Raised between Atlanta and Athens, Georgia around one of the best music scenes in the nation, Campbell Harrison was nurtured by local legends Donna Hopkins, Ralph Roddenbery and Caroline Aiken. His first studio EP “Behind Glass” dropped in 2015, featuring a host of veteran artists including Kofi Burbridge (Tedeschi-Trucks Band, Aquarium Rescue Unit). In 2017, he released his first full indie album, the critically acclaimed “Dreamer in a Bottle.
After moving to Nashville, Campbell began spending more time in the studio, producing two live EPs in 2018 and a single “Underneath The Skin” in 2019.
In early 2020, Campbell teamed up with engineering wizards at Welcome to 1979 studio (Nashville) to record “The River,” a foot stomping, tent revival of a tune that reaffirms his reputation as a fresh new sound, unbound by a conventional genre. He followed it up with another Neo-Americana production at Welcome to 1979 titled “Soul to Keep.” This time he was joined by Ted Pecchio (Doyle Bramhall II, Susan Tedeschi, The Codetalkers) on bass. It’s a quirky tune about a selfish man who thinks he has time for redemption… until he doesn’t.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Campbell Harrison about the latest music, challenges, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
I’m grew up in the country outside of Covington, Georgia and lived there most of my life. Ironically, country music was the one genre I never really explored growing up, despite the locale. I started out on the piano and naturally gravitated to the guitar where I found my songwriting inspiration. I guess my music started out kind genre-less because I didn’t know any better and I was writing more or less out of instinct. I’d normally say that more is better when it comes to knowledge, but there is something about ignorance that’s kind of liberating because you don’t know how to mess up or what you’re “supposed” to do. Since then I’ve explored psychedelic rock, pop, southern rock, and folk, and I’ve kind of settled into this comfortable Americana niche where I can blend all of those elements together. That’s what Americana music is, it’s a fusion genre and I think that’s why it’s blowing up right now. We’re like sponges soaking up all the different musical influences out there and they’re literally all at your fingertips due to the nature of music streaming, and so it makes sense that the songs we produce should reflect that.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
My parents are and always have been serious music fans and they brought me into that from an early age. They made me take piano lessons as a child and I think that’s what set the stage for pursuing it as a career. I may not have appreciated it at the time but I think that it laid the foundation for an understanding of music that would enhance the natural affinity that I already had. It was really when I started writing songs that I realized my drive though. As a young songwriter I was lucky enough to meet some people in the Atlanta music family that encouraged and inspired me to follow this thread as far as I could go and give it a shot. Sometimes it takes physically seeing someone act out a role for you to realize that you want to be in that role too and that’s how it was for me. It’s extremely difficult and sometimes you get disheartened when you look at how perverted the music business has become, but you just keep going because you might as well. Very few people find their true passion and even fewer have the guts to follow that passion and so I think I owe it to myself to keep going.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
“Soul to Keep” is the lead single from my new EP which I won’t name quite yet. I’m really proud of this song because I think it represents me as an artist very well and captures the Americana sound while at the same time conveying the quirky, genre-confusing nature of what I do. Since I moved to Nashville in 2018 I’ve been working to create a stable of music that better represents me and also makes the statement, “hey I’m here and I want a seat at the table”. I think this song does that pretty well and hopefully it will walk people into my EP when I drop it in early 2021.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
Honestly my biggest challenge has always been cutting through the white noise. Due to the nature of the digital music landscape, quite literally anyone with a MacBook can put out an album and they can do it very cheaply. Obviously that’s a good thing because it means that more artists have the ability to express themselves freely and independently, but it also means that the sheer volume of material out there is overwhelming. There are no “gate-keepers” so to speak and so it’s very easy to get buried in the avalanche of new music being released every day. You’ve got to find a way to cut through the chatter which can be very difficult if you’re like me and you don’t enjoy the social media game. All in all though, I’m grateful for the streaming services and all the technology that’s made this music age possible. Yes it makes life way harder in some ways, but it’s also produced some very useful tools that have made things possible that previously weren’t. Reverbnation has been a great example of that. The industry has changed and technology has allowed the whole music-making process to lean in a more DIY direction which I think takes a lot of power away from the mega-money players and puts it back in the hands of the artists which is where it should’ve been all along.
What was the last song you listened to?
“Living the Dream” from Sturgill Simpson’s surprise bluegrass album. It’s a remake of the original from Metamodern Sounds in Country Music. I respect that dude so much. He quite literally does whatever he wants and he doesn’t care who’s on board. He’s makes the music he feels like making and refuses to compromise for anything and I think that’s killer.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
It really depends on the setting because it’s a battle of quality vs. convenience. If I have a good sound system handy and time to enjoy it then I’d prefer vinyl because it’s less compressed than CD’s or Mp3’s and the sound quality is far superior. However, there’s also something to be said for being able to connect to a bluetooth device and stream your music on-the-go. I end up listening to mostly mp3’s because I have a limited vinyl collection but I’m working on it.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
Spotify all the way for me. In my humble opinion it has the broadest selection of music and I’ve also grown accustomed to the interface. When I’m streaming I exclusively use Spotify, which is why I can’t really complain about how streaming services are ruining the industry. I use it as much (if not more) than the next guy. I’d love to be able to take a philosophical stance on how we approach the act of listening but if we’re being real, I love how convenient streaming is.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
Check out my website CampbellHarrisonMusic.com , my Instagram (camh30) or my Facebook (Campbell Harrison Music). I’m also on Spotify, Apple Music, etc. I’ll be dropping some more music regularly starting 2021 so be on the lookout. I’ve got a few surprises in store too 😉
Anything else before we sign off?
I appreciate you all and I just want to say that everything’s going to be ok. 2020 has been a really weird year and a lot of people are struggling but I promise that it will get better. My challenge to you all as fans would be to spend the rest of the year focusing on QUALITY. Focus on pursuing QUALITY relationships, engaging in high QUALITY interactions, taking in QUALITY entertainment (not social media), and spending QUALITY time alone with yourself just being a person and finding out who you are. The world may be garbage but you life doesn’t have to be.
