Tristan Prettyman Maris

For San Diego-based singer-songwriter Tristan Prettyman, the past four years have been marked by some pretty dramatic changes. Tristan’s heartfelt approach has always been at the core of her music, and while she’s never been one to shy from the hard material, these recent changes present a new challenge. “I’m happy, which is kind of a challenge because it’s so easy to write sad songs or songs complaining about things,” she says, laughing. “I really wanted Cedar + Gold to be my happy record, but it wasn’t a happy time so I wouldn’t have been being true to myself if I didn’t write about that.” 2012’s Cedar + Gold, Prettyman’s most recent full-length record, ran a gamut as it explored heartache. “My Oh My,” the album’s lead single, would go on to rack up well over a million hits on Youtube, and the record would peak within the Top 20 of Billboard’s Top Rock Albums. The record continued Prettyman’s streak of commercial success, following 2005’s Twentythree and 2008’s Hello...x. In the year and a half following Cedar + Gold’s release, however, Prettyman would find herself amidst some sweeping changes -- parting ways with her longtime manager and without a record label. Her separation from Capitol Records came in the form of a contractual renewal shrouded in the label’s doubt. After ten years, three records and numerous tours in support of those albums, Prettyman felt that “there was just nobody there fighting for me.” These big changes left her far from high and dry though. The lack of traditional backing empowered her, and Prettyman saw it as an opportunity to produce whatever kind of music she wanted, free from the constraints that come with that traditional backing. “I was on my life raft, like, ‘What do I do now?’” she says. “It was just like we’re going to keep going, we’re going to make another record and get back to my roots. That’s what the Back to Home EP was about.” Back to Home, if nothing else, is a maturation of Prettyman’s work that’s both literal in its titling and precedent-setting in its scope. In part a writing exercise and in other parts a catharsis from her personal upheaval, there is a linearity in the EP that’s derived from precisely the lack of such a theme. Prettyman sounds, in a single word, free. There’s nothing here holding her back from writing what she wants to write and doing what she wants to do, whether it’s in the gritty, smirking funk of “Taboo” or the bouncing, breezy staccato of “Waves” and everything in between. While the writing process of Back to Home dates to just post-Cedar + Gold times, the EP was tracked in just three weeks and released by Prettyman herself on iTunes, followed by an extensive tour. It quickly rose up the iTunes charts, something that Prettyman woke up, delighted by the EP’s success. It was a moment in which her go-getting attitude proved to all that she was just fine on her own. “It was like going back to be being a beginner,” she says. “When you’re backed by a machine, it’s really easy to lose track of your goal, and my goal is making music that is true to my heart, not because I'm weighed down by time or pressure.” At the moment, heart is what it’s all about for Prettyman. She married Bill Maris in a South African storybook wedding in 2014 and announced her pregnancy with their first child in February of 2015, while signing with industry legend Troy Carter and Atom Factory. What these changes will do for her musical sensibilities, however, is yet to be determined. It’s all organic with Prettyman, and the songs will find their way, as they always have. “I’ve never been married, I’ve never been in a relationship that’s this communicative, honest and solid,” she says, noting the eventual influence her personal stability may have on forthcoming work. “Couple that with having a baby, moments of inspiration are going to present themselves soon. I can feel it coming.” No matter what direction the wind blows or what form her craft takes, Prettyman will still be greeting fans after her sets on tour. She will release the songs that speak to her, she will write with her own hand and tell stories with her own voice. “If I want something, if I can see it and envision it, I figure it out,” Prettyman says. “If I want it, I go after it. It’s all about peeling off the layers until I find the thing that’s most authentic. That’s what I want to say in my music.” -K.C. Libman (Phoenix New Times, LA Weekly, Consequence of Sound, OC Weekly)

Music, yoga, the ocean, fashion, fitness, health, beauty, travel. Empowering my peers. Self discovery, truth, honesty + transparency. Adventure, exploration, space. Love + living life to the fullest.

Who would you be, if no one was watching?

It started with watching You Tube videos: Brene Brown, Dan Barber, Jill Bolte Taylor, Elizabeth Gilbert, Birke Baehr. I feel in love with the talks, with people sharing, everything, anything. Whether it be experiences, science, environment, love, etc... I've always wanted to attend a TED conference, Im so psyched to be apart of the 2014 experience. Its gonna be INSANE! Lets do this!

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