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Sweaty, Dirty, and Tired: An Interview With Deau Eyes

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Ali Thibodeau, otherwise known as Deau Eyes, changed the location of our interview the night before it took place. She’d picked up a last-minute gig, and asked that I meet her at 11AM at the Valentine Museum downtown. I showed up 15 minutes early with Hourglass Sessions co-founder/director Tyler Scheerschmidt by my side. Soon after our arrival, he broke off to acquire some shawarma from a nearby food truck. However, he returned quickly — he had forgotten his credit card, and asked me if he could use mine.

Thibodeau was performing a solo acoustic set at noon for the lunch crowd that frequently gather in the Valentine Garden behind the main museum building. As Tyler and I settled in, and I began setting up, scores of future doctors began streaming in with their own shawarma, which they had acquired from the same food truck or a similar adjacent one. Thibodeau arrived shortly after Tyler had gobbled the last of his rice. After a few interruptions for soundcheck and greeting various petitioners, she began telling me a little about herself. 

Having grown up in nearby Mechanicsville, Thibodeau was no stranger to Richmond. At the age of 12, her brother bought her a guitar as a Christmas present. Thus began a secret hobby of sitting in her room writing songs that she was too embarrassed to share with anyone. Throughout her teenage years, she publicly developed a talent for dance, and eventually attended Old Dominion University (as well as three other schools) for dance before deciding that the classroom wasn’t the place where her skills and abilities were best being applied. She packed up and moved to New York City, where she began auditioning for Broadway shows while supporting herself nannying, waiting tables, teaching dance, and doing just about anything else that earned an honest paycheck. 

After a short-lived job that took her to Orlando, Florida, Thibodeau returned to New York City and began making connections with the music scene by performing in and organizing open mics in the East Village. Cutting her teeth by busking in the New York subway, playing the same song over and over, Thibodeau also formed a group with a few friends called Modena Loves You. However, that endeavor was soon interrupted by an interesting offer of a job aboard a cruise ship. For ten months, Thibodeau performed as a country singer on the high seas. After disembarking, she took up with a paramour and busked around Europe, eventually recording an album in Ireland. She thought it would be a big deal, but it fizzled as the couple split, and she made her way back home to Richmond. Upon return, she began creating music and cultivating an audience for what would eventually become the project known as Deau Eyes. 

Listing Fiona Apple, Carole King, and Shania Twain among her influences, Thibodeau gave her first Deau Eyes album, Let it Leave, a classic indie rock sound and a spastic energy that is indicative of its two-day recording schedule. Signs of the rushed process of creation peek through in the moments when Thibodeau’s voice breaks on “Paper Stickers,” but this doesn’t stop the record from soaring out of the gate and all the way to the closing track. Let It Leave is a dynamic album that offers contrasts and versatility; a perfect example is the heavy bass lines and affected vocals of “Miner and Raven,” juxtaposed against the very next track, “Parallel Time,” which features nothing but acoustic guitar and Thibodeau’s beautiful, tight harmonies. 

Deau Eyes’ second album, Legacies, was released earlier this year, and shows a different side of Thibodeau. A far more laid-back, ethereal sound permeates most of the tracks. Many of the tracks feature minimal instrumentation, with songs such as “Moscow in Spring” consisting of not much more than Thibodeau’s voice, a synthesizer, and a drum machine. However, she can’t seem to quite help herself, as the energy, guitars, and catchy hooks of Let it Leave do show up in a few tracks, including “Haven’t You Had Quite Enough” and “Another One Comes Around.” This proves that Thibodeau has control over her craft, bending her musical style to her will, rather than the other way around. 

Deau Eyes collaborated with Hourglass Sessions to create a psychedelic powerhouse of a video for her song “The Bow.” You can watch this collaboration on RVA MAG TV, or above. Read below for our interview with Deau Eyes, where we chat about crowdfunding, vinyl releases, and the effect of environment on the creation of art. 

What’s your songwriting process like? 

I’ve always compulsively written songs, but I never really memorized them or put too much stock into them. Just sort of wrote them to process whatever emotion or what was happening in my life. It’s a sort of journaling that I’ve been doing for a very long time. 

How do you think growing up here in what is the undeniably the American south influenced your songwriting?  

You know, it’s so funny, because growing up I was so anti-country music, and such an artsy kid — I wanted to be a modern dance choreographer. I liked absurd stuff, and got really into The Postal Service when I was in sixth grade. I thought that was very edgy and cool, which is funny in hindsight. For Mechanicsville, it was very out of the box.

I was surrounded by country music. I’ve got a lot of family in Arkansas, and the music my grandma would listen to is Carter Family and old-time music like that. I’ve always had a place in my heart for that, and had a secret absolute love for Shania Twain and Dixie Chicks and stuff, but kept it really close to my chest. Then when I graduated and I ended up moving to New York for a few years, I found myself really drawn to that music, and it was a very comforting thing to go back and be like, “Hey, actually this storytelling is dope, and this is actually cool.” So I could carry pride about being from the south in this place where no one’s from the south. From there, I got a job singing on a cruise ship as a country singer, and I really dug deep. [I] learned over 200 classic country songs, really studied that music, and went on a real journey of researching all the greats of that time. That’s really informed the way that I write songs and the way that I tell stories, and whatever we do sonically with production… the foundation is really informed by country music. It’s fun to have that kind of backbone, and it’s fun to also color my sonic choices and production team with different styles, other than the usual lap steel and things like that. 

Photo by Lucienne Nghiem

What do you think of the Richmond music scene?

Oh my God, the Richmond music scene is so vast, and there’s so much happening. It’s endlessly inspiring. My music, when you listen to it, it’s kind of all over the map, genre-wise, because I’m so inspired. I want to create a sound that kind of encapsulates this time and place in Richmond. There’s these up-and-coming songwriters and artists, and Butcher Brown is from here. There’s just so much happening, and so many veterans in this scene that have been doing this for such a long time, to guide you through the business. Just down-to-earth people who make the time for you.

I feel like I’ve had so much help from so many people in this community, whether it’s, “you want to borrow this guitar for a little while and play around with it?” Or just getting coffee with you and telling you about their experience with everything. I mean, the music business is such a DIY create-your-own-adventure that having people around who have been doing it a while — and also people who are just starting out — it’s so important. It’s the most important thing to talk to people and gauge what’s working, and what isn’t working. Just for your own sanity, because otherwise you get lost in this huge mess of a world. This city… there’s a great show happening every night, and you can be watching a country band and then watching an up-and-coming rapper that are equally as incredible. In the same night, just a block away from each other. It’s a great time be here. 

A surprisingly eclectic and large scene for a somewhat small city.

Lots of people who have time to create and time to express themselves. New York is just… these big cities, I found it hard to survive, let alone collaborate, and have the time to cultivate a sense of community. Some people have that built into their cities, it just depends. For me, Richmond is that, and I love it so much. 

Photo by Lucienne Nghiem

I wanted to talk to you about the way that you released your first album; I saw that you funded it through Kickstarter, which is not something that I’ve seen a lot of musicians do. I see a lot of filmmakers do that, and a lot of video game developers, but not a lot of musicians. What inspired that, and how did it go? 

At the time it felt like Kickstarter was what I was seeing the most — I know that there’s IndieGoGo and things like that. I had a pretty small ask: I asked for $5,000 which, when making a record, it’s a lot more expensive than that. I was funding it up until a point, which is kind of the way that all my music is gone, where I’m just working for jobs at the time, and I was trying to just put everything into it honestly. But I don’t recommend that.

I made the record in Nashville with some friends, and I got a pretty great rate for recording, and we tracked it in two days. It just is a testament to the absolute genius and competence of Collin Pastore and Jacob Blizard, who worked on it. I think the Kickstarter was essential to getting the music out into the world, and paying Jake and Collin a very humble amount. That time was also just a very different time than it is now. Things just fell a lot cheaper than they are now. It was definitely something where running up to Nashville for a few days didn’t seem like a big deal. Then the Kickstarter set me up with t-shirts to sell on the road, and got us on our first tour. We took this rusty old van that you literally had to open the hood to start. With no AC and no radio. We took it down to New Orleans and back on tour, and we camped the whole way. We didn’t pay for lodging, we wild-camped. That was fun. We were sweaty, and we looked super dirty and tired. That Kickstarter set me up with that part of it, getting it all out into the world, and it took a couple years to get the actual physical record out into the hands of people. And of course, that’s when the pandemic started. We had just gotten Egghunt [Records] on board, set up a release plan, and we had to alter our plans then.

I noticed that you released that first album sort of out of nowhere. I didn’t see any singles or much before that.

There were a couple singles before that. “Paper Stickers” was a year, maybe two years, before the record came out. Because it was done. We were sitting on it for a long time. But [the album’s release] was happening right when COVID was starting, so it was hard to get it out into the world. The internet was so saturated. Luckily, we did get a feature on American Songwriter with “Parallel Time.” That’s when I started making DIY music videos, right when all that happened — because I wanted to be able to put something out, since I wasn’t touring. 

Do you think that vinyl, and trying to create a physical experience, leads to better music creation as opposed to just single releases on streaming services?

That’s a very good question. I honestly don’t know what it will do in that regard, but it is a very sought-after thing to have — it gets you through tour. Selling records is how you pay for gas. I personally love tangible things, being able to feel it and commit to it. I think it expands our attention spans in a time when we really need that. I think it promotes a piece of work that someone has taken the time to artfully craft. I’m very grateful that people are buying records, because it means that people are listening to this in full, which is how it’s intended to be listened to. But also, the singles game is cool too. I want all these songs to stand alone, and be able to be ear candy. I love pop music and [it] informed a lot of my choices when it comes to making this ear candy, kind of oddball stuff, but also catchy, and something you want to listen to over and over again.

I did notice that for your second album you released pretty much everything as a single before the album came out. You released “Haven’t You Had Quite Enough” back in 2020, but the album it’s on, Legacies, didn’t come out until 2022. When did you first realize you were making an album, and when did that start to coalesce?

The album was planned, but I was in this place of waiting to release stuff. Because the first album was so anticipated, and then the pandemic happened, and it was out of our control. None of the things that we expected to happen happened. So, with this album I made it a mission to make a song and put it out. I just want to get it out to people, because I’m tired of holding these messages and songs for so long, and then having them feel stale when I release them.

With “Haven’t You Had Quite Enough?” it was a thing that I needed it to be out by the election. I needed that for my heart and soul, to get that out into the world. There’s this self-aggrandizing that we all do as artists, of, “This is my message and it has to be out!” But also, simultaneously, it’s a drop in the pool of whatever message you want to come across as artists. We’re working with this company called Tone Tree; they pump out singles out of Nashville, but it’s for playlisting purposes essentially. It’s really cool and fun, and I’m always so grateful we’re placed on something, or someone gives a shit at all. It’s more so that I think I was eager to get these songs out to the people who have been following me all this time, and waited a long time to hear the first record. I’m just gonna put these out, who cares? We’re in 2022, this is the wild west out here. I just want to put this stuff out.

When the whole thing was out, in context, there is a beginning, middle and end; the title track [and] the song “Ends” weren’t released as singles. And they’re both kind of the overlying blanket of what the whole record’s about, which is our time on this planet, and the legacies that we leave behind, and the weight that you put into that journey of leaving something behind rather than being here and now, or the significance and insignificance of tradition — the climb to success. There’s so much [time] we had away from the world — away from the public — that forced us all to dial into what we really care about, and what we want to do with our time on this planet. And our own mortality. And I think that when we’re in the goal mindset, of hitting these mile markers — all these expectations we put onto ourselves and each other. Leaving a legacy… for who and what, when our planet has an expiration date? Lots of light stuff [Laughs].

Photo by Lucienne Nghiem

I wanted to represent this mindset, that there’s so much comedy. Like in “Another One Comes Around,” there’s this hilarious calling-out of a fuckboy in Richmond. These are things that we can put weight on, or that we can completely strip ourselves of and get a little tongue and cheek with. “Safer Love” is this thing of, “I know that there’s this person that’s bad for me, but I’m gonna do it anyway because it feels good,” instead of, like, “I need to it to be my husband” kind of vibe.

Deau Eyes’ latest album, Legacies, is available on vinyl and digital formats from her Bandcamp, and for streaming just about anywhere that you get your music.

Top Photo by Lucienne Nghiem

We Haven’t Had Quite Enough of Deau Eyes

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Capping off a difficult year that saw the release of their debut album, Deau Eyes followed up Let It Leave with surprise single “Haven’t You Had Quite Enough,” a collaboration with DJ Harrison that takes a musical stand against the oppressive negativity of America in 2020.

Deau Eyes, better known as Ali Thibodeau, exudes energy of peace, love, and good vibes. It’s these attributes that made it possible for her to do everything she accomplished in the span of the hectic year that was 2020.

For reference, in 2020, Deau Eyes released her debut album, put out music videos for every single track on said album at her YouTube channel, compiled all of those videos into a video album — Let It Leave: An American Soirée — and joined up with Butcher Browns’ DJ Harrison to write and record an additional surprise single: “Haven’t You Had Quite Enough.”

All of that is remarkable in and of itself, but what is even more remarkable is that most of this was done during quarantine. “My brother Michael and I, during quarantine, have been putting together videos just on our iPhones,” Thibodeau said.

Photo via Deau Eyes/Facebook

Her debut album, Let it Leave, took years to make, during which Deau Eyes endured what she called “management situations” and “label hunting,” as well as the COVID-19 pandemic completely altering her plans. “Everybody had something that they were really looking forward to and it didn’t happen,” she said. “Ours was South by Southwest, touring throughout the rest of the year, and releasing our album.”

But that didn’t stop Deau Eyes. Thibodeau tried to make the best of the situation, deciding to release the album in May despite the quarantine. “It ended up being the best possible way to end this album journey of Let It Leave, and actually letting it leave,” she said. “All the stuff that I was talking about needing to be let go, and having that sealing moment with my brother of, ‘We’re going to create these songs, our way.’”

With the exception of first video “Some Do,” released prior to lockdown, Thibodeau and her brother, with the help of a local cinematographer, were able to make all of the videos for the album with just her iPhone. And it didn’t stop there, as immediately after the videos were complete, Deau Eyes began to work with DJ Harrison on their surprise single, which is entitled “Haven’t You Had Quite Enough.”

Thibodeau said a big reason for the surprise was in contrast with the years of public waiting and planning on her debut album. “I personally waited so long on the last album,” she said.

But Deau Eyes didn’t wait at all to start working on the new single. Thibodeau quickly got to work with DJ Harrison, a collaboration she was personally exuberant about. “I look up to him so much as a musician, as a person, and a friend,” she said. “[I thought he would] make something beyond my wildest dreams and sure enough, it’s exactly what he did.”

According to Thibodeau, DJ Harrison played every single instrument on “Haven’t You Had Quite Enough,” as well as engineering every track except for her vocals. That wasn’t necessarily hard for DJ Harrison, but the remote aspect of creation, necessary due to the pandemic, is something he isn’t used to.

“I’m just used to working in the same room, and catching the vibe of the room,” Harrison said. “Having that organic energy in the room, it makes it easier for people to communicate.”

However, even working remotely, Harrison acknowledged that Thibodeau was an excellent communicator. “She did a great job of just vocalizing to me what she wanted,” he said.

But communication is more than vocalizing — it’s also listening. “The all-around importance for me is listening, being patient, and trying to understand the people that you’re working with. Whether it’s like on a personal level, musical level, or spiritual level,” said Harrison. “I can have my ideas all day, but ultimately she’s the songwriter, and I just want to make sure that I can honor her vision and be able to put my spin on it as well.”

The song that the two created, “Haven’t You Had Quite Enough,” showcases both Deau Eyes and DJ Harrison’s vision, demanding change and a better world through its words and music.

The process of creation for the song began many months ago, when Thibodeau saw news coverage of the detention centers at the border and the separation of families. “It hit me in a really intense way and just had me feeling pretty helpless,” she said.

After that, she started crafting the song, adding verses to the song anytime she found news that gave her that same sort of feeling. “I wrote… probably like 20 different verses for this song,” she said. “Because there’s just so much that I’ve had enough of, and I know a lot of the people around me feel the same.”

After all of the wrongs that have been done over the past year, working with DJ Harrison to bring the song to fruition felt like the perfect way to encapsulate that feeling of being fed up many of us have felt for quite a while.

“I think this song, ‘Haven’t You Had Quite Enough,’ is focusing on the feeling that we all have, no matter who we are and what we believe in: ‘Enough is enough,’” said Thibodeau. “We all need to seek change together and know that we have each other’s backs, because we have a lot more in common than we do differences.”

Top Photo by Matt Shofner, via Deau Eyes/Facebook

Deau Eyes Is Here To Stay

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Today marks the long-awaited release of Deau Eyes’ first full-length album, Let It Leave, on Egghunt Records. We caught up with Ali Thibodeau to get the full story behind her all-encompassing debut release.

Creativity and positivity mesh in a stylistic rainbow with power and purpose in Let It Leave, Deau Eyes’ first album. Deau Eyes is Ali Thibodeau, a Richmond-based songstress who’s stories of adventure are only outnumbered by the immense amount of tassels on her fringe denim jacket. To encapsulate some of these stories and make her biggest musical debut yet, Thibodeau is releasing her first ever full length album as Deau Eyes, the aforementioned Let It Leave, on May 8, and she couldn’t be more excited for you to hear it. Truly she couldn’t, she’s already released a number of songs off the album in anticipation.

“Full Proof,” “Some Do,” “Paper Stickers,” and “Parallel Time” have all been released to various media prior to the album itself, including videos for each song on YouTube. Each song and video is special in its own way, and each captures a slice of the vastly different energies created throughout the album. 

“The heart of this song is about finding what lights the fire inside of you and really pursuing that no matter what is happening elsewhere in your life,” Thibodeau said of “Some Do.” “Being able to escape from something that is bogging you down or making you feel less than what you have to bring to the world.” The “Some Do” video captures this idea through an energetic use of big wigs, long denim tassels, and colorful cowgirl boots. 

The music video for “Parallel Time” was shot entirely by Thibodeau at various points of her life; traveling, practicing, enjoying huge pillow fights, and singing over an unanswered FaceTime call. The personal touch this video extends helps convey the DIY lifestyle Thibodeau holds dear, and brings everything about Deau Eyes down to earth. 

All of the videos add up to a visual version of the album that adds new textures to and expands upon what Let It Leave is all about. That is, of course, intentional.

“I’ve always kinda wanted to do that, but I’ve always felt like an amateur when it comes to video. I have a real passion for it, and I’m excited to have an excuse to be like, ‘Yeah, I was in the house, but here’s my iPhone videos that I made on iMovie. I did something,’” said Thibodeau. “It’s an alternative way to experience the album, whether or not we get to have our release show.”

Approaching the album release date during a pandemic has introduced a number of challenges that Thibodeau has chosen to take on with grace. As this is her first album, she had been looking forward to many new experiences: the album release party, the first big supporting tour, shows upon shows packed with good people and friends from all over. 

But as she says, “If my parents and my family have taught me anything, it’s that you always make lemonade out of whatever lemons you got. These are some really weird lemons, but we’re figuring it out.”

“It’s a weird combination of mourning how things were going but also being really excited about what I’m going to get to create with all of this time. There’s no pressure at all for anybody to be cranking out anything. If anything, this is a time when we all need to check in with ourselves and our intentions, and look at each other as human beings in the same world, having the same experience, and slow down,” said Thibodeau. “My current situation is that I’m in a house alone, so I’m calling a lot of friends and family, and I’m also having a lot more dance parties by myself and painting my face with all the eyeshadow that I have from my Ipsy bag and getting really weird. I’m trying to document it.”

And document it she will. The videos she’s already released are just the beginning; Thibodeau has been working on a visual representation for the entire album in the form of music videos, as an exchange for the in-person album release show experience. Aside from the four already released, the album has five more equally thrilling and lovable songs to work with. 

Photo via Deau Eyes/Facebook

Thibodeau is no stranger to change and adaptation, so this new quarantine experience can be added to a list of incredible times she has worked through for her ultimate benefit. Having been a waitress, baker, busker, Zumba instructor, and so much more, she has proven there is almost nothing the world can hand you that you can’t find a good adventure in. 

“I have a friend that does set design, and he made this huge Polly Pocket display for a toy convention. He needed someone to drive it in the back of a U-Haul across the country, and he thought of me,” said Thibodeau. “So, I just took a U-Haul across the country by myself with all this Polly Pocket stuff in the back of the truck. When I got to L.A. there was a Holiday Inn with a hot tub in the room, and I was just like, ‘Oh I’ve made it, I’ve really made it.’”

From wacky cross-country excursions to professional experiences most people only dream of, Thibodeau really has done it all, even making the cast at Universal Studios’ Harry Potter World. 

“I was a wizard at Diagon Alley in Universal Studios. I was a puppeteer and the narrator of a show called ‘Tales of Beedle the Bard’,” she explained. “That was a whirlwind two-week crash course of puppeteering and monologuing over a track. We would rehearse in the middle of the night; we’d be at Universal Studios at like 3 a.m.. It was wild.”

All of these experiences have contributed to Thibodeau’s music in its purpose and voice. Her life has not been linear, and Let It Leave reflects that. From one song to the next, there is so much to be gained from her inspired lyrics, set to various tones and aesthetics. 

“It’s almost like a meditative obsession that started when I was a kid,” Thibodeau said of songwriting. “It was never really about how good my guitar skills were or if I was going to be able to sing in front of people. It was always just something that centered my mind and helped me be concise with my thoughts and what was really going on at the heart of every situation. All of these jobs that I’ve had have shown me that life is about so much more than this one straight shot through, and I write a lot about that, and how I navigate chaos.”

Photo via Deau Eyes/Facebook

Back at the beginning of the Deau Eyes journey, Thibodeau posted a YouTube video asking for Kickstarter donations. She promised supporters that she would write letters, send pre-releases and t-shirts, and more, in exchange for their support backing the creation of her debut album. The grand prize was that you’d get your own live show in your living room. That one’s still available to be claimed. “No one really took me up on the living room show,” said Thibodeau, “which I’m still down to do if anybody reads this article and is in… like, I’m so down.”

She was glad for the opportunity that fulfilling all those Kickstarter rewards gave her to reflect on how much support she did receive.

“I love writing letters to everybody and taking time to really think about the person that was helping me, no matter how small the gift was,” said Thibodeau. “It’s so important when you’re making music to realize that people believe in you, because then you start to believe in yourself, and that changes the game.”

Thibodeau said that without the outpouring of support she received from friends and strangers alike to push the album into existence, Let It Leave might still be far from complete. It helps that, as she’s traveled, the friends she’s made have come around seamlessly, contributing to her story with theirs.

“It was a lot of people from all walks of life, from all these jobs I’ve done, and just friends that I’ve made along the way in different cities,” she said of her Kickstarter backers. “Whenever I’m traveling, I love just walking into a bar and sticking up a conversation with somebody — just for the story. I do a lot of things for the story. Mostly just entering the world with an open heart and knowing that you have so much to learn from literally anybody that you talk to. I think that just opens up a whole world.”

Photo via Deau Eyes/Facebook

Thibodeau has a strong desire to encourage those around her, and her music has become a primary way for her to do so. Having learned that life can change and take on many different forms you never expected, she aims to remind us all that we can go with our gut, that we are never glued to one thing in life. Whether you’ve been at a job that doesn’t fulfill you or spent too much time with a friend who, let’s be honest, isn’t a friend at all, she knows where your heart’s at. 

“I have this song called ‘Autonomy’ and I always say that it’s about self-love and independence, but I think it’s also about giving yourself permission to cut the bullshit out of your life, and giving yourself permission to not feel obligated to things that aren’t necessarily serving you,” she said. “I know I don’t know everything and I am still figuring it all out, but I feel really grateful that I’ve had these influences in my life that said, ‘Hey, I know you were all gung-ho about this one dream, but if it doesn’t end up being your dream at the end of the day, that’s okay.’ You can have just as much of a fulfilling life following your intuition, because at the end of the day we are so much more than what we do. We are valuable beyond our careers and what is making us money.”

Deau Eyes’ electric, heart-warming, vibrant debut album Let It Leave is out on Friday, May 8 through Egghunt Records. You can find it through the Egghunt web store, and on Bandcamp.

Top Photo via Deau Eyes/Facebook

Deau Eyes Gets Fancy

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With their video for “Some Do,” Richmond indie-rock group Deau Eyes presents a positive message of inclusion and acceptance — along with some excellent tuneage.

Ali Thibodeau is Deau Eyes, a Richmond-based singer-songwriter whose debut album, Let It Leave, will be out on Egghunt Records next month. However, a few singles from it have already been released, and the video for the latest, “Some Do,” sees Thibodeau collaborating with drag queen Camille Teaux to recreate the aesthetic on display in Reba McEntire’s “Fancy” video, but with a campy twist.

The “Some Do” video, which was released in February, stars Thibodeau, actor and drag performer Paul Major, aka Camille Teaux, and actress Abigayle Harris. Inspired by Reba McEntire’s music video for “Fancy” and the dark campiness of David Lynch films, it follows Thibodeau, Major, and Harris as they don bejeweled denim jackets and sky-high wigs, gleefully disrupting their 9-5 lives. The idea for the country glam music video originated with Thibodeau and video director Ted Day.

“The whole dream of being a country star, to me, feels like a fun thing to play on,” Thibodeau said. “We also really love wigs and [Day] loves to film with wigs, so it’s just a big playful collection of our favorite things to work with. We all made it tie into this theme of having your own little dream escape world, away from your day job.”

Shot in Charlottesville, Virginia, largely inside a friend’s barn, the video shows the three stars [Thibodeau, Major, and Harris] discontent with their daily life and the pressures to dilute oneself to fit in. Thibodeau casts herself as a waitress, proudly posing for her only slightly amused diner patrons — who were, by the way, actual restaurant-goers. Major shows up for his construction site job in full drag. Harris primps and prances in a high school hallway as slack-jawed classmates look on. The end of the video feels like a breath of relief, of total freedom in expression.

Major, a longtime friend of Thibodeau’s who previously performed with her when both were working at Dollywood, was delighted to collaborate with Thibodeau in actualizing this vision for “Some Do.”

“The song is talking about how people can be chameleons in their everyday life. But some people are really trying to fit in that box of whatever success looks like for them. And I love that the video celebrates that,” said Major. “You don’t have to do what everyone else is doing in order to be happy; you can be your true authentic self, and be able to express that in whatever it is that you do. Whatever your job is, whatever you’re going to be successful at, you can still have your passions and still be your true authentic self in those environments as well.”

The key to that freedom? A rhinestone-covered, fringed denim jacket that is truly a sight to behold. 

“When we were talking about what it would look like for the characters in the video, everyone needed to have a cohesive look and it’s challenging to costume everyone in the same look —  myself being 6ft.2in. and then having that same look for a teenager and for Ali. We were thinking what could be a simple nod to country, as well as reflective of the video and the fun of it,” Major said. “So we decided on the western jackets, French Western jackets. Ali and I came up with that concept of denim and diamonds. Then she and I created those jackets that we’re wearing in the video, and also designed and created the wig that all three of us wear. The hair and makeup and some of the costuming really helped add to the design and the concept for the video.”

Shot over the course of one day, the filming experience was “organized chaos,” as Thibodeau describes it.

“We all met up in Charlottesville at a friend’s barn out there,” Thibodeau said. “We had a great time. I brought bagels and we set up a whole little crafty section and a pickup truck and a bunch of donkeys came out of nowhere. It was just such a spontaneous thing, which is the way that I work best. It was awesome.”

Paul Major, aka Camille Teaux, in “Some Do”

Major agrees. “We were right outside of Charlottesville in November on a very, very cold morning. And in the barn, there was no heat. So we had some small space heaters. But for me, it was great, because having all of — you know, the padding in here and makeup and stuff — I was very warm,” he said. “It was interesting and fun to be running around Charlottesville in full drag, going to the school that we shot in, where there was still some staff around rehearsing for a musical. And in the restaurant that we shot, there were still patrons in there while we were shooting. So it was a really cool experience, to be able to share that with Ali.”

Collaboration and inclusion are important values to Thibodeau, and that is clear in both the music video and the filming process.

“I really wanted to, like everything I do, try to work with my friends and make fun stuff with my friends. I feel like that’s the whole point of choosing this career path, is having an excuse to do something exciting and make something new with the people that you love,” Thibodeau said. “It also pertains to the video and the song, because this song is all about how, no matter where you are in your life path, you have the option to change it up and to create whatever it is that you want to create. We made a point to make the video as all-encompassing and inclusive as possible, because the song reflects upon this Americana vibe, and it’s also reflecting upon the message of being able to be malleable and change. And that change being empowering and exciting and invigorating.”

Thibodeau was delighted to collaborate on this effort not only with longtime friend Major, but with director Ted Day and co-star Abigayle Harris as well.

“Ted is such a pro. He’s so, so talented, he’s one of the most generous artists out there. He’s just full of fun, zany ideas,” she said. “And then of course, Abigayle I hadn’t known, I met her the day of, and we just had the best time. She was so professional and just wonderful to be around.”

Major agreed that the entire experience was excellent. “It was great and the crew and Ted, the director,” he said. “Everyone was fantastic and making sure we had everything that we needed and felt comfortable doing what we were doing.”

Deau Eyes live. Photo by Jessie Jennison, via Deau Eyes/Facebook

A lifelong performer and trained triple-threat, Thibodeau has done it all, from choreographing musical theatre to singing at Dollywood and starring in numerous productions. Now, with Deau Eyes, she is stepping into her own, creating a unique indie-rock sound with music videos to match.

“I think the kind of music I make is very visceral,” Thibodeau said. “And it really varies from each situation. Sometimes it’s kind of a subdued and sweet songwriter-y, storytelling vibe, and sometimes it’s just ‘enough is enough’ rock music. It really depends on what emotion or what story I’m trying to get across.”

The concept behind Deau Eyes’ debut album came from a time of big changes in Thibodeau’s life.

“I felt like I had escaped my previous lifestyle, which was working as an actress and singer and dancer and auditioning every single day and just feeling like a cog in a machine going nowhere,” she said. “I did a lot of reflecting on my previous life, and the album is like my own version of a sly outlaw song of leaving behind a life, just torching it and moving into the exciting, wild unknown.”

The musical style found on Let It Leave was one Thibodeau began exploring during a gig that landed her in the midst of a new environment.

“I was working on a cruise ship at the time, singing country music and playing with my partner,” she said. “I was really, really digging into the story-song format during that time. The format — that verse- hook- verse- hook- verse- hook, there wasn’t much of a bridge or a true repetitive chorus per se — it was just a different format than I was used to writing in.”

Thibodeau is still young, but her artistic life has encompassed a lot, from cruise ships and Dollywood to busking on the street. Let It Leave sums all of it up to give the listener a window into who Thibodeau is and what she’s been through so far.

“Everybody only has one debut record and you’ve got like your whole life to make it,” she said. “This album was the culmination of a lot of different life experiences and different times in my life encapsulated… [Let It Leave] deals with a lot of life transitions, a lot of pain, a lot of growth, and a lot of empowerment through loss and leaving what doesn’t serve me anymore.”

Working on yet another video. Photo via Deau Eyes/Facebook

The songs on it weren’t necessarily ever written to share with the world, though; for Thibodeau, musical composition began as a therapeutic outlet for difficult emotions. “I never was somebody who was writing music for the sake of it being heard. It was always just kind of silly, something that got me through whatever I was going through,” she said.

However, the material that made up the initial burst of songs written for Deau Eyes was different; it had a greater hold on her than she’d expected.

“It became apparent that I was needing to write so much that it took over my time and my heart,” Thibodeau said. “So I really committed to it, and committed to sharing stories with others through songwriting and storytelling. I found it to be really fulfilling and really nice to have a shared experience with others, and to not feel so alone in those moments.”

With the help of an incredibly supportive Kickstarter campaign, Thibodeau was able to record the album with friends and fellow Virginians Jacob Blizard and Collin Pastore at Trace Horse Studios in Nashville, TN. With only two days in the studio, Thibodeau describes the recording process as collaborative and exciting, as she heard her songs come to life. 

“This record is really a sonic journey — it takes you through a lot of different styles,” Thibodeau said. “I love that it’s not just one style; I think it’s cool and representative of what my path has been thus far. It’s all sung with my voice in the most true way that I know how to portray the different chapters of my journey, and I’m really excited to share my little corner of the world, my little slice of life with everybody.”

Along with “Some Do,” there are already two more videos for Let It Leave tracks. They include “Paper Kites,” the video for which captures a live performance, and “Parallel Time,” an intimate look at relationships, performance, and travel. Of the latter video, Thibodeau said, “It’s the first music video I’ve ever made by myself. I feel just so empowered by that, and vulnerable in a really great, exciting way.”

Releasing the album in the midst of a pandemic-related quarantine has been less than ideal for Thibodeau, a self-identified extrovert who can’t wait to share her work with as many people as possible. However, she hopes to use more video presentations to combat the isolation inherent in our current cultural moment.

“I’m currently making a visual album,” Thibodeau said. “I’m getting ready to go do some filming right now.” Her hope is to eventually create visuals to accompany Let It Leave in its entirety.

“It’s weird because we’re living in a time where people aren’t out and about and talking to each other,” she said. “I’m usually out at every show I can be at in Richmond, because everyone’s so good, and I love to be around people. And there’s such unity out in town, but our conversations aren’t as frequent. So I’m really wanting to get the word out that I’m doing this visual album, so that people can still consume the album in an exciting different way.”

Let It Leave comes out on May 8 from Egghunt Records. The album can be preordered on vinyl from Egghunt’s web store or in digital format via Bandcamp.

Top Photo by Joel Arbaje, courtesy Deau Eyes/Lucky Bird Media