Project WILD would like you to know each of the 2019 Top 12 even better. We prepared five questions for each of the artists/bands to help us learn a little more.
1. What brought you to country/roots music?
Growing up in a small town and being in my Dad’s custom motorcycle shop, it was just a natural to play country music. I grew up on southern rock and blues, but everything I did growing up was your stereotypical small town / country events. When I first started writing songs, I never even really thought of them as country, but looking back, I realize I was writing country music before I even knew it. My transition from the rock world to country was incredibly natural, and was something that evolved as I began to grow as an artist and really dig into songwriting.
2. When did you write your first song – as an artist or with a band?
I wrote my first song when I was 15 years old. I was sitting in my family’s log cabin, it was the middle of winter, we had a fire going, and it was literally -40 C outside. Something about all of those things combined together inspired me to write a song. I had just began singing, so I didn’t really know what to do, so I wrote a 12 bar blues called Forty Below.
3. If you could go on tour opening to any performing artist right now, who would it be?
Kip Moore. 100%. He has created such an army of fans that attend his shows to really hear his music. His followers are true music fans, and being on a tour with him could have the potential to create a lot of new fans. His songwriting and career path are very inspirational to me.
4. What is the best trend in country/roots music right now?
The best thing about country music right now is that there is no ONE trend. The genre has opened up so much in the past few years, and there are so many different artists who are successfully creating a wide variety of music, yet still connect and related with the same core group of people.
5. What part of Project WILD are you most looking forward to?
I am really looking forward to heading to Boot Camp in August. It will be a great opportunity to create long lasting relationships with the other 11 artists in Project Wild, as well as to learn from industry mentors and professionals who may not normally be accessible to us. It will be remarkable to be able to create relationships with these mentors in a lower stress level environment, as compared to a typical industry event where it is sometimes hard to have a one on one conversation.
