Aniston Pate is a born and raised Dalhart girl, but moved to Nashville in 2021 to attend Belmont University to pursue her musical dreams.
“Music has kind of always been a part of my life,” Pate said. “But I made a trip my 7th grade year to Nashville and realized that music could be a career, so I really decided then.”
While Dalhart doesn’t offer choir, Pate had the musical passion on her own. She began writing songs her senior year of high school, the same year she’d auditioned for Belmont, once she’d decided going to school for music would help her in reaching her goals.
“The audition was challenging, and a bit of a mess,” Pate said. “I had to submit a video of myself singing a classical song, and two songs I’d listen to in my daily life. But somehow I made it in.”
After auditioning, Pate had to wait to hear back on the school’s decision.
“It took around a month to get any kind of response, just waiting,” Pate said. “But I got a letter in the mail with the school’s decision and my mom recorded the entire thing, even though she’d already opened the letter and knew.”
Pate is no longer in the school of music at Belmont, she still attends the college but changed her degree to music business. In her year and half at Belmont, Pate has been able to share both sides of the music industry, both in writing and performing.
“The best part about Belmont is the networking you get to do with people in the industry and people that you know are going to be,” Pate said. “I actually met my band through Belmont and my producer.”
Through her networking at Belmont, Pate has already released an EP (Extended Play) entitled, ‘Keystone Cowboy’ that’s across all streaming platforms.
“Most of the songs on the EP I’d already wrote,” Pate said. “But once I got to Belmont, I was able to co-write with some people and then told a friend I really wanted to take these five songs and get them released.”
Through the help of her network, Pate was able to get studio time at a fellow friends home studio and produce the tracks. The production of the EP started in the summer of ‘22 after Pate toured Texas and determined what songs she wanted to be released.
“I toured all of over Texas, from the panhandle to as far down as Port Lavaca and nailed down which were my favorite,” Pate said. “After deciding I told my friend Jaron who began doing the acoustic tracks at his house in California in July, and then by August when we got back to Nashville. We went into the studio and finished the tracks. Then a few more hours the next day to add vocals and then Jaron did hours mixing and mastering the tracks.”
Stadium tours may not be far away for Pate, but earning respect in the industry is top priority.
“A huge goal would be the stadium tours, I want this as my career,” Pate said. “But more than that, I want to be respected by people in the industry that I admire and look up to.”
Though Pate has already released her own music, she’s also helped fellow artists write songs.
“Both writing for myself and for other is so rewarding,” Pate said. “They’re rewarding in different ways but either way writing music to be performed is such a cool thing to get to do.”
While she’s just now getting started in her career, Pate does all the booking for herself. Through her tour Pate played in Amarillo and Dumas, but really landed in San Antonio for a while.
“Most people have booking agents, but you have to give them a cut,” Pate said. “So for now if I can do it myself I will, I started reaching out to places back in April and I got a lot of cold emails or a lot of no’s. But I was able to make a tour out of the ones that responded.”
While in Nashville, Pate participates in what’s called a ‘Writers Round’ where four singer/songwriters get to take the stage for 30 minutes and perform songs and network.
“You don’t get paid for the writer rounds but you get to meet people trying to do what you’re doing,” Pate said. “The networking is one of the most important parts of this industry.”
Pate has been able to play in downtown Nashville at a few different places, a few more in uptown Nashville but her new formed band is starting a string of house shows.
“The band is just my really close friends I’ve got to meet,” Pate said. “So we’re trying to do this string of house shows at least once a month.”
Aniston can be found on Instagram @anistonpatemusic, and her EP ‘Keystone Cowboy’ can be found across all streaming platforms.
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