Allison Ponthier And The Heartbreakingly Beautiful Story Behind ‘Shaking Hands With Elvis’
Samantha Colleran, August 2022
If Allison Ponthier were to describe her music in three words she would use the following; honest, country, organic. With a year and a half of jazz study under her belt, Allison has made a home for herself in the music community. From touring with Bleachers to releasing her most recent EP Shaking Hands With Elvis, Ponthier has made a name for herself in the music community. In an º1824 press conference, Allison spoke about the process of making Shaking Hands With Elvis and some of her biggest inspirations while creating the EP.
In 2017, Allison moved from “the Bible belt” of Texas to Brooklyn, NY, where she worked a number of jobs to support herself through the move while still creating music. The most influential of those jobs was working for the Museum of Natural History’s Snapchat page. Spending a lot of time at the museum allowed Allison to channel her creativity in a new way, which has carried out through her musical journey. Moving to Brooklyn also gave Allison the chance to feel safe to come out and realize that life doesn’t revolve around the opinions of the people in your hometown.
Throughout the press conference, Ponthier was very open about her experiences being diagnosed with ADHD. Although it can be a challenge, Allison said that she feels it’s a superpower that allows her to focus on the topics she loves to write about. Allison was diagnosed later in life, and having the tools and vocabulary to understand when she’s feeling overwhelmed has allowed her to step back and work to overcome the difficult moments in life. Seeing Allison be so open about the topic was empowering.
Speaking about Shaking Hands With Elvis, Allison said that the EP showed a lot of growth from her first EP Faking My Own Death. She’s now more open about acknowledging her own faults and weaknesses and not hiding the truth. When first writing the EP, Allison wasn’t sure what the theme was going to be, she writes what feels right and doesn’t limit herself to one specific topic or main idea. Shaking Hands With Elvis is a collection of songs that best represent the period of her life where she was overcoming her own perceived weaknesses, she wants people to learn to speak openly about their struggles and celebrate the journey of overcoming them.
Much like myself, Allison expressed her love of listening to bodies of work from top to bottom. She described the process of picking the track list order as “painstaking”. Opening with “Autopilot” was the strongest way to go, it describes the way Allison felt at that point in her life and as the tracks continue on we see how she’s evolved, all the way to the title track which ends the tracklist. Ponthier describes the outro of “Shaking Hands With Elvis” as the period at the end of a sentence, and it’s the absolute best way to describe just how perfectly it rounds out your listening experience.
“Shaking Hands With Elvis” was about the loss of a close friend of Allison’s, a type of death she hadn’t experienced in life until that point. It came as a complete shock, and it took Allison time to process. “Shaking Hands With Elvis” was written in about a week, and the track sees Ponthier imagining her friend meeting Elvis and starting a band in the sky. The title “Shaking Hands With Elvis” was written down in her notebook, when she stumbled upon it during a writing session after her friend’s passing, she knew she had to write it. It was easy to write because she had a lot of pent up feelings, but it was difficult because writing it meant that the loss would become more real. It’s a heartbreakingly beautiful song that’ll have tears pouring out of your eyes by the time the track closes out.
So, what can fans expect from Allison in the future? Allison hopes to continue making music that will allow her to perform harder and challenge herself as an artist and a musician. She wants to continue to be sensitive and truly create music she’s proud of. She never wants to compromise her authenticity, and if she continues on a similar route of Shaking Hands With Elvis, I don’t think she has much to worry about in that area of her songwriting.
You can listen to Shaking Hands With Elvis on Apple Music, Spotify, or any other streaming service you may use! Be sure to follow Allison on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok to stay up to date on her future releases.