Today we’d like to introduce you to Sophia Rankin.
Hi Sophia, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
My name is Sophia Rankin and I am a singer/songwriter from Tucson, Arizona. I began taking piano lessons when I was six years old which nurtured my love of music and eventually inspired me to begin learning how to play the acoustic guitar as well. By the time I entered high school, I was writing my own songs on both piano and guitar and was looking to begin performing.
My first performance was at the 2015 Tucson Folk Festival debuting on their Young Artist Stage. Since then, I have returned to Folk Fest every year (excluding 2020 when the festival had to be postponed). Acting as the catalyst for future shows and festivals, my performance at Folk Fest introduced me to the world of songwriting and encouraged me to immerse myself in its practice. As a Junior in high school, I released my debut album of original music in 2016, titled “Reverie.”
In January of 2017, my song “Goodbye” won first place at the Tucson Desert Song Festival, with a subsequent first-place award in 2018 at the Stefan George Songwriting Competition alongside my song “Before I Get to One.” I continued to perform all around Tucson as a solo artist, at times playing with fellow musicians such as my mentor Tom Carpenter. After graduating high school in May of 2017, I began my education at the University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music.
I released my sophomore album, “SOLACE,” in the fall of 2018 with the help of guest musicians around Tucson. By the end of 2018, I began looking to form a band of my own and played with musicians I had met in school, work, and around the city. By the end of 2019, I had played events such as Spring Fling, Bear Down Music Festival, Tucson Folk Festival, DUSK Music Festival, and Nova Bowl NYE with my fellow bandmates — one of which was my brother Connor. Connor and I are the original band members, occasionally playing acoustic sets together around Arizona.
During the space between releases, I was writing music that blended folk, rock, pop, and Americana into a new style I had yet to show my listeners, and I wanted to find the perfect band to bring that vision to life. At the start of 2020, we were scheduled to play shows and some festivals almost every week; COVID-19 and lockdown brought all of that to a halt.
Connor graduated high school that year, and I graduated from the University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music. Some of our band members moved away and Connor and I began performing acoustic sets outside of our house that we would live stream to our listeners.
A new neighbor moved in down the street and overheard our performance, and — after an introductory conversation and impromptu audition — became our new bass player and backup vocalist: Eli Leki-Albano. We later held auditions for a lead guitarist where my schoolmate Noah Weig-Pickering played with us and we immediately recognized him as a perfect fit. We eventually came up with a new band name: Sophia Rankin & The Sound (SRS).
We began writing music together and released our first band album, my third album, in August of 2021 titled: “Too Close to the Riptide.” Our music has been met with critical acclaim from the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson Weekly, Live and Amplified, Arizona Arts, and more, while also boosting our audience draw around Arizona. We continue to write and perform our music around the state and recently headlined our own show at 191 Toole with Nocturnal Theory and Imogen Rose.
We also are finding new stages for our music as we recently opened for Jake Owen and Diamond Rio at the 2022 Cologuard Classic. We are working to release new music soon as well as travel outside of Arizona to perform our music to new audiences. What was originally a soft-acoustic sound has now grown into a folk-indie-rock-Americana-pop blend of sound driven by singer/songwriter narratives and sentimentality.
Our music is for everyone and we are excited for the journey ahead.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Being a musician, in general, comes with a multitude of challenges, such as consistent work, pay, and inspiration in a field that constantly demands content and interaction with audiences. However, some of my biggest challenges as a songwriter and musician have been between losing people I love over the years and finding my role in this industry as a female leader.
Loss is overwhelming and difficult to navigate, and a storyteller must know not only how to work through those emotions, but craft them into mediums of relatability, understanding, and respect all at once. There have been times when I simply feel stuck and have no idea how to process grief until a song can be woven from it. In 2020, three friends of mine passed due to COVID, tragedy, and suicide; all in their early twenties.
Unaware of how to handle such harsh mortality, I turned to music to comfort myself and others during this time. Though these losses still grieve me today, they have made me a better listener, friend, and songwriter. I have a deeper understanding now of the human condition and how we all connect to each other when we go through different experiences; music holds the bonds that tie us together.
I began performing when I was a sophomore in high school, and I was a bit blind to the world of men I was entering. The folk community I began with was so welcoming and there were so many women artists surrounding me that I assumed the rest of the industry must be molded in the same fashion. As I began playing bars, clubs, and venues around town, I began to notice when I was one of, if not the only, females in a lineup, especially when I was the only one centerstage.
Beyond that, the comments I’d face from men when I finished a performance, even as a teenager, sat less and less comfortably with me as time went on and I became more aware of what they were really watching on that stage. Not to say that every male who commented on my looks or outfit labeled me as an object, but I noticed it ALWAYS mattered what I wore when the same did not apply to my male counterparts onstage.
Instead of shying away from the comments and looks, I decided to dive deeper into my femininity and sense of fashion to highlight my professionalism and the significance of my sex in this industry. Even now, when I tell people I am in a band they assume I am not the band leader until I step onto that stage. I have worked for years to develop my stage presence, confidence, and professionalism so as to always be taken seriously in this business.
I have also made it a personal mission to not only support local artists I meet but to always uplift other female artists instead of trying to outdo them. As I said before, this industry is difficult enough to navigate and succeed in without anyone of any gender orientation tearing others down; as a woman, I want to be a champion of other women in this musical world where we are still underrepresented.
Every artist deserves a chance to be heard; see us for who we are, what we are, and the stories we make through sound.
How do you define success?
Success is taking comfort in the goals you have achieved and the ability to be inspired by those achievements to move on to greater and more complicated goals.
Success is the drive to keep pushing forward because you are fulfilled by the good work you are doing and want to increase its impact on the world. Success is happiness in the work you are doing and pride in the change you’ve created in both yourself and the community you contribute to.
Success can be awarded or monetized, but I believe above all else that it MUST be realized within yourself in order to be sustainable, beneficial, and worthwhile for the work you are pursuing.
Contact Info:
- Email: sophiarankin@sophiarankin.com
- Website: https://www.sophiarankin.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophia_and_music/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/sophiarankinmusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsLTIFuMlF0euquu_F5e37A
- Other: https://hearnow.com/settings/10alb02499499#nt_base_menu
Image Credits
Phil Kelly Photography, Betty Hurd Photography, Megan Hurley, and Taylor Noel Photography
