Six months ago, Angela Mignanelli packed up her Chevy Cruze and drove 600 miles from her Zelienople home to Nashville, Tenn., to start a new life.

Under the stage name Angela Autumn, the talented singer-songwriter built quite a musical following with her folk and Americana melodies in the Pittsburgh area.

After she graduated from Duquesne University, Mignanelli decided it was time to bet on herself in one of the meccas of music in the country.

Mignanelli had started to gain a foothold in Nashville. She was playing regular gigs and getting her name out there.

Then the coronavirus pandemic hit.

Venues where she played closed. The gigs vanished. Her music was silenced.

“I feel like I haven't really gotten a chance to shine and show what I'm capable of yet,” Mignanelli said.

She's not alone.

Gig workers like Mignanelli are having a particularly difficult time during the pandemic.

Musicians, disc jockeys, freelance writers and photographers are doing what they can to scrape by.

Side hustles

Mignanelli wasn't making a ton of money performing in Nashville, which has a vastly different pay structure for musicians than Pittsburgh does.

While Mignanelli was able to charge a fee to perform in Western Pennsylvania, in Nashville she was paid based on tips.

“In Nashville, I started at the bottom of the totem pole,” she said. “You're lucky to get what you get, and they're not great-paying, that's for sure.

“That's why,” she added, “I have a side hustle.”

That side hustle is writing and editing stories part time for an insurance company.

Not her first choice to make a living.

“To be honest, I don't really like it; it's really not fun,” she said, chuckling. “I feel like I shouldn't complain with so many people out of work. I can tell you anything you need to know about insurance, though.”

The job helps Mignanelli pay the bills while she waits for her stimulus check and for a chance to perform in public again.

Her boyfriend, Nicholas Haley, is a bassist for recording artist S.G. Goodman, who had 50 shows around the country canceled because of the pandemic.

He is working at a pizza shop while he waits to get back on the road.

Butler native and local musician Sam Stuckey also has a full-time job to augment his income.

It's been a lifesaver for the bluegrass musician, who also plays bass for several local bands.

“All the gig income, when the bars and places to perform are closed, that shuts everything down,” he said. “Income is basically zero.”

To stay afloat, Stuckey works in maintenance for Pyramid Health Care based out of Altoona. Pyramid has a nationwide chain of addiction recovery centers.

Stuckey said most musicians in this area have some sort of secondary income.

“Nashville, Los Angeles and New York are major music hubs. Those areas, in a normal setting, if you are established enough, you can go without having another job,” Stuckey said. “But most musicians here have a part-time job, if not a full-time job.”

That has helped mitigate some of the income loss for Stuckey and most of his friends in music.

Stuckey also has a degree in music technology from California (Pa.) University. He's been able to put those skills to use at home by mixing music.He also teaches lessons online.In January, Stuckey released a solo EP called, “Saccharine.”“For musicians right now, it's all about keeping that presence there and fans and people engaged,” he said. “As soon as you lose that, you lose your market.“It's all about doing whatever you can do to make any sort of money.”Tough timesPhotographer Holly Mead is usually very busy this time of year.There are weddings and senior portraits to shoot. There are spring sports at Karns City High School to capture and other events to immortalize.After the coronavirus hit and social distancing set in, all of those things vanished.Mead estimated her business, Holly Mead Photography, has lost $12,000 in income this spring alone.“This took out everything I had scheduled,” said Mead, whose business is based in Butler. “All of spring sports. I have five weddings I'm trying to reschedule, but I only have so many Saturdays. I've had to refund people. I had four dance school recitals canceled. I've taken a hit.”Mead, though, is fortunate. Her husband, Darrin, is still working as a field service engineer for Seamans Electric.Mead hasn't seen him since the end of February.“He travels for a living, and he hasn't been home for safety reasons,” Mead said. “He doesn't want to bring anything home with him.”Jake Slagle, who has a DJ service called Xela Sound, saw his work slow even before the coronavirus pandemic.The stay-at-home order has shut him down for the foreseeable future.“It's certainly been a slow year,” he said. “Slowest I've ever had.”Slagle said he may not have work until October. A friend of his is getting married and the DJ that was hired might cancel because of COVID-19 concerns.“Her DJ is getting squirrelly about exposure,” Slagle said. “If he bails, then I'll step in. That will make it my only gig this year, and it will be a favor at that.”Gig workers may be finally getting a break, however.As of Saturday, self-employed workers and independent contractors can file for unemployment benefits.Mead logged on to the Pennsylvania Office of Unemployment Compensation website Saturday afternoon — and was No. 57,167 to apply.“It will help some, but not make up for everything I'm out,” Mead said. “I'm just glad there is an option for the self-employed.”Making adjustmentsMusicians have taken to social media and other streaming services to get their tunes to the masses.“A lot of musicians have been doing livestream shows,” Stuckey said. “That's happening everywhere.”It's one of the few venues open to them.Mignanelli is holding as many virtual performances as she can to keep her name in circulation.It hasn't been easy.She can make a little money that way, but certainly not enough.Mignanelli said she is also going to try to use this downtime to work on herself as a musician — and a person.“I'm going to change myself during this confinement,” she said. “So many of us as musicians don't look outside of our tunnel vision.”No matter what happens, she said she will always find a way to perform.“I'll play to the birds if I have to,” Mignanelli said, laughing. “They'll listen.”