I'm often asked advice by local artists and I truly try to answer every question. I'm certain that I've missed a few here and there, and likely haven't answered some questions fully. So if that's happened to you, my apologies. It's never intentional. Anyways, here's my two cents worth of advice.
Capture Kentucky has really taken on a life of it's own and I am truly thankful for that. Having said all of this, I decided that I should put together a list of frequently asked questions and personal philosophies that I feel are crucial as you grow as an artist.
I'm blown away, on nearly a daily basis, by the talent our Commonwealth continues to produce. I saw an article recently with the title "Country Music Was Born, & Is Now Being Reborn, In Appalachia", the article itself is a pretty simplistic piece, but I couldn't agree more with its title.
Folks like the "Whiskey Riff" don't cover artists until they reach a certain level of fandom. In doing so, they barely scratch the surface of what is actually happening here in Kentucky. They're pumping out short and simple articles that focus on the "it" artists of the moment. They're going for clicks. We're here for the music, the artists, the discoveries of Kentucky's hidden gems.
Jeremy Short, the Jackson, Kentucky "original recipe" singer-songwriter and genre-bending guitar blazer, has quickly risen to the top-shelf of must-hear players on both the local and international scene.
First qualifying for the International Blues Challenge, a world-wide competition put on by The Blues Foundation, in 2016 and again in 2017, Short semi-finaled both years he's been there, ranking him among the top 32 independent blues acts on the planet.
Now he's going back in 2019, determined to make the third time the charm.
Having been around music and musicians, I know the nervousness and anxiety-inducing thoughts an artist goes through as they release new music. No matter how confident you are or how great you may feel the music is, you still worry about being too open and how others will receive and perceive your music. On Saturday night at The Burl, Coby Langham went through those very emotions and fears as he unleashed his debut EP, 'Years On The Road'. If you'd like to know our thoughts on the EP, you can find that here. When I asked Coby before the show, how he overcame his fears, he gave a very simple answer…"Whiskey." Ahhhhhh, the ole liquid courage!
If you're a reader of this site, you know that attending hometown shows of Kentucky artists is our favorite activity. So on Saturday we loaded up and headed to Glasgow for night two of Black Stone Cherry's sold-out performances at the historic Plaza Theatre.
The guys all grew up in and around the small nearby community of Edmonton. They formed several years ago and have had a tremendous run over the last 12 years or so. After releasing several albums under the Roadrunner Label, the band left for greener pastures and ultimately ended up at Mascot Records.