Singer/songwriter and Chapel Hill native Roxanne Fortney stopped by Live & Local this week, to mark the one-year anniversary of her debut album “Growing.”
Follow Roxanne Fortney on Instagram.
“I wrote those songs from the ages of 20 to 24,” Fortney says of the 11 tracks on “Growing.” “We always grow, but that’s a time in life where there’s a lot of discovery … And I love those songs a lot, but (even now) some of them aren’t as relatable (to me) as they once were…
“(And) it felt like tapeworms being removed from your body,” she adds with a laugh about the album’s initial release. “Everyone’s like, ‘you must be so excited.’ I (was) like, ‘I feel like it’s all out of me. Like, it’s out. (Now) I don’t have to carry it. I get to cherish it.’”

The cover of Roxanne Fortney’s album “Growing.”
Fortney’s already working on new music – and in the meantime, she’s got a show Friday, April 3, at Local 506 in downtown Chapel Hill, alongside Lisa Pigeon & Friends and Myka Lace.
Click here for more on Roxanne Fortney’s show at Local 506.
And while she’s already looking ahead, Fortney is also continuing to celebrate the success of “Growing” – and the positive response she’s gotten to it.
“I’ve had people say ‘that song is really healing to me,’” she says. “And that means a lot, because I went through painful emotions and created these songs that are potentially bringing healing to other people, and that’s what means the most. There’s a song, ‘Day By Day,’ that’s actually kind of like a heartbreaking song – and someone has been like, ‘I listen to that song every morning, and it’s really helped me through a lot.’”

Roxanne Fortney stopped by Live & Local to discuss “Growing” and perform the album’s opener “If Tennessee Had An Ocean.” She also gave us a sneak peek at a new single, “Spaceship” – which she describes as “a COVID song” which was actually written and recorded in 2020 but is getting its first release next month. Listen:
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