Haylie Hostetter - Lady Apple Tree - Interview
Born and raised in Nor-Cal, Hostetter was a single child that grew up spending separate time with her parents in different areas of the state. With both households bringing different influences to her childhood, she recalls her mother playing the likes of Johnny Cash, The Beatles and Peter Paul and Mary being very important in her formative years. Hostetter eventually found her own bands such as The Beach Boys, David Bowie, Bob Dylan and the more contemporary, Mac DeMarco. While attending college, she realized she needed more, so related to a commune in Anaheim where her spirit and musical horizon were expanded by the like of Buffalo Springfield, The Dead and Neil Young. Taking a job at Vibrato, Herb Apert’s Jazz Club in Bel Air, Hostetter met her then boyfriend, Will Worden and the duo began playing music together and would soon meet her now bandmates and friends: Sam Burton, Connor (Catfish) Gallaher, Pierce Gibson, and Noel Friesen. In this interview we explore Hostetter’s youth growing up between two parents, her early influences, moving to a commune, meeting Sam Burton and the gang and her most recent project, Lady Apple Tree.
Are you originally from LA? What was your childhood like growing up? When did you first begin to fall in love with music? Was music relevant around your household growing up? Do you have any siblings?
I’m originally from Northern California and grew up between my moms and dads house. I spent weekdays with my mom in Healdsburg and weekends with my dad in Santa Rosa. Growing up, Healdsburg was a very quaint town known for its landscapes and vineyards. It has since grown out of its shoes as a small town, but when I was a kid, everyone knew each other, and the community was very strong. I spent a lot of my time climbing trees in the town square with the other children or swimming in the Russian River when it got hot. I was always busy drawing, reading, or playing outside, looking under rocks for bugs and lizards. I was a very imaginative kid and could get lost in other worlds for hours. In Santa Rosa at my dad’s, we had a very family oriented life; My grandparents, my dad, and I would go to church on Sunday and afterward spend a breakfast at one of our favorite five restaurants on rotation.
I was raised as a single child by single parents most of my young life. Neither of my parents were wealthy and both struggled to make ends meet. My mom was a waitress and my dad was and is still a contractor. Because of this they’ve always advised me to live a practical life to support myself, and although they admired creativity, they didn’t encourage me to pursue it. They worked hard to keep a roof over our heads and food on our table; they were very loving parents who wanted the best for me. My mom married my step dad when I was 12 and had two kids: My sister was born that same year and then my brother was born when I was 16. Because of this, I spent a lot of my middle school and high school years surrounded by small children. My dad is a lone wolf and has stayed a bachelor all my life.
My mother has an excellent voice and would sing around the house a lot. My siblings and I have small anthems we’ve carried with us through the years that our mom has continually sung to us including songs from Johnny Cash and The Beatles. For me it was “Lemon Tree” by Peter Paul and Mary. She warmed me up to singing so I wasn’t afraid of it. Middle school is where I really fell in love with music on my own. It touched on my emotions and showed me how to feel deeply. My friend at the time, Justin Schaefers(who has an east coast band called Winkler), showed me the indie rock music he listened to: The Strokes, White Stripes, and Arctic Monkeys. It quickly became my favorite as a kid. I would always sing along to the songs I loved, or try to sing as many songs I could recall in the shower. I was part of the music program throughout high school, where I dove into music deeper, discovering the impact of blues and rock and roll. I discovered the Beatles, The Beach Boys, David Bowie, and Bob Dylan, to name a few. I also really loved Mac Demarco as a newer artist at the time. I continued to sing in the school vocal ensemble. I debuted “Touch Me” by the Doors at the talent show in my last year of high school. It was the first time I had the guts to sing by myself in front of people. Although it wasn’t amazing, it had promise, and afterwards my history teacher told me I should “keep doing this.” That was the first time I heard someone say those words and it planted a small seed. Even though I was so passionate about music, I never thought I should take it seriously. I never thought it could blossom. I avoided thinking about it because I was afraid of failing, and never thought I'd be good enough anyways.
What would you and your friends do for fun growing up? Who were some of our earliest influences in your more formative years? When and where did you see your very first concert and when did you realize you wanted to spend your life making music?
Although I was a good student, it became a good excuse to party a lot in my late teen years into college. It felt good to be so limitless and carefree. My friends and I were reckless, and we would push the limits on what it meant to feel alive. It took me down a dark path and when I started university, I hit a wall. I was running from something and I reached a point where I could not go further. I didn’t know who I was and the world was forcing me to figure it out. I was going to school for psychology, and after a year of disconnecting from my peers and being broke from paying tuition, I decided to leave. During that time I met a group of friends who started a small commune in Anaheim. Here I fell in love with Grateful Dead, Buffalo Springfield, and Neil Young. They were all dedicated to following their dream in music and they inspired me to try and do the same. Something clicked in my brain and in my soul and deep down I knew there was something bigger in store for me than continuing down this dead end. There was a light down at the bottom of the abyss, and I had to take a leap of faith to follow it. So I moved to Korea town in Los Angeles when I was 19. I paid $500 a month for a little studio and I knew nobody. I had some skill in singing and writing but I was unrefined. I was shy moving to the city, and felt like the smallest fish in the ocean. I was afraid of the decision I had made to follow a dream. I also knew there was no turning back, nor did I want to. I took up a job hosting at Vibrato, Herb Apert’s Jazz Club in Bel Air. I was making minimum wage, but I was immersed in the live music every night. I got to learn a lot about the compositions of artists like Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane, and Miles Davis.
How did you initially meet your bandmates and what was the initial chemistry like between you guys in the very beginning? What inspired you to form LAT? Tell me about recording your 2023 debut single “Didn’t Want To Have To Do It”. What was the overall approach to this classic Lovin’ Spoonful song? Tell me about working with Ian Doerr on this project at Love Magnet.
I started dating my boyfriend at the time, Will Worden, who was one of the members of the commune in Anaheim. He would come to my apartment and play guitar, and we’d both learn the classic tunes from back in the day: “It Ain’t Me Babe,” “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight,” “Wildwood Flower,” “We’ll Sweep Out the Ashes,” and more. This is how I started my first music project which was a traditional folk and country duet act called ‘Will and Haylie.’ This was formative for me in learning vocal and guitar technique as well as developing my personal style and stage confidence. I discovered Emmylou Harris, Joan Baez, Linda Ronstadt, and Joni Mitchell, who are some of my biggest inspirations today. Although ‘Will and Haylie’ is not a continuing act, we released an album of our favorite songs in 2022 called “Will and Haylie Sing Folk.” Worden and I played sets at small bars and venues including The Monty Bar downtown, Corazón Performing Arts in Topanga, and the Maui Sugar Mill Saloon in Chatsworth. During this time, Love Magnet’s Ian Doerr came to a show of ours and connected me with Michael Collins from the band Drugdealer. Collins and I had a phone call where he asked me to sing on his latest album “Hiding in Plain Sight.” This is how I connected with the people I play with today including Sam Burton, Connor (Catfish) Gallaher, Pierce Gibson, and Noel Friesen. This group and I got to know each other very well while on tour with the band Sylvie in 2022. It was a dream realized for me to go on tour, and it catapulted my career into the right direction. It felt like things were finally coming together. Although this configuration of Sylvie disbanded, Burton, Gallaher, Gibson, Friessen and I continue to play together in Sam Burton’s band, as well as my own. In my opinion, they are the best band in town, and I not only consider them respected musicians, but also close friends.
While touring for Sam, he suggested I cover the song, “Didn’t Want to Have to Do It,” by the Lovin’ Spoonful. Burton gave me the opportunity to sing it on the road with him, and it quickly became a hit. Because of all the positive feedback, we decided to record the song at Love Magnet. Ian Doerr, the sound engineer on the track, is very smart when it comes to sound and gear, and it’s truly a pleasure to work with him. I released “Didn’t Want to Have to Do it” Feb 2023 just in time for a European tour where I joined Sam Burton opening for Weyes Blood. LAT came to be when I wrote the song a few years ago called, “Lady Apple Tree,” which will be released next month. I was inspired to write the song while visiting my family up North and admiring the orchards there. When I learned that farmers sometimes call their apple trees “ladies,” I thought the name had a ring to it. Apples and their trees represent femininity, fertility, knowledge, wisdom, and are commonly seen as a symbol in folklore and biblical tales. I compiled songs I wrote from my youth over the years, and with Will Worden’s production, and Hunter Watts (another commune member) on the sound board, we recorded them to tape. We had limited knowledge, but a lot of heart and determination. We’ve been calling these sessions the “LAT Sessions” and I've been sitting on those recordings for at least a year or two now. I will be releasing six of them as my debut self titled EP in August. The EP includes: Will Worden, Connor Gallaher, Casey Nunez, Hunter Watts, and Ryan Miller. The album is reminiscent of the warmth and sunshine that comes from the countryside of Sonoma County. It’s highly inspired by Joan Baez’s first record and Grievous Angel by Gram Parsons.
What have you been up to here recently? You are working on a full length album entitled “Silver Hands”, correct? What can you tell us about this project? Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
The first single, “Silver Hands,” is out now and is an original adaptation of the Grimm’s Fairy Tale called “The Girl Without Hands.” Sam Burton filmed and directed the video which is also available now. Although LAT is my project of original songs, I also see it as a collective of people who have helped these songs take life. Currently, I have been performing some newer songs with the band around Los Angeles, and we just recorded a few of them with producer Michael Harris at Valentine Recording studio. These newer songs are more inspired by the full band, California country sound from back in the day. I’m excited to share what’s in store, and the new sound the band and I have been developing.
