How Busking Helped INK Land A Slot At Stagecoach

At MARTA stations across Atlanta, INK would practice her guitar. She would criss-cross the city going from downtown Atlanta to Buckhead, performing on trains, buses, at the airport and while walking up and down the street. While she struggled to hold down a more conventional job, she’d head to street corners and station platforms to perform for commuters and passerby, engaging with those who stopped on their journeys to see what she was up to.

Before she was tapped to perform at 2026’s Stagecoach, before she began songwriting and collaborating with the likes of Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar, this was where INK cut her teeth. She felt that busing was the best place to teach her discipline, to get her in front of an audience and hone her skills as an artist and performer. She also held a firm belief that music is meant for everyone, and for everyday life – not just for concerts and clubs. For eight years, she’d spend her days exploring the city, hoping to reach as many people as possible and bring her music directly to them.

“It teaches you a lot about performing and people,” INK tells Pollstar. “I’m already a people person, but it gave me a further understanding of the psychology of humans and how important music is. We really are all going through similar things, just at different times. It gives you a look at the world from a different perspective.”

INK always knew she wanted to perform; she was made to create music. When she was starting out, she didn’t want to wait before going ahead to an audience, so she decided to go to them. “I always wanted to bring street musicians and music to my city, people just out and about with regular life because you don’t want to wait to go to the club to hear music, or wait til you go to a concert. Our schedules are so crazy. What if you just bring the concert to somebody else?”

She created a plan for herself, her days starting on the streets for a few hours. She’d book herself gigs in coffee shops, restaurants, open mics and clubs. Sometimes, she’d have six shows in a day, playing all around Atlanta. She took over the entire city, popping up everywhere and anywhere, ensuring people knew who she was. Back in those early days, she wouldn’t record her songs. Instead, people would just have to catch her performing to hear them.

“I would walk, because I felt like I could reach more people,” INK says. “I’d play for anything. I just wanted the music to move through me and provide.”

As she grew her footprint in Atlanta, she slowly began making her way towards the recording studio. She started off working as a songwriter for other artists, meeting them and having conversations. It was through this that she wound up making connections that led to her gaining opportunities with Beyoncé (INK contributed to Cowboy Carter, winning two Grammys for Album of the Year and Best Country Album), and she’s listed as a composer, lyricist and associated performer on nearly half of Kendrick Lamar’s recent album, GNX. Her work on his single “Luther” has wound up becoming the biggest hit of her career thus far, with the track currently holding 1.2 billion streams on Spotify since its release last November.

Before the first time INK went to Stagecoach, she’d heard of the festival and knew it was a place for her. With an aesthetic that calls to country roots, and her immersion of the sound (displayed most prominently on her EP, Big Buskin’, which arrived on Oct. 3 via Big Loud Records), there was no festival that was more of a north star.

“I was trying to figure out any and every way to get to Stagecoach,” INK admits. “I literally sat there like, ‘Man, who can I think of to go to Stagecoach with?’ Nothing came to mind, but I did a session with Diplo a few weeks before that. He texts me out of nowhere like, “Do you want to go to Stagecoach?’ I’ve been pulling up to the Honky Tonk ever since. This is everything to me, to finally see my name on the bill. I’m just grateful that they actually chose my music, they see my artistry and gave me a shot to win over the crowd.”

INK can cite her list of influences for ages, mentioning names like Tracey Chapman, Pink Floyd, George Strait, Carol King, Stevie Nicks, Cash Money and Outkast. Her own sound pulls in influence from the Atlanta sound and southern rap, along with straight-up country. The style made her an excellent fit for Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, and takes center stage on INK’s own recent EP.

While she’s on stage, she says the crowd should know she’s really locked in once her leg starts kicking up.

“I’m flying and I’m not slowing down when I start dancing,” she says.