Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

Followed notifications

Please log in to use this feature

On a Tuesday morning, Ali Thibodeau, better known by her fans as Deau Eyes , prepares for the day inside her home studio with her vocal steamer.

“This weather change is a killer. Every time the weather changes like this, I lose my voice. So I'm trying to stay on top of it. I’ve got a bunch of voice lessons and a show on Friday,” she said.

Ali Thibodeau, who goes by the stage name Deau Eyes, poses for a portrait in her home studio, Tuesday, March 18, 2025.

With roots in Mechanicsville, 33-year-old Thibodeau has strummed her guitar on stages in New York, sang country classics on a cruise ship, and has recorded in a studio in Ireland. Thibodeau’s Friday show was scheduled in Charlottesville and soon after she’s scheduled for a show at The Camel on Broad Street.

But gigs don't pay the bills. Thibodeau says making music hardly ever does.

In an NPR Live Sessions bio , fellow Richmond musician Lucy Dacus described Thibodeau as a singer, songwriter, actress, choreographer, nanny, truck driver, waitress, construction worker, baker, bartender, puppeteer, open mic host, dog walker, and more.

Dacus wrote the bio for Thibodeau when they lived together in Church Hill.

“All through my 20s, I was working at several restaurants at once, nannying, picking up any freelance work I could to support and sustain all of my music. Making music costs a lot of money, and it doesn't make a lot of money, so it takes being creative to fulfill your creative vision in making an income,” Thibodeau said.

Ali Thibodeau, who goes by the stage name Deau Eyes, poses for a portrait in her home studio, Tuesday, March 18, 2025.

Before moving back home to Richmond, Thibodeau hustled to make it as a musician in New York City.

“I think for a long time I was just saying yes to everything. Things just kind of would fall in my lap, and most people would say no to a lot of the things I said yes to. So I think that's why I have such a huge resume of gigs,” said Thibodeau.

“I feel like, had I not moved back to Richmond, it would have just been such a hamster wheel experience.”

What is the music scene in Richmond?

There’s not a single night in Richmond that you can't find live music. From The Tin Pan on Quioccasin to The Camel and The Broadberry on Broad Street, RVA Boombox on West Cary and a host of other intimate stages in between, there is always music happening in the River City.

Similarly, the city has no shortage of talent to fill those slots.

“We've cultivated this space where the energy is always vibrant,” said Torren Shanae about RVA Boombox, Richmond’s premier hip-hop venue. “There are so many different types of artists. It's also interesting, because as dope as it is, and as much as people from out of town come to visit and to explore it, a lot of people locally still don't really know that it exists to the level it does. They don't know that we have Grammy-nominated artists right here in the city. It's like a secret."

Shanae is a talent manager for Richmond-based independent hip-hop label POVERTY . She represents artists such as Grammy-nominated Michael Millions, TROY, Ronnie Luxe and $OUP. She says that finding talent is never the issue in Richmond’s music landscape. The challenges are management and opportunities for exposure outside of the city, like radio play or circulation of top-notch visuals for music videos.

"We don't often hear too many of our own artists on the mainstream stations," Shanae said, before acknowledging one particular station that does, WRIR 97.3 . "They do a great job of playing a lot of local artists. We have a ton of artists, but there aren't that many artist managers. And the videographers that have the level of experience needed to put out quality content that's going to compete with industry-level music videos, is limited.

And the thing is I think that they're here. I think that we can be better connected," Shanae said.

TROY, a rising talent in Richmond's rich underground hip-hop scene released his latest album "Pigs Can't Fly Vol. 1," on Bandcamp, an online music platform ideal for independent artists.

“It's more beneficial to release your music on platforms like Bandcamp , where you're getting the majority of the profit. But you have to have a genuine and faithful fan base to where even that is profitable. You have to have a fan base that is going to support you and pay to purchase your music in order to support you,” Shanae said.

Making it as a musician takes time & money

To make money as an artist, it takes more than creative abilities. It takes studio time, merchandise, equipment, advertising and more.

The costs prompted Thibodeau to start a Kickstarter for her first album "Let it Leave," which was released in 2020.

“There's the producer fee, there are touring costs, there's pressing vinyl, making CDs, all of the stuff that goes along with distributing an album,” Thibodeau said. “So I did a Kickstarter, that felt like the right thing to do at the time. We ended up making $7,000 and that went towards vinyl and paying everybody, paying the musicians, going on tour, and kind of set me up with my first batch of merch.”

For her second album, "Legacies," she used independent artist-geared distributor, Tone Tree . She worked on the album at night after her waitressing job.

Shockoe Records , a Richmond label tailored to help local artists navigate the music scene, is home to artists such as Ant The Symbol, Weldon Hill, Holy River, and Los Hermanos Alacranes.

A key component is the transparency promised to artists.

“Every quarter, they get a report that shows what their inventory is. We aren't that kind of label that gives everybody a big bonus and says we're going to make you a star. We front the cost of some (of it) and then once our costs are recouped, we'll start splitting everything. They always get a spreadsheet that shows what they have inventory of and when we are dealing with venues to book them. They're always part of that conversation. It's very much a hand-to-hand partnership,” Williams said .

OffKey performs at In Your Ear Studios for Shockoe Sessions Live on November 26, 2024, in Richmond, Va.

Every Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m., the label hosts Shockoe Sessions Live!, a weekly concert series celebrating Richmond’s wealth of musical talent.

The power of creative freedom

Being a musician is a job of its own, but it's rarely ever an artist's only job.

Currently, Thibodeau teaches voice lessons to around 30 students of all ages. An extension of her talents, the added income allows her creative freedom.

“I feel very successful in that I love where I live, I love my students, I love the people I interact with every day," she said. "I'm able to make ends meet. I have time for my fiancé, my family. I'm trying to make more time for seeing friends. I feel like I have creative freedom, and I think that's always kind of been the underlying goal around all of the deep ambitions of being a Broadway star, winning a Grammy or whatever it is. Underneath all of that is really more so to have creative freedom and to keep stretching and growing and building something that I'm proud of, and I feel very strongly about what I've built here, and I'm really proud of it, and it's really fun."

Ali Thibodeau, who goes by the stage name Deau Eyes, poses for a portrait in her home studio, Tuesday, March 18, 2025.

For artists looking to find "success," Shanae says that it’s important to be authentic and garner a genuine fan base. Putting out quality content is helpful along with keeping an air of exclusivity. (?)

“I wouldn't want to call it a mistake, because I realized, you know, everybody has to go through their process and their journey. We surely did," Shanae said. "There are some artists that are always performing, and you can catch them multiple times a week, performing at different venues in the city. And that’s fine, but I think it diminishes their value in a way. Because when someone is constantly seeing your name on a bill multiple times, they don't necessarily have the urgency to come out and see you. I think having a little bit of exclusivity when it comes to performances can be beneficial.”

But there are some venues you wouldn't want to miss. Shanae says Richmond's soon to open Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront could give the Richmond music scene the shine we need.

“That's going to be so crucial, because I think that that will allow us more performance opportunities and possibly being able to open for some big names. I think those elements are going to play a factor,” Shanae said. “But there's so much talent here. I really can't imagine a future without Richmond being fully recognized for its talent. It's bubbling right now. We've been described as a pressure cooker, and we've been simmering for some time now. So it's only a matter of time.”