Bud Gambrell
Sep 10, 2024
Keyton's music is delivering emotional songwriting with energetic delivery as he prepares to embark on a mini tour.
Before introducing you to Keyton, I will give you some background on how and when we met.
This story begins in 2023. I was preparing for my Sidetracks book launch at Rocket Republic on July 15, 2023. Keyton took time to come by and support me in purchasing a book. I will tell you this now because that book will appear later in the interview.
Our second meeting came while I was on location taking photographs at Huntsville’s Porch Fest. Porch Fest is an annual community event held in Five Points. This year, it was held on May 04, 2024. It was a busy day for me as I was shooting porches up and down Pratt Ave. As I was at Porch #3, I ran into Keyton again. I took time, and we had a nice but short conversation. I gave him my card and told him to call me, and we would meet sometime.
This story now leads us up to August 20, 2024. I received a message from Keyton. “Hey Bud! Remember when you told me to hit you up when I had some stuff going on? Well, here I am! I've got a tour coming up in mid-September, and I just released a vinyl last month!”. I was deciding what the following article would be, and lo and behold, it fell out in front of me like Newton and his falling apple.
Keyton and I decided to meet on a Sunday afternoon in downtown Huntsville. We met at BeeZr, a local pub/microbrewery. If you can visit BeeZr, grab a beer and order the crawfish tail and sausage cheesecake. It is delicious!
Although Keyton and I had only met twice before, our conversation began and continued on like we were longtime friends with the interview lasting only 15 minutes, and after that we sat and talked even more for nearly two hours.
In our conversation, we discussed everything from him using one name as his stage persona to his musical beginnings, the recording of the new album, and the new tour. We also briefly discussed his college education, and he informed me that he graduated from Jacksonville State with a B.S. in Chemistry. Go ahead!
As I am curious, my first question was about using one name for your stage persona. Keyton does have a surname, Fike, but onstage, he goes by just Keyton. Read on to learn more.
OTC: Tell me why you use just one name as a musician and performer.
KF: Well, I’m a mix between a person and an artist. I never intended for it to be like Madonna or Prince, but when I played my first show in 2005, my friend designed the flyer for it, and it had the bands playing, and it just said, Keyton. That's it. And I was like, I didn't have a band then. I didn't have a solo project then, just Keyton. I was like, alright, Keyton, it is. And that spiraled into shirts, CDs, buttons, and all the merch, and on and on. It's just something that I assumed. It's different from a performer's standpoint. The people at shows get to see the true artist. I know it sounds wild because it's like Prince, but from a musician's standpoint, it's emotional songwriting with energetic delivery.
OTC: So, is only going by Keyton onstage like your true persona as an artist, you think?
KF: Yeah, it is. And it was never intended to be that way, but I've just assumed it. People know me as The Musician when they hear my name. And it's a unique name, too. I wish I could say I had something to do with it being named that, but I didn't. It was just a thing that happened.
OTC: Well, you were there, of course.
(laughter)
KF: I didn't get to weigh in, though.
(laughter)
OTC: What got you into music?
KF: I grew up in a household that always had music going. Neither of my parents played music, per se, but my dad was really into classic rock. He also liked The Black Crowes and AC/DC. He also liked Blues musicians like B.B. King. I remember that being on the radio when he was outside working on cars and stuff like that. And then my mom was into being in the choir at church. So, I also started singing at church, and from the young age of four or five years old, I would always sing and play toy guitars, so it's always been a part of me. My sisters sang as well, especially at church. They had a lot to do with it. It's just part of me, and it always will be, and I'm thankful for that.
OTC: Tell me about your music, and what inspired you to write the songs on your latest release.
KF: Yep, so writing songs took a different approach this time around. I took a co-writing approach, the first time I've ever done that in my career. An artist named Billy the Kid, who used to play on the Vans Warped Tour, actually was a big part of the process this go-round. Billy is exceptional, and did a couple of other remarkable things in the Canadian music scene, too. For a time, she lived in Harvest, near me, before moving to Michigan recently. She was kind enough to write a couple of songs with me, and she has fantastic contacts also.
We recorded it at the Pentavarit studio in Nashville. We went up there to record, and she asked whether I wanted some studio musicians to play on the song, which I agreed to, so she made a couple of phone calls, and the next thing I knew, I was in the studio with Jack Lawrence from The Raconteurs, which is Jack White's band, and Atom Willard from Alkaline Trio, a renowned punk rock band I've listened to for years. It was a fantastic experience!
OTC: I know you're about to hit the road in support of your new album. Tell us a little about that and what we can expect.
KF: The tour is going to be ten shows in 14 days. Technically, it kicks off on the 13th of September at The Camp in Huntsville, AL, but man, booking a tour is a tiring process. I don't know if you ever make cold calls to people who don't know who you are; they don't know anything about you. But it's like cold emailing venues and asking them if they'd have you on a particular night. And sometimes it's easier than other times because the weekends are hard to come by. Getting shows on weekends in towns where you've never really made a name for yourself can get discouraging. You spend hours and hours sending out emails to people over and repeatedly: just different cities and different towns.
On top of that, I try to fill out the dates with local bands, so it's not just me playing. They'll have a draw, and the bars or venues are excited for me to be there and have a night of music. So yeah, that starts on the 13th. After that, we're going to Memphis, and then we'll go to New Orleans. Then we're going to play Orange Beach, and after that, I believe Anniston is a little east of Birmingham. And then north Atlanta and then got a couple of dates in North Carolina and Virginia. So, it's kind of a big loop coming back to Huntsville.
OTC: Are there any venues that you've been to before that you're looking forward to getting back to, or are there any venues that you've booked that you're looking forward to playing at for the first time?
KF: Yep, the venue in Charlotte that stands out for this tour is called The Milestone. If you go and look at the website, you will see that they keep a very detailed catalog of all the people that have played there. Nirvana is the one that immediately comes to mind. I will be playing on the same stage Nirvana played. It is impressive. The Milestone has been there for years and years, and it's kind of an underground, rock' n' roll, DIY venue that has persisted through the 60s until today. I can't wait to play at that place!
OTC: Is this tour with a full band or a solo acoustic?
KF: This will be a solo acoustic tour. It'll just be me and the person I have coming to sell merch along the way. And, you know, do a little heavy lifting when it comes to unloading and packing up at the night's end. It's hard to do by yourself and keep an eye on everything to ensure nobody walks off with a guitar or other things. It's hard to be in two places at once, so an extra set of hands and eyes will be handy.
OTC: What is it about music that makes you feel passion?
KF: When it comes to playing acoustic guitar, it's the rawest form of music you'll ever get. It is the closest to an idea in your head and playing chords that it will ever be. Because that's how many people write the songs, they'll sit down with an acoustic guitar and tab it out. They'll write out the lyrics and representation of that body of work. There's something to be said for playing with a full-band amplified version, but the most raw, poetic version you'll get of a song is acoustic.
OTC: Yeah, I agree. Before we go any further, there's one of your videos on YouTube, and at the beginning of that video, there are some books on the table and one of those I recognized. How did that book get in that video?
(laughter)
KF: Ok, you got to be referring to the Sidetracks book.
OTC: Yes, that's right.
KF: So that book was incredible because I got a chance to go to Sidetracks a few times over the years before they closed. And I went to the release that you had. It was at Rocket Republic.
OTC: That’s right.
KF: The book was released, and it was vital for me to buy and own a copy. And because it encapsulates local music and music, you can see artists that have grown through the years. You can see artists that remain local legends. For me, it's a remarkable representation of that specific amount of time that Sidetracks was open, and you know, there's a little history in there, too. I'm a history nerd in music stuff, too. So that helped out as well. But yeah, that stack of books was just something that came up, and they wanted to have a scene that was like in a living room, and so I was looking around in my living room, and I had a couple of pieces of furniture. I guess I'll get this, I think I'll get this lamp, and I looked over there on my bookshelf, and that was one of the ones that I was like, Ok, yeah, I have to get this one little local flavor in there for the people that pay attention to that kind of stuff, and of course, I pointed it out. I pointed it out in one of those social media posts that I did, you know? Check out the stack of books.
OTC: Yeah, on Instagram. That's how I knew it was there.
KF: Right. And there are a couple of others. Unfortunately, I don't remember what they were at the time, but there were a couple of other books in there that were cool pieces of music history that pertained to me, too.
OTC: I will link that video in the article, and we will point out that my book is in the video.
KF: Yeah, of course. It's an official music video that has your book in it. I mean, how much cooler can it get?
OTC: What do you like most about the life of a musician? What do you like the least?
KF: The late nights I enjoy. However, late nights can also be rough the following day. It's kind of like burning the candle at both ends, especially, you know, on tours, if you know you're going to have to get up and drive five hours the next day, it's always good to know where you're going to be staying at the time. So it might be an air mattress or on somebody's couch, which, as you know, cannot be the best sleep you've ever had. So those late nights add up if you do it night after night. And mainly if you lie down and can't go to sleep. That's the worst thing. You can't control that sometimes, and it becomes increasingly apparent how people like Elvis became reliant on legal or non-legal substances to help them go to sleep and then help them wake up the next day. I couldn't imagine being on a sleep schedule that didn't work out night after night. The late nights are a blessing and a curse, but I wouldn't trade them for anything!
OTC: What's the best piece of advice that another musician has given you?
KF: Find a mentor. Find somebody who's been through the trials you're going through or will go through, listen to them, and hear the advice they have to give because they've been there before. They know what life is about. They know how it is, booking shows and shows out of town and being prepared for things and not for certain things. It's like listening to them so you don't have to make the same mistakes. But listening is an integral part of that aspect.
OTC: What are your plans for the remainder of 2024 going into 2025? What do you want to accomplish?
KF: I'd like to release another EP. I will start writing hard and heavy when I return from this tour. The local shows might be a little less frequent than they have been, but I will start focusing on writing diligently and then getting back into the studio and recording something local. Nashville is cool. But Huntsville has grown, and there's a lot of talent, and you also know Decatur. I want to explore the local flavor a little more.
OTC: Where do you do your best songwriting? What mood or atmosphere do you need to be in?
KF: It's a mix. Sometimes, you sit down, and the song falls out. And you're thinking, oh my God, I can't believe I just wrote that down, and this came out of my brain. But other times, it's revolving around an event, and sometimes it's just more important to capture what you're going through then. You might not be able to write a song if you happen to be going through something. But capturing those ideas is essential, and you can always come back and revisit them later. Usually, those life-changing moments are the best songs if you capture them.
OTC: Do you have anything else you want to say or add so that readers will know more about you or anything you have coming up?
KF: If you want to keep track of me, go to keytonmusic.com or look up Keyton Music on all the socials. You know, Facebook, Instagram, all that good stuff. And yeah, listen to a couple of the songs, and maybe catch me live, too, if I come to your town.
This interview with Keyton was delightful for me. It was one of those days where it honestly didn’t feel like work. We shared a couple of beers over a good conversation. We shared a few stories in our conversation that are not covered here. We may still be sitting there chatting if we didn’t have to move on with our lives.
The bottom line here. Get to one of Keyton’s shows. He plays with an energetic but heartfelt style that will keep you entertained.
Until next time,
Keep your diamond down in the groove!
Where to find Bud:
Email: the_budgambrell@mixedaltmag.com
Website:
Amazon:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/bud.gambrell
Where to find Keyton:
Website:
*Cover photo by Morgan Worsham
Questions or comments? Reach out to mixedalternativemag@gmail.com.