Joel Crouse has a song he performs live but has yet
to record. The title: Whiskey & Weed. It sounds like a party song. A
typical country song about smokin’ and drinkin’. A song about a craving that
has to be found.
In a way, the song does represent addiction in my
eyes even though it’s more about a love gone wrong. The first time I heard
Whiskey & Weed I fell deep into the black hole of dependence. The kind
only people who truly love music understand.
Love at first listen. The moment you hear a song for
the first time and it seeps into your subconscious and you find yourself
jamming along before you even truly know what it is you’re listening to. You
stop everything. The concert becomes a private one. Only you and the
artist. You stand in silence and you absorb.
Whiskey & Weed was this song. It finally gave
understanding to the phrase “music to my ears.”
Joel Crouse is the type of artist you never get
tired of. The kind of artist you listen to on repeat over and over. He makes
you want to learn every word and phrase to his entire record. His voice allows
every syllable to soak into your soul.
Meet the guy who will have everyone hooked on
something much stronger than “whiskey and weed”….
Joel Crouse.
Let’s start from the beginning;
what made you want to become an artist?
Well I started at a young age, like maybe 12 or 13. I just
really loved music. I would listen to albums all the way through. I slowly
started to realize I was musical. Plus, doesn’t every kid dream of becoming a
rockstar at one point in their life? So I guess it was just the kid in me. Plus
I just really loved it. Started playing
guitar at 12, started singing in public when I was like 13 in church. Then I
started a band at 15 and skipped a whole bunch of school and went on the road.
I was very new at it. Everyone in the band was a lot older than me. I just
sang. I didn’t write or anything. That lasted for a couple of years and then
around 17 I moved to Nashville and started writing and working off that.
What about your
family? Did you get any of your musical abilities from them?
Well, my mom does sing. She sings in a church group. My
sister is a vocal coach. My brother played bass in the first band I had. I
think my dad maybe had a band back in the 80’s but I don’t know if it was good
or not.
What about guitar?
I’m dying to know if you are self-taught.
I took lessons starting out. And really, I learned by
hanging around better guitar players and that really made me better. I would
pick up things from them. It’s really about just being dedicated to getting
better.
Who were your musical
inspirations back in the day? Are they still the same or have you changed who
and what you listen to?
I think my first big musical influences were probably Johnny
Cash and The Beatles. Oh and Michael Jackson. I used to love listening to
Michael Jackson. But once I started playing more music and writing it became
Johnny Cash, Lynard Skynard, The Eagles, Waylon Jennings, and those guys. My
influences tend to change over time. I’m a huge Eminem fan and I was a really big grunge fan. I went through all the grunge bands in the 90’s. I’m all over the place.
**cut to the part
where Joel and I talk about the fact that we are both about to turn 23 this
summer and discuss growing up as the first generation in this new tech savvy
world**
The cool thing about how you and I grew up is that music was
at our fingertips for really the first time ever. There were so many different genres
and we could go from listening to a rap song to an old classic one in seconds
just because of the Internet. I think that’s why you see a lot of younger
artists now who could fit in more than one genre. It’s because we all grew up
on different types of music.
Where do you get
inspiration to write? Plus I love hearing how different artists go into writing
sessions. Do you like going in with a list of ideas in your head or do you prefer
to go in with a blank slate?
You know, when I first moved to Nashville I used to go to
writing sessions everyday with a ton of great writers. I learned a lot. I
really did. But over time, probably a year or two, it started to feel like a
factory type of thing. I felt like I punched the clock, wrote, and left. I
liked to really get into songs. I liked to feel what I was writing. Recently in
the last few years I stopped writing in such a factory way. I’ve moved on to a
little bit more relaxed style. Writing about real life. You know, moving away
from home at 17 and spending 5 years in a town you didn’t know about has made
me a different person. I’ve gone through so many different life experiences in
the last five years. Now I’ve been able to kinda write about those things for
this second record.
Do you have a
favorite song that you’ve written or co-written?
I don’t really wanna give too much about this new record
away just yet or names but there are a couple new ones I wrote by myself. And
also there’s a fan favorite right now that we haven’t recorded yet that’s been
kind of surfacing since we’ve been playing it live. It’s kind of a ballad
called Whiskey & Weed. It sounds like a party song but it’s really a
terrible “coping skills” song. It was probably the easiest song I’ve written.
The words just kind of fell out. My guitar player came up with the guitar parts
and it all just fell together. We worked on that song about a year ago out in
L.A.
If you could tour
with anyone, who would it be?
I’d actually like to tour with my buddies A Thousand Horses.
They’ve been doing really, really well. It would be a blast too! I was on the
Love & Theft tour and that was really fun. I’ve toured with Darius Rucker
quite a bit too. But A Thousand Horses and I haven’t done anything and I love
their music. So yeah, I’d love to tour with them.
If you weren’t a
singer/songwriter what would you be doing?
Um…busing tables? That’s really all I ever did. A lot of
people ask me that and I’ve had different ideas but really this is what I’ve
always been doing. I just don’t know anything else. I mean I could play in bars
on weekends and church on Sunday I guess.
What is one thing
people don’t know about you?
I think one thing people probably don’t know about me is
that the album I released this past summer was actually made like four years
ago. I don’t think a lot of people know that. I love that record and it’ll
always be a part of me but when I released it at 22 years old it didn’t’ really
represent me in the moment because of how long ago I wrote those songs.
Why the wait? Was it just a long process of getting it out
there?
You know, I’m no longer with the record label but I don’t
know. I made the record and they just didn’t want to put it out during the
Taylor Swift tour when I was out with her. It was confusing but I think it’s
important for people to know that. That album is where I come from. I was young
when I wrote it. But it also shows my growth as an artist. I mean the sound is
different but not so much so that that people can’t tell it’s me. This new
record is a little more organic. I want people to know this second batch of
music shows that I’ve evolved quite a bit. All the things I talked about on
the first album are different now. I mean I’ve lived five years. I’m just hoping
everyone loves it and evolves with me.
Summer is right
around the corner and you have new music in the works, what else does 2015 hold
for ya?
Well we had done about half the record and decided that
maybe it wasn’t as creative as maybe we had hoped for it to be. With that being
said, we are redoing parts of it and finishing it up. We should have new music
out this summer.
And hopefully we will
see you around CMA Fest?
Yeah, of course. I know we’ve got some dates in June that we
are running around but I’m sure we’ll get hooked up with something!
A lot has changed for Joel Crouse the past five years, but some things remain the same…
“music is just who I am. I don’t know anything else. And without it, I just feel like I lose a part of myself…”
