These are my words, the sounds of my soul
Welcome to my corner of the world where winds blow, songs come and go, and I pour back into my creative well by sharing and by listening.
I’ve been all around this world…
After much soul searching, chats with trusted folk and my therapist, I have begun a pilgrimage back to the heart of me. It’s easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of tour, record, tour, record and lose your inner artist in the process. Instead of walking with my head held high, I walked bundled into myself braced for impact and never looking too long. Recovery mode. My mornings spent reading or writing became mornings spent escaping through bad reality television about the kind of people I don’t really like. My film camera that accompanied me everywhere was replaced for this godforsaken phone I just have to have. Photos became a necessity rather than a choice. My constant stream of consciousness journaling replaced by an internal dialogue of aches, pains, and stress. I could feel the poetry drying up as the months rolled on.
I am not one to be defeated. I am strong and I am capable. I am a woman ruled entirely by the duality of freedom and discipline. I sensed this weight hanging around and I set out on this new year by first cutting the cord that tethered this false self to me. I am aware I cannot totally cut off the age in which I am living, ie: I will still rely on my phone to promote our music, call loved ones, and park my car in cities. But I thought if I could remove the nonessentials in my life that are just distractions maybe I can reconnect with my spirit self who sees beauty in all things good and evil. Who whispers to look out and take in. Who offers me lines and thoughts to communicate my human experience.
All of this to say, and perhaps it makes no sense or much sense to you, I am spending more time away from the social media space as it stirs something unpleasant and unproductive in me. I have created this Substack to share words, thoughts, feelings, photos, songs and anything that comes up. I find it to be a joyful place where creativity flows abundant and community is present in an old fashioned way. We are always in uncertain times, it is the pattern of our civilization unfortunately. But if I have learned anything from the greats I have spent the majority of my life studying, art is what we have to remember, endure, and rage against what unfolds before us.
Join me if you please, I’ll be here writing my way back. xo
About Devin:
Songwriter, singer, poet, musician, and creative Devin Tuel is the front woman of the Philadelphia based band Native Harrow. Over the last decade Tuel and her partner Stephen Harms have produced & recorded six albums, and toured the US, CAN, UK, & EU extensively. At the tender age of 3 Devin began a career in classical ballet that lasted nearly two decades, overlapping into an education in musical theatre, before taking the stage as a folksinger.
"Tuel on vocals and her deft, multi-instrumentalist bandmate Stephen Harms. Her voice is extraordinary: a liquid drawl that is well suited to the genre — and he is a magician." ★★★★ EVENING STANDARD
“Razor-sharp folk rock” MOJO
“Laurel Canyon-style folk rock with shades of Joni Mitchell ★★★★” THE TIMES
“Classy folk-rock duo flip from artsy 1960’s pop to psychedelic gospel with an enviable elegance” THE GUARDIAN
