The life of a working musician might seem glamorous from the outside looking in. Traveling from town to town and sharing your heart with listeners certainly affords unique experiences, but it's also costly, tiring, and, in many cases, lonely. Singer-songwriter Ashley Riley captures both the heartbreak and the beauty of the reality of indie musicians with the stirring "Made of Dreams."
"I'm not made of money, not made of money," Riley sings. "I'm made of dreams/ And you might find this funny, but it's not funny/ At least not to me."
"'Made of Dreams' is a pretty personal song, but I think a lot of artists can relate to the feeling behind it," Riley tells Wide Open Country. "When you listen to it, it seems like it's about the realities of being an indie musician — being out on the road from gig to gig, being away from people you love but doing the thing that you love. When I play this song live, I always say that I think to be a musician, songwriter, or artist of any kind you've got to be a bit of a dreamer, and I think that when it really comes down to it, that's what this song is about — holding onto to those dreams that you have and chasing them, so this song is for all the dreamers out there."
"I wrote 'Made of Dreams' a long time ago, but I remember starting with the chord progression that's on the verses and just playing it over and over almost on a loop," Riley continues. "Lyrically, I was really into, and still am, Madison Violet, and I had just heard their album, No Fool for Trying. I love their song 'The Ransom,' and I wanted to write 'my version' of it. I was in a totally different stage of my career than they were. I was just getting started, getting out there and hitting the road, so my perspective of what musician life was in the lyrics was more about me finding a way to even go and DO it... I recently started playing it out again at writers' nights and gigs, and everywhere I went people liked that dreamer song, so I decided to refresh and re-record it."
Listen to "Made of Dreams" below.
Riley is also launching a podcast, fittingly titled Made of Dreams, in which she'll talk with other dreamers.
"It's really a blend of inspirational interviews that weave in some creative tips and daily life," Riley says. "The Made of Dreams podcast features honest and insightful conversations with people who inspire me about how they are finding and following their dreams. I'm talking with a lot of musicians, but not just musicians. I just happen to know a lot of them, but I really want to fuse that with learning to live a well balanced life. The plan is to roll out one episode a week, but as I'm going I'm thinking I might throw in a little mini episode with no guest every couple weeks as well."
"In the last couple of years, I realized I was listening to just as many podcasts as I was listening to albums. I can't tell you how many times I would say, 'Oh, I was listening to this podcast and...' While driving and cleaning, especially during Covid, it was nice to tune into something like a podcast, which gives you the human connection, on topics that you're interested in, and you can be moving around and listening, too," Riley continues. "As for me wanting to do one, it seemed really fun and I love talking to people and hearing about their stories. I actually feel like I thrive in one-on-one conversations more than a group setting, so it feels natural to me as well. I wanted to do something positive and that didn't seem out of the blue for me, so I decided to talk about being creative and I think my philosophy there is kind of the same as with the music I make. I want to make things that I would enjoy listening to and that feel helpful or positive. It also helped that as a working musician, I had all the gear and the know-how to start it up pretty easily. On choosing "Made of Dreams" for the name, I was recording the song at the time, and I kept coming back to the thought that our lives are all made up from the choices we make and the beliefs we have, and it just seemed right. I also designed some really cute dreamer merch that I'd been thinking of, so that helped lock it in!"
