Folk Singer Seeks Balance Between Making Art And Making A Living

This story originally aired in the Jan. 12, 2025 episode of Inside Appalachia.

The sun shines down on Elsa Howell and two family members as they run through rehearsal for a concert set.

Howell’s voice echoes across the fields and hills at MidMountain, a venue just above the James River outside Glasgow, Virginia. She strums guitar and sings, alongside her father Isak Howell on banjo and cousin Jaden Bowman on guitar and backing vocals. 

Elsa Howell is 22. She recently graduated college and now lives in Fredericksburg, where she works part-time as a nanny and transcribes interviews for the Virginia Folklife Program at Virginia Humanities. 

And like so many people before her, she’s trying to decide how her music fits into her life.

“I don’t know if this is a career for me,” Elsa says. “It could be an intermittent career for a very long time. I mean, it’s not my dad’s career, but he has been doing it my whole life, and long before I was born.”

Her father, Isak Howell, is a journalist-turned-lawyer who regularly plays in the Black Twig Pickers and other groups. Isak says Elsa’s been surrounded by string music her entire life. 

“I think we drug her to fiddler’s conventions when she was too young to object,” Isak says. “I think there were a lot of musicians around and a lot of playing around when she was very young.”

When Howell was just a child, her parents gave her an iPod full of songs, ranging from Neko Case to Sonic Youth, that became her first sustained exposure to music. Her father also played in Howell’s first-ever band: an ad-hoc group, formed for a talent show at her school in Greenbrier County, West Virginia.

It was there that Howell first met a musical mentor — Elizabeth LaPrelle.

Back then, LaPrelle was performing with Anna Roberts-Gevalt, as Anna and Elizabeth. 

“Elizabeth was there with Anna doing a crankie demonstration and lesson,” Howell says. “I remember they were there singing and doing the crankie and then I think showed us how to make little tiny ones.” 

It was a few more years before LaPrelle noticed Howell’s singing.

“I think my first memory is of seeing her sing at the Mount Airy Fiddlers Convention Folk Song Competition, and being like, ‘She’s good,’” LaPrelle says. “Well, that and through collaborating with your dad occasionally,” she says to Howell.

“You were giving me lessons for a while,” Howell responds. 

“Which your dad did instigate,” LaPrelle says. “He said, ‘I want to gift Elsa some lessons with you for a birthday’ or something. And then once we’d done a few lessons, you had the idea to, ‘Let’s apply to this apprenticeship program.’ It was a brilliant idea.”

Howell and LaPrelle paired up for an apprenticeship through the Virginia Folklife Program of Virginia Humanities. LaPrelle, after all, has been singing folk songs her whole life, too. It wasn’t too long ago that she was the apprentice, learning from other folk singers.

“I’m lucky there have been so many women singers who have been so encouraging to me, especially when I was starting out,” LaPrelle says. “A big one is Ginny Hawker, and she heard me singing at the Mount Airy Fiddlers Convention Youth Folk Song Competition. And then Sheila Kay Adams, who I took her class for one week, but I fell in love with her style. Jean Ritchie is another one. She didn’t have to go out of her way, but she did to encourage. So if I can live up to that, I would be very happy.”

Now, a year after the apprenticeship concluded, Howell and LaPrelle are both here at MidMountain, a venue operated by an arts collective near Natural Bridge, Virginia. Artists stay at MidMountain for 12 days, collaborating on a zine, making art and practicing performances to be played at a festival examining murder ballads.

Howell’s days have followed a pattern. Some of it involves practicing her set with her cousin and father. 

“When they’re here, we’ll rehearse,” Howell says, “and when they’re not here, I’ll spread this blanket out somewhere on the grounds here and just play, write new songs, research those old songs and see if they have music written already to go with the lyrics. And if they don’t, maybe write melodies for old lyrics.”

The nearly two-week residency has provided a clear space for Howell to focus on her music. Her cousin, Jaden Bowman, produced an EP for Howell that was released on streaming platforms a few weeks ago. This festival will be the first time they’ve played her songs to a live audience. 

For Howell, this residency comes at a pivotal moment in her life. 

“I graduated from the University of Mary Washington in 2023,” Howell says. “I think I just got to a place where I was like, ‘Okay, this era of my life where everything is mapped out and decisions are already made for me is over. I am the sole decision maker.’ Whether it is paying my bills or not, I’m never gonna be in a place in my life where I don’t want to sing or I don’t want to pick up my guitar, or where making music is not going to be where I go when I need to reset or process.”

LaPrelle has spent her whole life making the same calculation, and figuring out the balance between making art and making a living.

“There’s a lot of ups and downs,” she says. “When I started doing music professionally, a lot of that was exciting, and a lot of it was kind of scary. Here I am still eking it out. It’s the only career I’ve ever had. It’s also about connections. I think that’s one of the most wonderful things about folk music, is that it is still a form that you can do, not [just] professionally, that you can do it just because you love it.” 

When the MidMountain Fest finally arrives, Howell looks excited as she takes the stage with her cousin and father. The audience includes family and friends. The crowd moves closer to the stage amid the deepening darkness of the October day. 

The crowd responds enthusiastically. Elsa Howell looks thrilled between songs. After the set ends, she sounds giddy with excitement.

“I feel great! I feel amazing!” she says. “I mean that was great. Just, people are so nice. People are just so nice! I feel like I’ve gained some confidence.” 

Howell’s future is unwritten. It’s a long road. 

Studies show the average person today will work five to seven different careers in their lifetime. If her mentor, Elizabeth LaPrelle, is any indication, this is a balance Howell will wrestle with for decades to come.

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This story is part of the Inside Appalachia Folkways Reporting Project, a partnership with West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Inside Appalachia. Subscribe to the podcast to hear more stories of Appalachian folklife, arts and culture.