Born and raised in Nashville, TN, 24-year-old newcomer, Levi Hummon, is following in his father’s footsteps. Hummon’s father, famed songwriter Marcus Hummon, whose song credits include ‘Cowboy Take Me Away’ and ‘Bless the Broken Road,’ has been both Levi’s biggest inspiration and worst critic. New England Country Music had the pleasure of talking with Hummon about his new self-titled EP and his goals for the future.
Hummon did not grow up wanting to be a musician and was actually enrolled in college in Florida, where he was majoring in visual arts, painting and sculpting. It was during his sophomore year that his career path took a different turn. After a heartbreak, Hummon took to his guitar and started writing and playing songs. “Once that break up happened I just couldn’t stop writing and the bug had hit me and as much as I tried to avoid it, it just set in.” Eventually he sent the songs to his father and asked him what he thought. Hummon’s father was not impressed and would tell him, “There is no chorus here or there is no verse,” but It was not too long before his father was telling him his songs were getting really good, and if he was serious about pursing song writing as a career, he would need to come back home to Nashville. It was then that Levi’s life took a new direction.
Just four years later on April 1st, Hummon released his first EP on the The Valory Music Co. label. He penned four of the five songs on it. ”This EP is just a taste of my different song styles. I have other songs where I have really messed with changing things up. With this EP I wanted to give a taste of that and where my melodic sense is. I feel that is very present within the five songs.” Hummon finds it difficult to describe his musical sound and compares himself to English singer-songwriter and musician, Ed Sheeran. He feels his sound is similar in that he has fun, light- hearted songs but also has deeper, heavier songs. “His (Sheeran) vocal range in general is similar to mine. I try to go up into my falsetto and try to mess with melodies and really push myself.” Just this past weekend, Hummon had the opportunity to experience an audience’s reaction to the new EP when he opened for Dan + Shay. “I experienced fans singing along to the songs for the first time ever and it was one of the most incredible experiences to go from just releasing to a week later playing and hearing people singing the songs. It was absolutely insane.”
There is an interesting story behind the song ‘Guts and Glory’ on the EP- Hummon was watching a Ram ‘Truck Guts and Glory’ commercial and he thought that the slogan was a great title for a song. The song is about people that have climbed mountains and people that have succeeded during hardships. The next day when he was writing with Hall of Fame writers, Tom Douglass and Travis Hill, Levi mentioned the commercial and his idea for a song title. ‘Guts and Glory’ was written and demoed in two days and Hummon sent the song to Ram. The commercial and the song came full circle and now Ram is Hummon’s sponsor on his promotional tour, which dubs him, “the Ram truck artist.”
An official release party for the Levi Hummon EP was held on April 20th at the 12th and Porter Music Venue in Nashville, TN, where his father used to showcase. The release party was the first time Hummon has headlined a show in Nashville. He has had some good role models for his first headlining show, by touring and opening for acts such as Maddie & Tae, Keslea Ballerini, Cam and Dan + Shay. “Every night when I go out with these artists, you are basically watching their learning curve. How are they interacting with fans, what are they singing, what does their set look like, why does it flow so well?” He was also out on tour with Billy Currington this past May.
A lot of credit for Hummons ongoing success should be given to his new musical director, Desmond Child. Child a musician, songwriter, and producer, is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and has collaborated with acts such as, Bon Jovi, Ricky Martin, KISS, Kelly Clarkson, and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler. When Desmond was visiting Steven Tyler, he showed Tyler some of the songs that Hummon had wrote. Child played the song ‘Red White and You’ for him, which was not quite finished. Tyler called Hummon from Desmonds phone to invite him over. “Steven called me up on Desmond’s phone and said you got to get over here I want to sing this, I want to sing this.” The two were in Tyler’s writing room for twelve hours talking and completing the song. ‘Red White and You’ has since been featured in a Skittles commercial staring Steven Tyler. Just recently, Hummon performed with Desmond Child during Tin Pan South, the world’s largest songwriter festival. Levi has been playing Tin Pan South for three years but this year was the first time he had the opportunity to play with Desmond. “I sang my heart out just to keep up with him. He is one of the greatest of all times so you are just sitting in the presence of greatness. It’s unbelievable.”
Hummon has important goals and dreams for his future as a songwriter and artist. He has been told by many that he should dream big and that is what he is doing. Levi Hummon wants to be the kind of artist that is touring stadiums and also the type of artist that is credible enough to receive a Grammy. “I see myself hopefully doing both of those things in a very humble way. That would be my dream.” Levi is off to a good start. This talented singer/songwriter has only just begun living his dream. With a lot of hard work, experience and determination, he will have no trouble reaching his goals before he knows it.
NECM would like to thank Levi Hummon for sharing his experiences while touring, his excitement for his first EP and his gratefulness for being able to work with some of the finest artist in the business today.
Follow Levi Hummon on Twitter, Facebook, #GutsGlory Road Trip, website, Instagram.
Purchase Levi Hummon’s EP here: Itunes.
Artist interview conducted by Lorraine Frigoletto, contributing writer for New England Country Music. You can follow me on Twitter.