Huntsville's Alex Hendrix compels with her music and mental health activism

The day I met Alex Hendrix, I was definitely the luckiest guy in the room.

We were both barbeque judges at WhistleStop 2018, and as we sat down to eat and evaluate, Alex was one of three women in a room of perhaps five dozen people. And I got to sit by her.

I learned that day that Alex is warm and engaging. And later that evening, with her caramel contralto flowing through my headphones, I learned that she is an exceptional singer-songwriter.

I was blessed to sit down with Alex recently to discuss her music and her mental health activism. Because her personality and her art seem so casually disparate, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But she put me at ease on that point.

“I really like the ‘pull back the curtain’ thing,” Alex said. “I don’t write for it to be a mystery. I write so people know who I am.”

That “who I am” is a 30-year-old Huntsville native. She’s married to an actual rocket scientist. And, she was diagnosed with manic depression at 19. When I asked Alex if I could say she was being “effectively treated,” she corrected me. (I appreciated this. It’s why I asked.) “I always feel like (saying ‘effective’) discourages people when they go through up or down cycles and think they’re no longer on track. Maybe…managing the symptoms and avoiding negative catalysts and triggers,” Alex clarified.

Growing up on her father’s Paul Simon and Don McLean records, and also mentioning Gordon Lightfoot fondly, Alex remembers the storytelling bug hitting first. “The world-building was amazing to me, but I’m kind of tone-deaf,” Alex laughed. “You just wanted to sing so badly that you taught yourself how,” Alex remembered her mother telling her.

And how. Alex’s latest single, “Necromantic,” is a chilling and desolate masterpiece. “‘Necromantic’ is a song about grief, actually,” Alex said. “It’s about coming to terms with the fact that you’re haunted by a tragedy that you didn’t realize was as pervasive in your life as it was.”

“Necromantic” is also an excellent embodiment of why Alex is tough to pigeonhole stylistically. “I think it’s fun to do very specific…almost vignettes with each song,” she said.

Though she’s always told her story with her music, recent events in Huntsville have more sharply focused what mental health activism will mean to Alex going forward.

“My music was already there, and now I’m realizing that there needs to be a more straightforward, intentional shift with everything else to reflect that, and I didn’t realize that was as important as it was until I got reactions that I did.”

The “reactions” are to her May address to the Huntsville City Council in the wake of the conviction of Huntsville police officer William Ben Darby in the murder of Jeff Parker, who had called police and reported he was suicidal.

“With things happening in the city right now, it quickly became apparent that relegating it to my art or personal conversations was no longer enough,” Alex said. “You feel like saying ‘here’s my art’ is the same thing, but people don’t see it that way.”

And she does remain bullish on her home. “Occasionally I’ve thought about leaving Huntsville, but I feel like there’s more work to do here. And every day it gets closer to the exact place I want it to be,” she said.

Does Alex ultimately hope to make a living as a musician?

“That’s always kind of the dream, but I am enough of a brat that I won’t give in to get that,” Alex admitted. “It’s an industry, and you have to make concessions. At the end of the day I’m doing it because it helps me work through emotions. If people like it that’s awesome–it’s obviously what you hope for–but if not…”

I’m delighted to conclude with a scoop of sorts: Alex will record the single “Blame It On Mercury” imminently, and we’ll get to enjoy it late this summer or early this fall. “I’m really excited about this one because it’s one I’ve been playing. I wrote it two years ago and it’s my favorite song to play live,” she said. “Think gritty neon country Americana ’70s Willie Nelsony dive-bar slide guitars.”

(Got that? Now go listen to “Necromantic” again and put her in a box.)

Huntsville’s Alex Hendrix compels with her music and mental health activism

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