Lots of people in this world love music, but it’s a rare soul who chooses to go beyond their enjoyment of music to become active members of the community that creates the sound they love so much. Rian Moses-Hedrick and Elijah Hedrick of HearRVA are two members of that rare group, and they’ve shown it right here in Richmond by creating HearRVA. Focused on “connecting artists to the communities and resources they need to launch, promote, and expand their career,” HearRVA works tirelessly to provide resources to Richmond musicians and help them take their careers to the next level.
They’ve done this in a variety of ways, from making their own music and taking part in curation of mixtapes hosted on their website to documenting local live performances and holding a recent mixer at The Hof in which local artists had the opportunity to meet up with a variety of industry professionals that offer resources to musicians eager to advance their careers.
They’ve also created Liner Notes, a video podcast series hosted by RVA Mag TV, with new episodes premiering every Friday at 1 PM. Episodes feature interviews with local musicians and contributors to the health of the Richmond scene, helping to provide a stronger, deeper understanding of how the scene works and what it takes to keep it healthy than you’ll ever get from just listening to the records.
The latest episode of Liner Notes, featuring a conversation with Richmond rapper Sneeze, will premiere today at 1 PM on RVA Mag TV. But first, here’s an interview with the creators of HearRVA, to give you deeper insight into what makes them tick.
RVA Mag: Tell us a little bit of who you are and what you do.
HearRVA: HearRVA is a platform created by Rian and Elijah Hedrick that connects Richmond artists to the communities and resources they need to launch, promote, and expand their musical career. Our collective of artists, musicians, and cultural curators collaborate to produce art that illuminates Richmond’s creative talent and celebrates the history of music in our city.
RVA Mag: How did you get started making content before this?
HearRVA: We wanted to show people at home how much fun could be had by going out to a Richmond music concert, so we started to create recap videos of different events and interviews with the musicians to try and foster some personal investment by the music fans of RVA.
RVA Mag: How did the Liner Notes project come about?
HearRVA: After promoting Richmond music on Instagram for a while, we wanted to create some unique content for the area’s musicians. We took knowledge from our careers in TV production and graphic design to build a studio in the family art room [and] create an interview series of Richmond artists. So we gathered our friends and invited RVA’s best musicians over for a chat.
RVA Mag: What has been the best part of making these videos?
HearRVA: It felt like a high-school group project with all your friends. Each person contributed the best way they knew how, to help create something unique. Having these amazing musicians in our home and being able to ask them the questions that came to us while listening to their music was a cool experience too.
RVA Mag: What have you got planned for the rest of the year?
HearRVA: We are beginning to plan season two of Liner Notes, but no immediate plans yet.
Keep up with what HearRVA has going on at their website, hearrva.com, and follow them on Instagram @hearrva.
Photo via HearRVA
