For episode 103 of Off the Record, we chat to Levi Hummon about his latest single, being an independent artist, opening for Hunter Hayes and his innate creativity.
What a start to the year, you’ve already have, starting the year off strong with the release of your track ‘Wedding Dress’! What’s the response been like to that track?
Yeah its been crazy, I mean we had a whole game plan going into 2020 and then I wrote that song at the very end of last year. We completely wiped the board, it was something my whole team really believed in and it’s been an incredible reaction. People love wedding songs.
That’s when you know you’ve hit magic I guess, when you’ve made a whole game plan and then you write something and think you have to completely scrap that whole plan in favour of that song.
Absolutely, and I think it’s fun because right before the release I was like ‘any one who has any pictures of themselves in a wedding dress, please send it to me and we’ll make this amazing lyric video and collaboration.’
That’s so fun for them to be a part of it, I guess it can be kind of isolating when you’re writing the song in a writer’s room, but then you’re getting them involved back in the process in that way.
Absolutely and it makes people want to share it.
You’ve been putting out a string of singles recently. I know it’s the way that the world is now, but do you like that way of putting out music – giving each song its turn in the spotlight?
Yeah I think my fans and just people in general are digesting music differently. I’m actually a fan of full albums, but it’s such a streaming/Netflix/Spotify world that each song gets the recognition that it deserves and I feel like when we put out the Patient EP in 2018, I feel like each of those songs was so special and a couple of them kind of got missed or glanced over. I felt the best way going forward was doing it single by single.
It must be a weird thing when there are those songs that mean the most to you and think they’ll do the best, but actually the response to the project goes in a different direction.
Absolutely, I’ve been a witness to that.
You’ve done your releases as an independent artist, and you’ve described that as a ‘blessing.’ What do you mean by that, because I can completely understand it, it must be nice releasing on your own terms and take your own direction and take a handle on your music?
Well I think ‘Wedding Dress’ is the exact reason that it’s so nice to be independent, because you can make this whole game plan and you can create this song that is so special to you and you don’t need to go through a thousand different labyrinths to make sure it happens. You can just do what you want and there’s a different energy behind it. It’s important to me – in this process and this day and age – to be able to make that connection with the fans and do the A&R and development process on my own and with my team; kind of learn my voice through the release of my music and through touring.
For sure. In terms of that development process, you’re such an anomaly – so many artists are from all around in America and move to Nashville – you’re actually born and raised in Nashville. Do you think that’s given you a different perspective on the industry, because it’s so much a part of your blood and the way you’ve been brought up?
Well I’m blessed to have a dad that’s a songwriter. He wrote songs like ‘God Bless The Broken Road’ and ‘Cowboy Take Me Away’ and all these amazing songs, so I got to witness firsthand as a kid what it’s like to be a successful songwriter. A lot of people don’t have that perspective that you can actually make a living as a songwriter, so I knew that from a young age, so a dream becomes a reality. The truth is though, I kind of ran from it, I ran from being a songwriter and an artist – I just considered it as my dad’s job.
I guess you don’t want to follow in your dad’s footsteps when you’re younger, and when you’re older you realise – oh wait that’s actually pretty cool…
Right, the funny thing is I listened to every genre other than country for a long time, but when I would pick up a guitar, no matter what it would just sound like a story song, and it would have a verse and a bridge, and a chorus and everything. Country music and songwriting were definitely in my blood.
Did your dad have a hand then when you first started songwriting? Or was it something very separate and something you really came to by yourself?
I learned how to play guitar from my dad, but the whole songwriting thing was really me sitting in my room, by myself. I never included my dad – I actually went to college elsewhere and moved back to Nashville to pursue songwriting – and then I kind of asked my dad one day, just sitting on the porch. I was like ‘do you mind writing a song with me, just so I know how to co-write?’ He was like, ‘no, you should do it by yourself.’My mom remembers – she was out there too – she grabbed him by the arm and said ‘you need to teach him.’ He said, ‘fine, fine.’ After that happened, we got together once a week and wrote a song together, the first couple of months of my songwriting career. It was amazing, I learned so much.
Obviously you’ve seen your dad’s career growing up – you’d have seen his highlights, but also the low points when a song that he thought would do well didn’t do well – do you feel from that that you almost have a double-fold appreciation for the graft it takes to succeed in music? You’ve experienced it yourself and then you’ve also seen it second-hand too.
Right, well I have some experience with the highest highs and the lowest lows when my dad was writing for the Dixie Chicks, because I got to watch their career just explode, and the song ‘Cowboy Take Me Away’ and all these amazing hits. All of a sudden, their political catastrophe happened and all of a sudden their career is just over. My dad was so ingrained in that camp that it felt like a personal loss to us. I remember feeling that, just at a young age watching my dad upset and to watch one of the great trio music groups of all time just go away. I just feel like it definitely gives you a better perspective when your own artist’s career – watching all the rises and falls of so many great artists but also my dad was always creating. One of the beautiful things about my dad is whether he’s writing hits or not, he just loves to create and that’s always been an inspiration for me. You shouldn’t be doing it for success or anything like that, that should be the effect of whatever happens. I just love to create – I could be a painter, or a sculptor, or a lyricist, I don’t care, I just love to create – that’s my passion.
Right! As you do have that heritage of country music, was it hard to create your own sound and find your path in the genre? Or do you think that side came completely naturally and you knew exactly where you wanted to land?
I think that songwriting is the main key to figure out what your voice is. I think that as an artist the brand is ever-changing, look at Taylor Swift 11 years ago versus now – it’s a different artist completely, but it’s still Taylor. My goal is to be constantly writing, constantly creating and constantly changing and I think that path for me is just songwriting. Usually the more I write and the more I get it out of my system, the more I’ve kind of figured out who I am as an artist and what my voice is going to be.
You released the Patient EP then back in 2018 – had that been a long process coming and figuring out what you wanted to say with that as an artist?
With that EP, the songs were all over the place – some were four years old, some were a month before we put out the EP – the process of that was that I just felt that it was the right time to put out a collection of music, because I felt like the need was there with my fans. I think it was the most important thing for me to lay a foundation of sonically who I am, and to give me something to build on as I release more and more music. It was really exciting – it feels like forever ago, even though it was only a year and a couple of months ago. People are digesting music so rapidly now, and at the same time I’m creating constantly. When I’m home I write almost five times a week and that’s two times a day.
Do you write much when you’re on the road? Or do you find that a big stumbling block?
I have actually never written a song on the road. I feel so tired all the time, there’s just no way my brain would work for that. Even when I’m playing a song in town though, I’ll say I don’t want to write that day, because I want to save all my energy for the show. I think it’s so important for me to do that. When you’re on the road as an opener or you’re headlining your first ever tour, there’s a show but there’s also a load of radio stations or a M&G.
Last year was your first headlining tour. It must have been an amazing but also a really daunting experience?
Yeah I mean we booked the tour and I didn’t know what to expect at all. I’d say 88% of the shows were just amazing and then like 12% were just the worst days ever, because you go to some markets you’ve played a thousand times – like Chicago, which is just fantastic – but then there’s some markets you’ve never been to, where you’re just playing to the bartender. You’ll play five shows in a row that are just amazing and then the sixth show, you think ‘why am I doing this?’ There are those moments that keep you hungry and I feel like those are the moments you learn the most. I thought at points why are we doing this, but the fans came out and just made it so special, and I saw why we’re doing this and I saw the growth for sure.
Having done Hunter’s tour just before, did you take many things that you’d learned from him into that tour?
I think so, Hunter has such a crazy fanbase that a lot of the fans that came out were coming out from that Hunter tour, and from previous tours, like Michael Ray and stuff. Hunter’s so great. He’s so great with his fans and just makes it a really personal experience.
So, what’s next in 2020 – is there more music to release and are there plans to return to the UK?
Man, I’m working on the UK thing so hard, I really want to come back. I took January off to get back in the studio and put out wedding dress, and I actually just got back from eight days playing a festival in Cancun, Mexico. We’ve got a lot of fun stuff coming, a lot more music and we’re working on another little tour – I can’t talk more about it yet, but it’s going to be fun.
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Final Few
Beer or whiskey? Definitely, after Mexico, beer and tequila.
Record you couldn’t live without if you were stuck on a desert island? I’ve been listening to so much Tracy Chapman right now – her old records are just incredible. The other record I’ve been listening to recently is the Lany record.
Do you have a tour essential? I have like 17 pairs of vans…
Complete the sentence…
Music is… in my blood and in my DNA.
Country music is… music for the people.
Levi Hummon is… ready to come back to the UK.
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