If there's one thing Willow Avalon has learned, it's that life rarely unfolds the way you expect it to.
Take the cover of her album Southern Belle Raising Hell. While most artists spend months meticulously planning artwork that reflects the themes of a record, Avalon found hers in a much more unexpected place: a sheriff's department.
"That is my mugshot, yeah. It is," she says with a laugh.
For many artists, a mugshot might be something they'd rather leave in the past. Avalon, however, has always had a knack for finding humour in life's more chaotic moments. Looking back, she remembers the experience less as a dramatic chapter and more as a bizarre story that somehow ended up working in her favour.
"I loved the sweet sheriff's department that arrested me. Um, they were very kind."
Thankfully, the photo itself turned out pretty well.
"We got a great mugshot out of it, I'm glad that I brushed my hair, I guess, before they took that."
The idea of using it as album artwork wasn't immediate, but one person at the station seemed to know it had potential before she did.
"The kid that took the picture, like the assistant, he went, 'Dang, that's a good one,' like under his breath when they took it. And so I was like, 'Oh, maybe we can use this for something.'"
Eventually, that mugshot found its way onto the cover of Southern Belle Raising Hell, becoming one of the most memorable images associated with the singer-songwriter's rapidly growing career.
What's perhaps more surprising is that music wasn't always the obvious path for Avalon.
Despite growing up surrounded by it, she never saw herself as someone who would end up on festival stages around the world. Her earliest experiences came through choir and church, where music was less about performance and more about community.
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"I grew up not really singing very much. I grew up kind of singing choir and playing in the Baptist church. So, the Baptist church and like old hymns is kind of how I got started."
Even now, after building a devoted fanbase and performing to increasingly larger crowds, she admits that the nerves haven't disappeared.
"I was very shy about singing. I'm still shy about it. I get stage fright every single time before I go on stage."
For Avalon, music originally served a far more personal purpose than a career goal.
"It was something that I always loved doing, and it was an outlet for like, you know, bringing myself peace and therapy."
That's why she still sounds slightly amazed when talking about where life has taken her.
"It was never something I thought I could ever do professionally. So, I'm honored to be able to do it, and to be able to like be at festivals like [CMC Rocks], which is crazy."
The road to getting there wasn't exactly straightforward.
Avalon signed her first record deal when she was just 18 years old, a milestone that felt like the beginning of everything she had hoped for. Instead, it became one of the first major challenges of her career.
"I signed my first record deal when I was 18, and that was where I was like, 'Oh, this is going to be really hard, but I can do it.' And, you know, I worked really hard for that and then I was dropped."
For a while, she thought her future might look very different.
"After that, I was kind of like, 'Okay, well, I'll go towards my other dream,' which is like being a mama and having a family and like moving towards that."
But something kept pulling her back toward music.
"And then something just hit me and I was like, 'I got to kick it into high gear.'"
That decision led her to New York City, where she threw herself completely into the pursuit of a creative life. She scraped together every dollar she could to live in an apartment she had fallen in love with and quickly discovered that New York wasn't the kind of place that allowed people to coast.
"I moved to New York City and I pinched every single penny to live in that apartment that I just knew I had to live in."
That apartment would end up changing everything.
What began as a simple apartment tour unexpectedly exploded online, introducing millions of people to Avalon's world. Long before many listeners discovered her music, they discovered her eye for design, vintage treasures and the eclectic creativity that now feels inseparable from her identity as an artist.
"That apartment tour changed my whole entire life, and then I signed with Atlantic Records."
The speed of it all still blows her mind.
"I grew up without the internet, so the way that it just overnight changed my life is, is crazy."
Part of the reason the moment resonated so strongly was because Avalon wasn't presenting herself as just a musician. She was sharing a fully realised creative world. That broader creative vision was something Atlantic Records embraced from the beginning.
"It's cool because Atlantic signed me for me as a whole person instead of like just my music, which was pretty cool."
These days, Avalon calls Nashville home after making the difficult decision to leave New York behind.
"Leaving that apartment was one of the hardest things I've ever done," she admits.
Still, she credits the city for shaping who she became.
"It doesn't let you slack off. There's no slacking off."
As her career continues to grow, Avalon is already looking ahead to what comes next. Asked about her favourite song she's ever written, she doesn't point to one that's already been released.
"It's probably this song that's about to come out. It'll be on our next record. It's called Gideon's Mile, and it's one of my favourite songs ever. It's about my hometown."
Beyond that, there's one chapter of life she's particularly excited to eventually write about.
"I think for me, I'm, I'm really excited to be a mama. So, like in the future whenever that is something that I can do, um, I would really love to be able to write about my kids and being a mama."
It's a sentiment that feels fitting for an artist whose songwriting has always been rooted in real life, drawing inspiration from the people, places and experiences that have shaped her.
When Avalon recently visited Australia, she found herself equally moved by the support waiting for her on the other side of the world.
"We've gone where we can, and it's really beautiful… We have to come back."
And when she looked out at the crowd gathered for her festival performance, she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing.
"I'm just shocked that there's this many people. I mean, like festivals in the US, if you're playing at like 5:00 PM, there's nobody there. So, this is awesome."
For someone who never thought music would become a profession, it's a surreal moment. But then again, if Willow Avalon's story has proven anything, it's that the most life-changing opportunities often arrive when you least expect them.
