SPREADING HER WINGS
Musician Ali Harter-Street expands her artistic output with her hands-on Pigs Fly Shop
Musician Ali Harter-Street has started an art/ craft services store called Pigs Fly Shop
AEDMOND — li Harter-Street's spirit animal is a flying pig.
“I love the thought of somebody being like, `No, you can't do that,' and being like, `watch this,'” she said with a laugh. “I love that. I grew up out here being empowered by my parents. ... Anytime I wanted to try anything, I grew up with enough confidence to know I could (expletive) do it if I wanted to.”
Primarily known as a singer-songwriter, Harter-Street has spent the last two years building up her Pigs Fly Shop,
an artistic services company that specializes in tooled leatherwork, graphic design and hands-on problem-solving.
“I want people to call me and be like, `I don't know how to make this. I don't know how to do this. I can't find this. Can you make this for me?' `YES. Yes, I can,'” Harter-Street said.
Even as she is expanding her onewoman empire to include a new radio show, Harter-Street, 35, also is getting back into crafting original music, with plans to finally release an album she started working on seven years ago. She will sell her wares and make music Sunday at “Power to the Ladies,” an event celebrating talented local women at Anthem Brewing Co.
“I'm new to Oklahoma City, and so far, I have met so many women that are artists, chefs, musicians and business
owners, and I wanted a way to showcase all the amazing talent OKC has to offer,” said Jennifer Carlson, Anthem's taproom and events manager, in an email.
Female inspiration
Building up inspiration was Harter-Street's goal in launching her latest venture, The Mean Hustle Project.
“The Mean Hustle Project started from some not-very-fantastic experiences that I had in a corporate setting. ... I wanted to promote all of the beautiful art and work that women are doing,” said Harter-Street, who has two daughters, Bonnie, 8, and Ryland, 3.
What started as a blog launched last month as “The Mean Hustle Broad Cast,” Harter-Street's new radio show airing at 9 p.m. Sundays on KOSU The Spy.
`Near the Knuckle'
With all her divergent projects, Harter-Street said she is probably most excited about her long-awaited album — and no one is as surprised as she.
“I never planned on coming back and doing the music stuff, but I knew that I had this monkey on my back about that record,” she said.
In 2012, she launched a Kickstarter campaign for a new album titled “Near the Knuckle.”
“Literally the day the Kickstarter ended … and when we made the goal, we started recording the next day,” she said. “It's been done for five years. It's just been sitting there. But there's been deaths, there's been divorces. ... There's been babies that have died. There's been babies that have been born.”
The 2017 death of her father was the one that most deeply affected her feelings about music. “Dad was like my No. 1 fan,” she said. “When he was gone, there was no (expletive) point anymore. The one person I wanted to play for wasn't there.”
Still, she was determined to fulfill her crowd-funding obligations, so she contacted Wes Sharon, who recorded the album at his 115 Recording Studios in Norman. When he sent her the songs, she was startled.
“What's bonkers about it is they hold up. … It's gonna be out this year,” she said. “I didn't want to play music again, and then I resurrected this project and it literally had everything to do with what I've gone through the past few years. … I feel like now is like the time and it couldn't have happened before now.”