Lexington musician, songwriter, author, and community farmer Reva Russell English. Photo by Elizabeth Withers
Reva Russell English has been gracing Lexington’s creative community with her music for well over a decade, with groups that include Small Batch, Italian Beaches and the Reva Dawn Salon. But recently, the writer and musician, who also runs a small farming operation with her husband, Andrew, has introduced fans to another side of her artsy self: literary writing.
While she’s previously penned and published poetry, essays and short stories, English has recently completed her biggest literary project to date with the publication of her debut novel “Two Hearts, Two Mouths.” The novel explores the story of a woman who finds herself stuck between two parallel worlds — both of them being alternate versions of Lexington.
“Every time I come across a new way to create, I’ve always wanted to utilize it,” English explained. While the book, which was a decade in the making, was certainly a new undertaking, English sees all of her creative projects as being interconnected in some way including farming.
“Making art is seeking connection, and farming, if done well, achieves the same thing.”
To celebrate her book and other creative projects, we sat down with English to talk about everything from how she balances reality with imagination in her work, how her literary writing and music intersect, and more.
“Two Hearts, Two Mouths” on the shelf of Wildlings Bookstore. Photo by Jill Bastin
Your book has been out over two months now. What’s the reception been like?
It’s been a humbling experience learning how many people care about my creative work as much as they do. I’d never assume that just because I like somebody’s songs that I would also like their writing or other creative work, but there’s several fans who’ve blindly supported this regardless of that. It’s been so cool seeing how [audiences have] embraced this new endeavor, and engaging with them at events. It’s such a different experience than being on stage with a band.
It’s the most naked thing I’ve ever done artistically because it’s just me and my words, with no music or band to back me up. It’s been a new level of vulnerability, but I’m grateful for how generous and into it everyone’s been.
How much of “Two Hearts, Two Mouths” is based on your own life experiences vs. your imagination running wild, and how do you balance the two?
It’s definitely inspired a lot by the life I’m living. The main character, Alma, gets around on a bicycle, which for many years was my main mode of transportation too. I’ve also had experiences in Lexington as a young single person going to bars, concerts and hanging with friends that provided a carefreeness that [Alma] gets to enjoy a bit in one of her lives too.
But overall, these are not my experiences. The book has a very sci-fi angle to it where Alma’s living every day in a different version of Lexington as a different version of herself, until a pregnancy sparks her to think of a plan to escape the dueling realities she finds herself in.
Were there any similarities between the process of bringing this book to life and how you’d make an album with Small Batch or Italian Beaches?
The thing about a novel that’s different is that I’m [creating it] all by myself — which, on the plus side, means that I’ll almost always get my way, compared to working with a band where the process is a lot more democratic. The bands I’m in typically have had players stick to whatever their zone is, so if you don’t like the bass tone and you’re the person who plays the bass, it doesn’t matter if [anyone else likes it]. That’s your voice, so you get to choose.
There’s a lot of deference that is really beautiful in working with a band in the studio and trying to bring an album together that just isn’t a part of making a book. There’s a little bit of terror in that because you don’t have somebody else saying the equivalent of ‘hey you’re pitchy right there, can we redo that?,’ until you have a beta reader. Because of that, the loneliness of a novel stands in stark contrast to the beauty of being in a band, where people are all working together and making room for each other.
Reva Russell English and her husband Andrew English, also a songwriter, manage a Fayette County farm called Future Farm together. Photo by Madylin Goins
Does your music and literary writing ever intersect one another?
Not to sound too negative, but writing a novel means that you don’t have to do as much music, at least for me. Unless you come from money or get a big advance, most of us are working for a living too, so a lot of it boils down to a lack of extra time available to focus on creative work, which inevitably leads to cutting something, like music, out. That being said, they do support each other. When I work on songs, it’s also strengthening the same muscles I work with my literary writing, and vice versa.
With this book now out, are you hoping to now turn your focus back toward music?
Yes. I’m also figuring out how to solve my life in general. One thing my husband and I have not done a very good job of prioritizing the last few years is our art — specifically music. For that reason, I’d love to get back into the studio with Small Batch and/or Italian Beaches. We want to do more for people and our community; it’s just going to take some creative accounting because making art costs money. Most creatives are out there subsidizing themselves because they’re doing something they love, but it’s also something valued locally that buoys other nearby artists as well.
People at times really take the art in their life for granted because it’s so ubiquitous. But if all that disappeared, we’d all be bereft. It’s crazy how much creativity has dictated the experience of our lives in ways not noticed by most of us, and how the artists making most of it are not fairly compensated for their work. With that in mind, I really do think Gillian Welch had it right on her song “Everything Is Free,” when she sang, “Someone hit the big score/They figured it out/That we’re gonna do it anyway/Even if it doesn’t pay.”
What has the process of bringing this book to life taught you about yourself?
It taught me that I always need to keep learning, even if there’s no guarantee on the other side of it for getting published or earning accolades. If I have the capacity to see something through and will it into existence, then that’s good enough. That wisdom will help me moving forward on any other book or music projects because no matter how overwhelming they get, I have the confidence and know-how to get it done.
“Making art is seeking connection, and farming, if done well, achieves the same thing,” said English. Photo by Madylin Goins