Written by Blythe Avery
Photos provided courtesy of Ellex Heibert
There likely isn’t a single student on campus who hasn’t heard of Ellex Hiebert. Filling L.J. Rowden’s shoes as Director of Christian Formation here at Bryan College last year, Ellex has dedicated herself to serving the students of our proud little school on the hill.
Despite being so well-known on campus, very few of Bryan’s residents are aware of Ellex’s untold history as “Ellex Bree”– an independent music artist. Throughout her life, she’s performed live for thousands of people on stage. She’s released a solo EP, and collaborated with several other indie artists on many original tracks. She has traveled across the US, from coast to coast, over six times. This is her story.
Ellex grew up in Orange County, California, and her musician father took pride in sharing his passion for music with his daughter. She was raised primarily on classic rock– artists such as Dave Matthews Band, Stevie Wonder, and many others.
Ellex’s music-filled life eventually led to a mentor: Francis Cabildo (currently the director of USC Caruso Catholic Center worship). Throughout her high school career, Cabildo guided her through the world of professional music. In high school, Cabildo helped Ellex get her first gig, and she started out by doing backup vocals for many smaller Catholic and Christian artists.
Cabildo helped her make connections and marketed her to others as someone who can go with the flow– a crucial quality in the music scene. She would perform in worship for her church’s youth group and at conferences for both college students and adults. On occasion, she’d arrive to play a show and the other artists would tell her that they’d be changing everything about the set. She’d have twenty-five minutes to learn entirely new songs, and would somehow manage to pull it off. This unwavering flexibility put her in good standing with people in the industry.
Cabildo helped her make connections and marketed her to others as someone who can go with the flow– a crucial quality in the music scene. She would perform in worship for her church’s youth group and at conferences for both college students and adults. On occasion, she’d arrive to play a show and the other artists would tell her that they’d be changing everything about the set. She’d have twenty-five minutes to learn entirely new songs, and would somehow manage to pull it off. This unwavering flexibility put her in good standing with people in the industry.
After graduation, Ellex attended Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts, and continued to further evolve her musical identity. She learned guitar and piano, and performed live in small on-campus coffee houses and talent shows, where she began to showcase her original music and songwriting.
While in College, Ellex had the opportunity to study for a semester at the Contemporary Music Center in Nashville, through the “Best Semester” program. During her time there, she met fellow musician Jake McMullen, who would become her best friend and music partner. Her first tour was sponsored by CMC Nashville, where she and Jake headlined at local colleges between 2011 and 2012. At the end of the semester, she won “Best Female Songwriter,” with Jake accompanying her as “Best Male Songwriter.”
Ellex’s songwriting coach throughout, Rick Elias, pulled her aside and encouraged her to continue exploring music as a professional career. This was a monumental ordeal, considering Elias only consulted one or two students per semester. His words helped her realize her potential, and she resolved to continue to pursue her dream.
After their shared experience at CMC Nashville, Ellex and Jake had such a great friendship and working relationship that they continued to collaborate on music together, performing together and helping each other with songwriting. During their time in the program, the duo had released a Folk/Americana EP in 2013 titled Ellex Bree + Jake, containing six original angsty, upbeat tracks. Ellex later accompanied Jake and his group on a second tour from California to Tennessee and back. They performed at South by Southwest, House of Blues, and several smaller, lowkey venues— most of which were bars. Ellex primarily provided backup vocals for Jake (her preferred role on stage), but she was able to perform some of her originals on occasion.
Sadly, like so many other partnerships in the industry, Ellex’s and Jake’s was not to last. After their second tour together, Jake moved from California to Tennessee, while Ellex had stayed. Nowadays, Jake goes by the stage name “Prince Louie,” and he has moved on from Folk/Americana to a more Experimental/Electronic style.
Between 2014 and 2015, Ellex went on a third tour with another friend, and the two traveled up the coast from California to Washington and back, doing backup for each other and performing their own original tracks. With the help of grammy-winning producer Sheldon Gomberg, Ellex released a solo EP titled Holdfast in 2017, composed of four down to earth, acoustic folk tracks. In 2020, Ellex collaborated with artist Daniella Mason on a single pop track, “Angels.Demons,” which was released in an album by Stolen Goods, titled 10Thsd.
Around the time, she and her husband had considered moving to Austin, Texas so that she could continue to pursue music, but they felt called back to Tennessee, and to Bryan College, by the Lord. Despite Ellex anticipating the solo EP to be her big break at the time, her originals remain in the niche, instead being enjoyed primarily by family, friends, and a few dedicated fans.
Ellex cites artists such as Local Natives, Laura Marling, Ben Gibbard, Imogene Heap, Feist, and Sia as the primary influence on her style of music as an artist. She prefers raw, minimal, down-to-earth music that the listener connects with on a deeper, more intimate level. She presumes that, because she’s the Director of Christian Formation, most categorize her and assume that she listens to Christian music 24/7. In reality, she enjoys a wide variety of music, both contemporary and Christian, and regularly swaps recommendations with Dr. Daniel Gleason.
When asked if she’s currently working on anything new, Ellex replied that she thinks about songwriting a lot more than she actually writes, oftentimes coming up with melodies in her head and not committing to expanding them. Although she feels that Bryan is where the Lord wants her for now, she has slowly begun to feel Him nudging her in the music direction once more. She has been trying to force herself to open the creative door again, and wants to produce a full-length album someday.
However, because of how she has been burned by people, producers, and the industry as a whole, it’s really hard for her to open herself up to that kind of creativity. She recognizes that while creating music is a sore subject, being afraid of getting hurt again is no way to live. She is trying to find the courage to begin again, and feels the Lord working on her heart and telling her through others to open herself up again.
She recently performed her original song “American Dream” at the staff-faculty recital. Despite her feelings on her past, she finds comfort in the fact that, even if she never becomes successful in the industry, she still uses her gifts and talents to glorify and praise the Lord.
Ellex wistfully remarked, “Even if no one else ever hears your music, or no one ever hears the originals that you write over the years, how much does God delight in the fact that you’re using something that He’s given you? How much does the Lord love to hear you sing?”
Ellex Bree + Jake EP available to stream for free on Bandcamp. Holdfast EP and “Angels.Demons” available to stream on Spotify and Apple Music.
