booking agent has been my priority.”

Using her parents house as a “base” of sorts will give her the flexibility to perform traveling gigs and get out on the road. She figures it would be easier than relocating to a whole new area.

“Do you want to spend your time traveling and playing shows, or moving somewhere and you kinda have to take a step backwards and start over a little bit,” she says. I’d rather set up shows.”