I went to to see Kelly Joe Phelps at Eddie's Attic, in Decatur, GA and I already knew it was going to be a great show. What I didn't expect was the talent of the guy who opened for him.
This unsuspecting guy came out on stage with an acoustic guitar and a harmonica.
When he started playing I was thinking ok, this is pretty awesome, but when he started singing, I was amazed. He had a very unique tone to his voice, and the lyrics were very well written.
This incredible artist's name is Ken Will Morton, and he is in Athens, GA. After catching up with him and his manager, Michelle Roche, I got to do some photos of him for his newest album, "True Grit". I had a blast, and I've loved every show since.
I figured I would share some of the photos from that shoot, and let you know how you can check out his music as well.
This is a video of one of my favorite songs by Ken:
To all of you who grew up in a small town, you will get this right away: as a kid, my friends and I had nothing to do but get in trouble, or dream.
I can remember all the crazy phases of my life where I'd sit in school, and daydream about how my life would be in the years to come.
I have a very large extended family, and 90% of them are into music in some way or another. So, of course, I have a huge place for music in my life. Over the years, I dreamed I was everyone from Reba to Alanis. I always wanted to take music and voice lessons, but sadly there just wasn't anyone around who offered any. That led me to wishing I was one of those people who could miraculously teach themselves...which leads me to this guy...
There was a guy in my neighborhood, named Shaun Hopper. We would hang out-or should I say fight-in the front yard until my dad would tell him he needed to go home, and you guessed it, I would get into trouble. Time would eventually take us down two separate roads. I kept hearing talk around town that he had gotten into playing guitar and was playing at some smaller places. I'm not really sure why, but our paths never crossed again until many years later.
I finally took a chance and tried out to be the new singer in a band that Shaun happened to be in. I'll never forget that crazy night. I sang Silverchair's "Tomorrow"...only to later be told it was Shaun who said he didn't want a female lead singer. So, there went my dream, right? Not quite. Two years, and a new direction (the path of photography) later, I ran into a friend from high school in the mall. He had a band t-shirt on and I asked him who that was because I hadn't heard of them. He told me, and he told me that Shaun was their bassist. I told him the story of that dreadful "try-out" and he is the reason everything was cleared up. I then got a call from Shaun about a week later asking if I could come check out his band because they would be needing photos for their upcoming album.
I went, and that started a great friendship, and many, many band photos.
Even though I may not be writing songs that I get to share with the world from a stage, I am very blessed to get to capture the unique things about musicians that I used to flip through all of my Guitar World and Rolling Stone magazines just wishing I could be a part of it all.
Every time I see one of my music photos published somewhere, I remember that little girl who used to dream until her heart ached, and I just smile and say, "You made it."
So, here are my latest photos of Shaun Hopper for his latest album, "lower case letters". And if you get a chance to see this guy live, you will be amazed. I promise. He's so talented that it makes me sick.
And, of course, I have to share one of his videos with you...enjoy.
I feel like I'm just a little behind on this whole blogging thing since my weekend has somehow seemed to last through my Monday. I certainly can't complain about that, though.
To start, I headed to the first day of volunteering at The Revolve Tour on Friday. I was assigned to the Grand Canyon University booth where I got to work with some amazing people!
It was so great to see all of those teen girls giggling and having a blast with their groups of friends.
And, since for some reason, I'm still a teenager at heart, I had a blast, too. The music was incredible, but there was one girl who stood out. Her name is Jamie Grace. She was fun, bubbly, she had a wonderful story to tell, and her voice completely blew me away. She seemed so comfortable up on that stage.
So, day two of volunteering was great because I had the chance to talk until I ALMOST couldn't talk any more. Imagine that. haha!
Then, Sunday felt like an extension of The Revolve Tour at our church. A guy on the worship team did an acoustic version of "Amazing Grace" and it was absolutely beautiful.
That brings us to today...
Wow! The whole message that has been thrown at me, from last Sunday's "Be Bold" to this weekend's "Dream On" really saw the light of day today. I received a phone call, from one of the sweetest ladies I know, wanting to get headshots taken of her daughter--BECAUSE SHE WAS JUST SIGNED TO SPRING FALL RECORDS!!!! I was so excited! I was excited about their excitement, and excited to be doing photos for someone I consider to be amazingly talented! Her name is Gamston Faith.
I first found out that she sang because her mom passed along this video of her singing in Nashville...and I was blown away.
Gamston!! (I was having a little fun with my iphone).
As soon as Gamston and her new label choose the photos they want to use, I will get to share them with you!! I cannot even tell you how happy I am to see such a truly talented, NICE girl get to make a mark! Now, hopefully she'll let me tag along for some photos while she's recording her album. :)
Enjoy her amazing voice with her original song, "42 Cents"...
