Emmy and two-time Golden Globe nominee Chrissy Metz brings her talent to the stage. The country actress and singer has just embarked on her City Winery Tour, where she will be crossing the East Coast performing her original music.
The tour has only just begun, but Metz fans may be surprised to hear that he’s been pursuing a career in music for quite some time.
“Some people don’t know that I’ve been going back and forth to Nashville for five years now — since season two of This Is Us,” Metz, 41, told PEOPLE.
“I met Jason Halpert – who is Kelly Clarkson’s music director – and he said, ‘I don’t know how to tell you this but literally a voice told me to ask about music.’ I was like, ‘Oh my… I want to sing country music.’ I had to write with some amazing songwriters, and I realized, ‘Oh, this is what I want to do.’ I’m so excited in the writers room collaborating with people I’ve never met before and four hours later having a song that can literally change someone’s life.”
While Metz’s musical career is an adaptation of acting, he says they are not that different from each other. “I love acting and telling stories and connecting with characters, and then helping other people relate to them, but music and acting are very similar. Acting is really a song with no actual instrumentation behind it. A monologue is a song – it’s just a story that tells a story.” we all tell.”
Metz is best known for her role as Kate on the hit NBC show This Is Us, and while the TV series has ended, she’s brought lessons from her character into her music.
“Being able to grow my confidence and vulnerability in such a deep way through the show has made me just want to share my heart and soul in a very real way, not just do it through the characters,” he explained. “The music is really about feeling through healing and getting a different side of it. It’s the only way to get through it, and sometimes that means a lot of heartache and love and loss. The bigger picture of life and forgiveness.”
The actress and singer works to be her most authentic self in everything she does, whether it’s acting, singing or even creating her wine label, Joyful Heart Wine Co. “In everything I do in my life… my heart, it has to be authentic and I have to be behind it 100%. That’s how we started this.” He also conveyed the importance of giving back by donating a portion of every bottle sold to World Central Kitchen “to support efforts to nurture communities and strengthen the economy in times of crisis and beyond.”
Even someone as successful and level-headed as Metz was nervous about starting a new journey, but he didn’t let fear stop him. He reminds himself never to sing “shoulda, coulda, woulda song” because “everyone who is on their deathbed, or who has been through really difficult things always says, ‘I wish I would have done more of what that makes me happy.’ Success, true success is just happiness.”
When Metz feels pressure or fear that others will judge his music career, he remembers that “we are here to grow, develop, change, learn, teach, and that is something that has nothing to do with other people’s opinions at all.” What he reminds himself, and hopes to pass on to others as well, is if you want to do something that will make you happy, then why not? “You should really listen to that quiet little voice,” he told PEOPLE.
Metz has millions listening to his songs on Spotify and lots of fans coming to see his shows, and he never takes them for granted. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am to be doing something that I love and love, because I know some people are in situations where they can’t do that. And that’s a shame,” she said. . “I didn’t even lose my voice to share. To go on tour and, like, people spend their hard earned money and their time to come see me… that’s really special to me.”
There are five more shows on the Metz’s City Winery Tour, the next being this Saturday in New York City. “I’ve always wanted to do really great work and I wanted to make people feel something. Knowing that people are coming to see me… I’m here to share myself with the audience.”
While this tour is a continuation of a very successful career, for Metz, it is the start of something new: “I like to live my life in a way that can take it all away,” he explains. “I feel like you should treat it as if it’s the first time it’s happened.”
For more information on upcoming Metz dates in New York, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta and Nashville, click here.
