This week on Vocal Tips in 10, I’m joined by the amazing Eva Cassel—artist, vocal coach, songwriter, and long time coach here at the studio!
Fresh off her first major tour supporting Wild Rivers and Lily Meola, Eva shares what it’s really like to take your voice (and life) on the road. From protecting vocal health and maintaining energy to juggling late nights, nutrition, and emotional wellness, she offers powerful insights for singers who are either touring now or dreaming of hitting the roadin the future.
This episode is filled with firsthand advice on how to care for your voice, body, and mindset during high-demand seasons—and how to keep loving the music while you do it.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
1:07 – Vocal Health Tips on Tour
2:32 – Tuning Into How You're Feeling: Prioritizing Mental & Physical Health
4:30 – Nutrition on the Road
5:23 – Juggling Vocal Health + Socializing
7:09 – Vocal Athletes
8:33 – Eva as a Vocal and Songwriting Coach
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Hello singers and welcome to Vocal Tips in 10. I am so excited that I have my friend, my long time collaborator at the studio. We've been working together six years now, I think. And then just a fantastic singer and songwriter in her own right, Eva Cassell with me. So welcome Eva.
Eva Cassel (00:20)
Hello everybody!
amber cathey (00:22)
I'm so thrilled to have you here. Eva is a coach at the studio. She teaches voice and songwriting, so vocal and songwriting coach. And then she's jumping on today to more talk to us from her perspective as an artist and a touring artist, because she just got off of, I would say your biggest tour yet to date, right? All throughout the US and Canada.
Eva Cassel (00:43)
Yeah.
amber cathey (00:46)
She was singing with Lily Miola, opening up for Wild Rivers. And I got to see you in Boulder. just you guys were so great. So I wanted to have you on today so people can get to know you and also
just to hear any tips or a tip you might have just on like navigating a tour of that scale for the first time.
Eva Cassel (01:07)
Yeah, definitely, there's some things from the vocal health perspective and just vocalist perspective that I'd love to share, which is, you know, things that are fairly simple, but really important, like just warming up beforehand and cooling down afterwards and drinking a lot of water and not just chugging water right before you go on, but sipping water throughout the day, which we've learned is
the only way to actually really fully hydrate your whole body and system.
amber cathey (01:37)
you guys were touring by van, by plane, and also in like totally different areas of the country and Canada, which also means totally different.
weather and temperature and right? mean that yes.
Eva Cassel (01:48)
Yeah, and air quality and
different levels of humidity and all of that. I think it can be really easy for anyone to not want to hydrate while they're traveling because having to go to the bathroom while you're in a van or on a plane sucks. But I think it's way better to be hydrated and maybe be uncomfortable and have to use the bathroom sometimes than to be dehydrated.
amber cathey (02:05)
Mm-hmm.
Eva Cassel (02:16)
That's just gonna lead to so many more problems You know vocally speaking but also just your overall health So I always was just sipping on water every every gas station we stopped at I made sure that I had water with me
So staying hydrated is a big one. The other thing is just like trying to be really tuned in to how you're feeling and doing whatever you need to do in that moment, whether that is physically or emotionally. You know, I tried really hard to just constantly be checking in with myself. Do I need to go for a walk and have a moment of alone time? Because that's another thing.
you don't really get on the road, especially when you're touring in a van. So just going for a walk can be really, really helpful. And sometimes you only have a few minutes in between soundcheck and getting food and getting back to the venue. But also physically, being able to notice when your voice is feeling tired and maybe doing a little bit of extra rehab around that.
I had my straws with me and I love to do a big straw in water. It's one of my favorite cool downs, which I tried to do, you know, most nights, but especially the nights where I was feeling tired. And then also just limiting the amount of using my voice that I was doing, especially when I was feeling tired. And that can even just be talking in the van.
with everybody else, there was many times where I would just put my headphones in and close my eyes and just pretend that I was in my own little bubble because I needed the mental break and I also needed the physical break. You don't often get to choose when you're able to rest and sleep and I have come to think of those as two separate things.
So you take what you can when you can. And then the other thing is, you know, just trying to eat as healthily as possible, which is really, really tough on the road. Yeah, yeah, because again, you don't know when you're gonna be able to eat. You don't often have a lot of choice of what you have to eat. But something that really helped me,
amber cathey (04:17)
on the road. Yep.
Eva Cassel (04:28)
was we stopped at a lot of Starbucks and Starbucks has these green juices. Yeah, yeah, I know.
amber cathey (04:34)
Starbucks shout out anyway. They need it. You guys might not
have heard of them. They're really, they're great place and conveniently located.
Eva Cassel (04:40)
Great chain that we love. Yeah,
but I would always try and get a green juice. We also would stop at grocery stores and having some kind of snack on hand at all times
was really, really crucial for me.
amber cathey (04:57)
I think kind of what you hit on or kind of the two things I'm thinking about is one is it's such a holistic thing,
were more than a voice
and then it also sounds like it takes some planning.
Eva Cassel (05:11)
yeah, very much a holistic thing and so much of touring I think is about the hang too, you know, because you're around people 24-7.
I think it's important to remember that the only way that you can be a good hang is if you're taking care of yourself. So trying to pick and choose, okay, what is a night post show that I wanna go out and celebrate with everyone?
versus what is a night where I'm gonna go back to the hotel early if I can and just get a full night rest.
amber cathey (05:46)
Yeah, and I think that's, like we said, going back holistically, that's not just mentally and physically, but our body is our voice. So part of that is like life as a singer, a drummer maybe, could go celebrate more often, but a singer who like, if your body is fatigued, your vocal performance is not gonna be the same. You're not gonna have as much energy in the performance if you physically don't have the energy to do it.
Eva Cassel (05:54)
Yeah.
amber cathey (06:12)
So I think that's such a, it's such a like, it's something we all experience as singers, but especially on tour, it's a major juggling.
Eva Cassel (06:18)
Yeah, and I think every person is different too. And I now know that I am somewhat of a sensitive flower, especially when it comes to hydration. And a big part of that is alcohol. And there's such a big culture on the road of drinking. And I was super lucky to be out with a crew that weren't super heavy drinkers. So that made it easier, but I...
amber cathey (06:33)
Mm-hmm.
Eva Cassel (06:44)
barely had any alcohol on this tour because I knew I was already getting very little sleep. I was already asking so much of my body and my voice and I was singing really demanding vocal parts every night. It was a huge part of the show and I just thought it's not worth it. It's not worth it to do that.
amber cathey (07:09)
Yeah, and that just highlights to me the athleticism that comes with being a singer. It's the same thing as any other athlete expected to perform at a high level touring in a bus with the team, right? It's so similar. That has to be like, yeah, I want to celebrate with the team, but also like, I know what my body needs to perform at its highest level.
just having to make those choices that can be tough but are such an integral part of still having your voice at the end of those many weeks of touring.
Eva Cassel (07:39)
absolutely. And I think it took me a long time to really build this skill of being tuned into how my body feels, how my voice feels, and what I need to do around that. And that goes for what I'm eating, what I'm drinking, like that, again, a very holistic approach to it.
amber cathey (07:56)
this has been so great, Eva. and we didn't even hit on some of the amazing things that you got to experience. For example, I will brag for you. Like I couldn't believe it. Eva messaged me and she was like, so Neil Young just hugged me.
She played the Harvest Festival and she has, there is a video, if you can find it online of her on stage singing with Lily Miola and Brie Kennedy while John Mayer is up there singing and playing guitar and Neil Young is up at the front. Like that is pretty amazing. Yeah, I was living vicariously through you.
Eva Cassel (08:28)
Yeah, yeah, pretty incredible.
amber cathey (08:33)
Another reason I wanted to have you on so you could share this expertise, because it's such an experience that so many singers strive to have.
but I also just want people who know about the studio or might listen to me to know about the fab partner and associate coach that I have and you offer vocal and songwriting coaching lessons. Eva does a free consultation. So anybody who wants to check her out and learn from not only, you know, we've been working together six years, so we've
approach things very similarly. Eva in the summers teaches songwriting at Berklee College of Music, which we are both alums of. And, you know, all this experience that you've had is so fantastic as an artist. And then it's also what a wonderful thing to then be able to take in and have all these experiences to add to all the training that you have to help support the artists that you work.
Eva Cassel (09:25)
Yeah, 100%. Yeah.
amber cathey (09:26)
So
I'm thrilled you're here. I'm going to put links below. Book a consultation with Eva. Check her out. And also, I'm going to put your links below for them to listen to your music because I'm a dreamy singer and songwriter and so happy to have you on my friend.
Eva Cassel (09:36)
Yay!
Thanks. Thanks so much for having me. Yeah.
amber cathey (09:44)
All right, see you guys
on the next episode. Bye.
