Chattanooga Times Free Press music reporter Casey Phillips spoke with Nashville-based singer/songwriter Amy Loftus about why she moved to Nashville, learning to play guitar and her musical philosophy.

CP: When did you move to Nashville?

AL: I moved to Nashville in 2002 from Los Angeles. I had been living out of a car all through 2001, and I traveled to Nashville once and played at the Bluebird (Café). It was a magical place. I was still living out of the car in L.A. couch surfing and stuff at the beginning of 2002. In 2002, I had some friends from Nashville invite me to stay with them. I booked about six weeks of shows, and I never left.

CP: Is it a challenge to be a singer/songwriter in a city of singer/songwriters?

AL: I don’t see that as a challenge. I don’t see the music business is hard. I see it as a wealth of opportunity. It’s an energizing challenge. I don’t really think of it as, “Oh, there are so a bunch of people like me.” I see it more as something I have to do, and if I didn’t have to do it, I wouldn’t. I’m much more energized and interested with songs. I’m sure it looks to other people like I’m in la-la-land, but I’d just much rather hang out with songs, hear music, interpret it and get better at my music than concern myself with other people

CP: How’d you get into playing music?

AL: After I graduated from college, I was learning to be a comedic actress at Second City in Chicago. I would sing if it was a joke. I did a number in a show at Second City which was me as a lounge singer. I was joking around that I would be able to do it. I was terrified of the idea of singing on purpose. Nevertheless, I was invited to get up and do one song with a band in my neighborhood. It just clicked. We started playing a ton of shows, mostly covers of Fleetwood Mac. Meanwhile, I was putting all this writing I’d done for years and years and plugging it into music, teaching myself songwriting. I lived for a long time dismissing it because I really wanted to be an actress, and I was doing it mostly for fun. I wouldn’t play for anyone, and it was almost like a secret life. When I moved to Nashville, I finally got the guts to stand behind my songs and start playing them for people. I feel, as ethereal as it sounds, that songwriting chose me, that it wasn’t my choice.

CP: I read on your bio that you also studied dance, in addition to acting. Have those skill sets benefited you, musically?

AL: Absolutely. I consider myself as an artist first who has searched and sought out different forms of art. The first and most important concept of being an artist is practicing humility and allowing yourself to serve a form. That’s what I learned dancing and learning to paint. That’s what keeps me happy and interested. Obviously, I want to achieve commercial success, and I embrace the concept, however, I don’t function from the outside in like I see a lot of other people do. I look at it as a form that I’m privileged to be a part of. I’m humbled by it and by the people I work with. I’m really in awe most of the time. I learned that from all my other pursuits. I’m very grateful for that outlook.

CP: You played guitar on your first record just four years after picking it up and teaching yourself. That’s a pretty breakneck pace. How’d you manage it?

AL: I think I played two tracks on my first record. I did play on my second record, which was recorded in 2006. I picked it up and dedicated myself to it every single day in 2002. By 2006, I was ready to play my record. I’m not playing anything other than straight rhythm. The way I was able to do that was to just set the bar relatively low and have the goal to be a decent rhythm guitar player. I’m not a soloist or anything like that. I think anyone could do it. I’m no great player. I’m accompanying myself, and I think that because I’m a dance, I have an advantage in that I’ve got good time. Certainly, working with Will Kimbrough didn’t hurt. He was a mentor to me as a guitar player. He taught me not to make mistakes and to just play as simply as possible. To this day, I’m still playing pretty simply because I use it as a tool to write and convey songs. I’m not Eric Clapton (laughs).

CP: Still, going up on stage with that little time with an instrument would have been traumatizing to me. It’s one thing to play for family after that amount of time, but to be in front of a crowd’s another thing entirely.

AL: I think it’s just crazy — that bizarre desire showing itself again. I didn’t play solo shows until the end of 2002. The beginning of 2003 was when I started touring solo, and I still say I’m sorry for those crowds (laughs). Hopefully, I was singing well, and it was worth it for that because I was still on my way with guitar. I had a weird thing with guitar in that I already knew how to play it. My first time picking it up, it felt very familiar. Maybe I played it in another life.

CP: What do you look for in good music?

AL: Anybody that feels to me like they’re smaller than the song appeals to me. To be smaller than what it is you’re making and to allow that to take on a life of its own and be bigger than you is more important than anything. We live in this age when there’s so much imagery around us, and I feel like there have to be people that know that the music comes first and that all that other stuff is a byproduct. It’s necessary for promotion and to help people identify with you, but I feel sometimes like people put the cart before the horse. They’re functioning from a mentality of what they look like or what their imagery is going to be. They’re putting together a recording with all the electronic tools we have now. They’re concerned with fitting into something instead of being a great singer or great player, and I feel like I want to be around the people and be the kind of musician who puts the music first and allows all that other stuff to be an extension of it.