Appalachian Indie Rock band Hello June first came onto the scene in 2017 with their EP Spruce. The following year, Hello June was featured as an NPR Slingshot Artist, alongside Phoebe Bridgers, Snail Mail, My. Joy, Jade Bird, and 2017 Slingshot Artist, Big Thief. We were first introduced to the band in 2018 when they performed at the Peoples Bank Theatre as part of the Undercurrent Winter Festival and have enjoyed following Hello June ever since.

In February, something special happened on the band’s Instagram account. Sarah (Sar) and Whit jumped online and hosted a live paint and jam session, encouraging followers to tune in and paint along or simply listen.

“Our ‘paint + jam’ sessions emerged out of two different needs,” said Sar Rudy. “First, we've been working on building a Patreon space for our fans (it hasn't been released yet, but we are aiming for early April). With the types of things we're offering, one thing we needed a better grasp on was streaming - not just how we've done it in the past, which is low-quality sound and on the fly, but rather, good quality sound, multi-tracked professional audio straight from our board. The technology behind some of that is actually a bit of a problem to solve, but it wasn't our only function to doing those session. We are at a point in our musical journey where we felt the need to prioritize creation for creation’s sake.”

Sar said they wanted to promote and encourage, in their own and other's minds, the idea that creation isn't just about the end product and it's certainly not about the end product being perfect. “We want the flaws, the good and bad both. We want to normalize non-perfectionism, which for me, has been a deterrent to a creative spirit in the past.”

The first session was barely announced, in part because they were using new technology and were unsure of what the outcome would look like. “We didn’t want to make a huge deal out of it and then make it some anxiety-provoking thing,” she said. But fans took notice and tuned in. Sar said the response was positive and she’s received significant feedback. They hosted two more sessions over the next week.

“I've had people tell me that they've started to paint again, that they've painted for the first time ever alongside me; I've had people tell me that they've taken the time to meditate during that time,” she said.

She also received inquiries about purchasing the paintings and is working to convert them to prints. “I couldn't believe how positively people were responding to this exercise, which, to me, then just argues that I'm not the only one who needs to carve out space to hear myself fully. People are looking for peace in the same way I am.”

Sar admitted she was more nervous than expected during these paint and jam sessions. “I've always felt my heart-rate rise during performance live streams, but didn't assume it would for this. In the past, I've live-streamed for the band and it's a very social experience - I am showing my face and feeling the need to talk, etc. With this, I wanted to take the social pressure out of it. I wanted to not feel that pressure,” she said.

While the anxiety she feels a lot of the time in social situations doesn’t really go away, Sar said she is always trying to learn to be comfortable in her own skin and is trying to create a space where people can meet her there and do the same.

“I set these cameras up so that I wouldn't feel the need to do anything but create and invite people into that space. When I finish a session, I feel good about the exercise of that. It feels like a small accomplishment,” she said.

Painting has been part of Sar’s creative process as a musician in the past, as seen in several of Hello June’s music videos. “In our ‘Handshakes’ video, I use paint and stop motion to create a changing landscape scene behind me. In the ‘Candy Rain’ video, I am painting in the middle of a field,” said Sar. “In the ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ video, I took my video camera and rolled it over a painting that I have and I used that to give motion to a nature scene and tonally tie things together.”

In addition to Hello June, Sar owns her own design business (aptly named Sar Rudy Designs) – between the two, she works full-time in the creative industry.

“I had gotten science/technology related degrees and have done work in those fields, but the mix of my current life feels like it is approaching absolute ideal in terms of how I spend my time. My soul wasn't being nourished when I worked in technology - I felt like I was just working in order to pay my bills and always felt a weighty time crunch and an anxious race to get whatever creative thing I was doing to fit into a small amount of time.”

Sar said she knew at different points that this felt unsustainable and unhealthy. As Hello June progressed, that sort of unhealthiness made less and less sense.

“How are we expected to keep that pace up? Do I choose a career that pays me well and respects me over my passion? I guess for most of my adult-life I've tried to do both,” she said. “I knew at some point it would make sense to flip over to the more creative side, but I thought that time would show itself in a clearer way, I suppose.”

The music industry is an unstable and uncertain one. “It’s very hard to make a living wage,” said Sar. “I know people who have been and are ‘successful’ but still struggling to pay the bills. It's just an unhealthy industry.”

For Sar, splitting her time between music and design/art is something that she hopes she is able to keep doing. “My headspace is more clear and my time feels better spent, and I'm sure that the quality of my art will improve over time because of the balance I've been able to find and also the time I'm allowing myself to spend on things. I guess the way I'm seeing it is that if I keep laying my own path, it should ensure I've got a next step to take, which I'm grateful for.”

As far as the paint and jam sessions, Sar and Whit took a little break to hyper-focus on creating their super fun Patreon that will be up and running very soon. Once the Patreon launches, their goal is to host paint + jam sessions once a week. “Going forward, you will be able to check a section on our website to see when the paint + jam sessions are scheduled,” said Sar. This is the most reliable way to stay in the loop, though Sar will also be announcing on Instagram and Facebook.

So be sure to follow Hello June and keep an eye out for the launch of their Patreon and maybe we’ll see you in the next paint + jam session!

We will update this story with a link to join the Patreon once it’s live!