Allie Crummy is an indie-folk singer-songwriter and producer based in Des Moines, Iowa. Her songs delve into life’s big questions and explore the full range of human emotion, always keeping the door open for optimism. She has released four albums and four EPs, gaining nearly 1 million streams on Spotify.
With “Entropy” out now, we took some time to hear from Allie Crummy. Read below to learn more about Allie Crummy, the story behind “Entropy,” and what’s to come.
Hi Allie Crummy! Let’s start with how did you choose your artist name?
Ha! It’s my real name! I guess you could say I “chose” it when I decided to marry my husband, Matt Crummy.
What city are you from, and where are you based now?
I was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, and I live in Des Moines, Iowa (about a three hour drive away).
At what point in your life did you decide to pursue a career in music? How did you get started?
I studied music in college (I have my bachelor’s degree in Music Education), but it wasn’t until I was 30 that I taught myself to play guitar. Around that time, after our youngest child was born, I decided to be intentional about devoting real effort into writing songs. It wasn’t long after that that I released my first single, then my first album, and then I’ve been steadily writing and releasing new music ever since. About four years ago, I decided to learn more about music/audio production. Since then, I’ve worked with a number of artists to help them bring their songs and albums to life; that is work I really enjoy, and it has come in handy for me as a songwriter as well because now I’m doing most of the production work for my music myself!
How has your upbringing played a role in shaping who you are and defining your sound?
I grew up listening to lots of pop music – especially Mariah Carey. When I was in college, my voice teachers had to beat the pop-y swoops and slides out of me to get me to sing arias correctly, but now, I bring my pop singing style to just about any genre. I also listened to a lot of soul music, and I gravitate toward certain chord progressions because of that. When I was a kid, I had favorite artists in all sorts of genres (punk, ska, rap, 80s hair bands, R&B, etc.), and as an independent artist, I love that I have the freedom to experiment with a variety of styles. “Entropy” is a good example of that – it’s not like the rest of my catalog.
How would you describe your sound?
Any combination of the words “indie,” “folk,” “pop,” and even “rock” or “soul” tend to cover most of it. When I start producing an album, I’ll have comp songs all across the map. But, my voice is always front and center, and I have my own idiosyncrasies as a songwriter and instrumentalist, so I think those elements bring a cohesion to all of my work.
Do you have any hobbies outside of music? What do you do to stay creative?
This past winter, I got back into crocheting, which was really fun! But no matter the season, I am a big reader. I have a magnetic pull toward non-fiction (philosophy, science, history), but I try to round that out by forcing fiction onto my bookshelf. Lately I’ve been diving into lots of classics that I never read (or only pretended to read) in school.
Who are some of your main musical influences?
That’s always a moving target because most of the music I listen to is by lesser known artists (lately, it’s been The Franklin Electric, The Maes, Trousdale, and Ken Yates). For “Entropy,” I drew a lot of inspiration for production ideas from Muse. But, my all-time favorite musician is Chris
Thile – I love how he approaches the craft of making music, and I love his taste, so I’ve come to find other artists I love through following him.
What concert are you looking forward to going to next?
My daughter is in a select orchestra here in Des Moines, and she’s also a budding composer. She composed an orchestral piece, and her orchestra is going to debut that piece next week. She is a freshman in high school, she’s got really cool musical ideas, and I am so incredibly proud of her for putting herself out there. I can’t wait to hear her play this piece with her orchestra!
What’s one of the proudest moments of your music career so far?
It’s not an easy industry to be in, but I feel like I have navigated a way to make some income for our family, stay creatively inspired and active, build meaningful connections with other artists, and hold true to my core values as a person — all whilst living in Iowa and being present for my kids, my husband, and my closest relationships.
What would you say are the greatest lessons that you’ve learned so far?
Pursuing a career in music can feel like a story of unrequited love. But the rejections don’t necessarily mean that your music isn’t good; they’re just a big part of the journey. People who focus on making good art that is meaningful to them, who are living a real human life and aren’t just laser-focused on “making it,” and who keep going even when no one is listening — these people seem to find their way, and these are the types of artists I admire the most.
Now onto your release, “Entropy.” What inspired this song? What is “Entropy” about?
I got really into quantum physics a year and a half ago. I think the lowest grade I earned in high school was in Physics class, but I find the study of the fundamental nature of mass and its relation to time fascinating. I was reading books on the topic, and through those, I learned of the concept of entropy, which is part of the second law of thermodynamics. In layman’s terms, it states that particles in a fixed system will always go from a state of more ordered to less ordered. That thought resonated with me because it felt like it explained the world around me. Everything from geopolitics to climate change to the economy seems like it’s devolving into chaos. I tend to feel such a profound sense of powerlessness because of this, so in the song, “Entropy,” I wanted to reinsert human agency: “When you imagine the world you want to see, where will you spend your energy?” The second law of thermodynamics describes what happens in the absence of an outside force. So in my context, I think: we’re humans, we’re still alive, we can still affect change so that our world, our climate, our society doesn’t implode. Because we have agency, chaos is not inevitable.
What was the inspiration behind the cover artwork for “Entropy?”
I released a song in January called “Complexity,” and it is about how the computer age has made life increasingly complex (I wrote more about that on my Substack, https://substack.com/@alliecrummy); it felt so appropriate to use a 1988 Macintosh computer in the artwork for that song, because to me, that specific computer represents the beginning of this extra-complicated age. Then when I was working on “Entropy,” I wanted to tie the two songs together, partly because they share a similar theme, and partly because they are both stylistic departures from the rest of my music. I wanted to photograph the same scene, but staged to look like a post-entropy state. My husband snapped the photos for each on his iPhone and then edited them in Photoshop (he did such a great job!).
What was the creative process like when making “Entropy?”
I wrote “Entropy” during a songwriting challenge I do each year called Songuary. I’ll write a song every day in the month of January, and I’ll work up a quick production sketch for each song. I wrote “Entropy” and “Complexity” both in January of 2025. When I revisited “Entropy” in 2026, I recorded it partially at my home studio, and partially at Golden Bear Studio in Des Moines. I wanted it to sound cerebral and science-y, so we wrote that piano/electric guitar lead line to be disjunct and atypical, we put some Muse-inspired effects on the electric lead, and we created a choir of Theremin lines that usher the listener into and out of each chorus. I added the arpeggiated synths and ambient sounds (also Theremin lines) at the final stage of the process.
How long did it take to complete “Entropy?”
Not too long. I wrote it and made an initial production sketch of it in about two hours back in 2025, I laid down the basic guitars synth lines, vocals, and choir in a few hours at my home studio, then we spent a half day adding Theremin, drums, and electric at Golden Bear, and then I spent a few more hours at my house editing and mixing it. But when you factor in all the physics reading that I did that inspired the lyrics, and all the emotional work I’ve done to cope with current events, then it took much, much longer than that. Ha!
How did the music video for “Entropy” come about? What was your vision for the video?
About a week before the song released, I got out of the shower, and it was pouring rain. I had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to have a music video for this song, and it dawned on me that being soaking wet in pouring down rain could go perfectly with the vibe of the song and the concept of entropy in general. So I got dressed real quick and ran outside with wet hair to take some footage on my phone in the backyard. After that, I knew I needed more footage, so I created some indoor scenes, and went out to the backyard the next day, which happened to be a very sunny day. I ended up not using any of the rain footage because I looked like a drowning rodent. I also downloaded some public domain videos of physics professors, Albert Einstein, and
from NASA to tie it all together. For the lyrics, I used the same font that the 1988 Macintosh computers used. It was a very homemade process, but I’m happy with how it turned out!
What do you hope fans take away from “Entropy” and your music in general?
That we really aren’t powerless; we don’t have to sit idly by while the world falls apart. As long as we are alive, we have energy coursing through our bodies — and we can choose where we direct that energy. My strong plea is that people would direct their energy toward that which adds to the beauty and which is life-giving for humanity and for all forms of life on our planet.
What’s next for you? Are you working on any upcoming projects, or do you have any upcoming shows that we should be on the lookout for?
“Entropy” is part of an album I’m working on, For Love of Carbon Based Life, which I intend to release in full by around this time next year. I’ll be dropping singles all year, so make sure to follow me on your favorite streaming platform, join my email list, and find me on social media, so you don’t miss anything!
Where can we follow you on social media?
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alliecrummymusic
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AllieCrummyMusic
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alliecrummymusic
Substack: https://substack.com/@alliecrummy
Thank you for the great interview; wish you much continued success!
