By Jeff Maisey
Coastal Country is a thing, just ask rising music star Alana Springsteen, who was born and raised in Virginia Beach.
“I’m a Beach girl through and through,” said Springsteen. “It made me who I am. It comes out in so many ways in the music that I write. I’m from a small town called Pungo, Virginia. I think it’s the perfect crossroads of country and coastal. Instead of dirt backroads it was sandy backroads — you’re in bare feet. This place made me. It’s my entire heart.”
Alana Springsteen will perform as part of the inaugural Beach It Country Music Festival, scheduled June 23-25 on the Virginia Beach oceanfront beach. The festival will feature headliners Miranda Lambert (June 23), Thomas Rhett (June 24), and Luke Bryan (June 25).
The fest will feature two stages: Main Stage and Next From Nashville. Country music fans will get a taste of established artists as well as an exciting sample of new performers who could very well be the next Morgan Wallen or Zach Bryan.
Alana Springsteen, being the hometown girl, will get a slot on the Main Stage (Sunday, June 25, 2:25 PM). She is one to watch with true talent on multiple levels.
Alana Springsteen sings, plays guitar, and writes much of her own music. For her debut studio recording, “Twenty Something: Messing It Up,” Springsteen composed every tune.
“I’m just scratching the surface,” Springsteen said of her career thus far. “I’m 22 years old. I think this phase of life is just a rollercoaster of emotions, at least it has been for me. You can make mistakes, learn from it, and hopefully one day get it right. That’s what this record is all about.”
“Twenty Something: Messing It Up” is being released in three phases by Columbia Records NY/Sony Music Nashville. Her latest single, “Chameleon,” hit Spotify on May 19 and received 185,000 plays in less than a month. The high-energy “You Don’t Deserve a Country Song,” released in mid-January, garnered 4.6 million plays by early June.
Alana Springsteen who started writing songs when she was 9 years old in Virginia Beach, is the epitome of today’s next generation country, with a pop culture hipness and sound but rooted in real life classic country values. Her lyrics clearly connect with and inspire a growing fanbase.
“The reason I got into music was to inspire other people and make them feel they are less alone,” she shared. “I think music has a supernatural power to do that. It did for me. I looked up to artists Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Cary Underwood, Keith Urban. Country music raised me. Those stories connected with me in a way no other music did. That’s the reason that I felt brave enough to chase my own dreams.”
Alana Springsteen now lives in Nashville and is making a name for herself, but she remains forever connected to her Pungo roots. Like Pharrell, she wears it on her sleeve — and arm. Springsteen has “757” tattooed on her right forearm to remind folks where she so proudly hails from.
As for her famously recognizable last name that has created widespread speculation on social media, Alana Springsteen, smiled, laughed, and shared this with Veer Magazine: “Let’s set the record straight, there’s no relation. But it’s pretty cool we have the same last name.”
Could Alana be the new Boss of country music? Stay tuned.
In the meantime, catch her live at the Beach It Country Music Festival on “her” beach.
WANT TO GO?
Beach It Festival
June 23-25
On the beach between 3rd Street and 7th Street
