NYCS Swag Spotlight: Dillon Carmichael

Dillon Carmichael

You can say that Dillon Carmichael didn’t really choose a life in the music industry, that it chose him.  During our recent phone conversation, Carmichael explained that music just always was there, in his house, in his community.  His mother traveled around Kentucky with a band as their lead singer, his father loved to write songs and both of his uncles are some names in the country music genre that you might have heard of.  Eddie Montgomery of Montgomery Gentry and 90’s country crooner John Michael Montgomery.  Music was played at family gatherings, what was done on the weekends and Carmichael always found himself at parties growing up with a guitar in his hands.

Growing up, blues, rock, and country were what he listened to, his very first concert being Lynyrd Skynyrd when he was in the 7th grade.  “Playing in bars and stuff around Kentucky, that’s what everyone played, that’s what people wanted to two-step two and waltz around the dance floor to, that’s just the way it was around that area, it was a cultural thing,” he says of the music he was accustomed to hearing as a child.

When Carmichael was only 17 years old after playing the same bar every Thursday night, a publisher came to hear him sing and offered him a publishing deal on the spot. Leaving his small hometown of Burgin, Kentucky and the comforts of knowing everyone, he moved to Nashville to pursue his music career even further.  He explained how in Kentucky he would write all of his songs by himself then moving to Nashville he was introduced to co-writing.

“Writing changed a lot when I moved to Nashville, writing is 360 degrees in my opinion, of this whole music thing,” he tells us.  “You learn who you are as a guitar player, as a singer, you learn who you are as a person because you learn what you want to say in your songs.” He tells us that cowriting for him has allowed him to open up to people who he might not know very well, telling them personal stories for writing purposes. “Especially for the songs I write, they are very honest, to the point, straightforward and don’t be afraid to tell the world what you are thinking, it helps to be transparent,” Carmichael says.

You can take the boy out of Kentucky and the small town but you certainly can not take the Kentucky out of the boy. His single “It’s Simple” which is the first from his forthcoming full-length album is about growing up simply, not taking things too seriously and always realizing what is important. The track was produced by Dave Cobb who has worked with Anderson East, Chris Stapleton and many more artists in Nashville.
“We got on the subject and It’s Simple, our human nature is to sometimes complicated things, it’s nice for me to have a song on my record and in my life like this song has become, as a reminder myself, I can complicate things but this recording almost says to me this is simple, take your own advice,” he says of the lyric. “My favorite line is ‘Home is that place in your heart’, no matter where I go, where this journey takes me, it’s a reminder that home is that place in your heart, no matter where I spend my time or live, but that place in my heart is Burgin, Kentucky.”
Gearing up to release his debut full-length album Hell On An Angel due out this August, Carmichael is hitting the road opening for Lee Brice as well as Montgomery Gentry.  He will also make his NYC debut on June 18th at Rockwood Music Hall, for tickets click here.  He told us that when he is able to open for these established artists he is like a sponge, taking in everything they do from the side stage, having conversations and learning as much as he can.  He is looking forward to supporting the music and playing it live for fans across the country.
Be sure to be following Dillon Carmichael on his social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

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