Meet Stephanie Farney | Singer-songwriter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Stephanie Farney and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Stephanie, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I’m originally a “born and raised” Kansan, and I grew up in a relatively small town in central Kansas. My parents actually met through music, so my siblings and I grew up with music being a huge part of our lives. I grew up listening to my dad play guitar and sing every day, and I’ve been heavily involved in music for as long as I can remember. While I credit my mom for my “scientific” side (she’s a microbiologist and I’m an engineer), my dad really provided the bulk of my creative and artistic influence. He and I both have a very emotional connection to music, and because of that, music became my outlet for expressing myself and my emotions.

My sense of independence, which I think partially came from being a middle child, has also influenced my music and my life as a whole heavily. My confidence in being able to figure things out on my own has given me a lot of courage to take risks and do things that make me uncomfortable, and that has helped me grow a lot as a musician. Honestly, I think that has been my most significant quality that has enabled me to put myself and my music out there.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I would describe my music as a hybrid between folk, rock, and blues. Some of my influences include Hozier, The Black Keys, Shakey Graves, Matt Maeson, and Fleetwood Mac (one of my Dad’s favorite bands). I really love dark sounds and love juxtaposing that with my voice. While I play a lot of instruments decently well, my strength as a musician definitely lies in my abilities as a vocalist, so my singing is very prominent in my songs. I think my vocals is honestly what stands out about my music. I’ve been told by a lot of people that my voice is very pretty and unique, but at the same time, it has a bit of “attitude” to it.

I’m really excited about doing shows again and making a name for myself in Arizona. I had a lot of momentum with my music prior to moving here, but by the time I was settled in my new apartment, the pandemic hit and killed all that momentum. I really missed doing live shows, so being able to get back out and perform more has been a huge blessing. Along with that, I’ve been working on a third song with my friend at KIN Records, and I’m really looking forward to that release, which will likely happen late this year or early next year.

I got where I am today by pushing myself to be uncomfortable, and getting where I am now has been years in the making. I used to be an extremely self-conscious person, especially when it came to my own music and capabilities, and for a very long time, I was scared of performing as a soloist because I was afraid of the criticism I might receive. I felt that way about performing covers, and that fear was even worse when it came to performing my own music. Unfortunately, this is one of those things that you just have to force yourself to do in order to get comfortable with it, but I still tried to start as small as I could to build some confidence before moving forward. That initially came in the form of performing one cover as part of a talent show. I received a lot of positive feedback from that experience, and with that, I had some confidence to do it again. From there, it became doing a show of only covers at a coffee shop with one of my friends, then just me doing covers. After a while, I started throwing one or two of my own songs into the set and gradually working my way up until the majority of my sets are my own music.

I think one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned along the way is that the benefit of failures really lies in your perspective. I used to really beat myself up if I did a show that had low attendance or if I made a mistake on stage, and that negativity not only kept me from growing as a musician, but it also kept me from enjoying performing. There were a lot of times when I told myself that I should never play or write music again. I had to learn to be okay with sucking publicly and to not take myself so seriously before I was able to become comfortable on stage and enjoy playing. You have to walk a line between acknowledging a mistake and forgiving yourself for it in order to move on and learn from it. Figuring that out made a night and day difference in terms of my confidence and general well-being.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
The area around Tucson is really unique and beautiful, and I love to do as many outdoor activities as I can when people visit. Sunset Trail on Mt. Lemmon, Catalina State Park, and Sweetwater Preserve are some of my go-to “easy” hikes. Depending on how adventurous the person visiting is and the time of year, I also like hiking Seven Falls. If they’re not into hiking, driving up Catalina Highway and checking out Summerhaven is always fun, and I usually do that regardless.

As for food and drink, I’m a big coffee person, so I also love to take my friends to my favorite coffee shops in town, namely Exo and Presta. My favorite brunch place in Tucson is 5 Points, followed by Teaspoon at a close second, and you absolutely can’t leave Tucson without getting tacos at Seis. Some other noteworthy places include La Estrella (best pastries and donuts in Tucson, in my opinion), Baggin’s, Reilly’s, and Penca.

I love all of the unique shops Tucson has, so I always take my friends to Why I Love Where I Live at MSA Annex (and also getting a drink at Westbound) or Popcycle on Fourth Ave. to get some souvenirs. I usually try to find some local events to check out, whether it be going out to the Annex’s night markets, going to the farmer’s market at St. Philips Plaza, Second Saturdays, or catching some live music at one of the breweries in town.

I’m a pretty big fan of whiskey, and one of the coolest things I did with my sister while she was here visiting was tour Whiskey Del Bac. We especially loved the whiskey tasting at the end of the tour and hanging out with the distillery cat. Other note-worthy bars/breweries are Crooked Tooth, Dragoon, Borderlands, Owls Club, Tough Luck Club, and Sidecar.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to dedicate it to my parents, my siblings, and my friends for all of their support over the years. Without their encouragement, I’m not sure that I ever would have started releasing my own music or performing.

Website: stephaniefarneymusic.com

Instagram: @stephaniefarneymusic

Facebook: Stephanie Farney

Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1lFkFFusGswmpfetFFh8mk Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/stephanie-farney/1443680670

Image Credits
Marcea Corbin