As we shared yesterday, today we begin an ongoing series that offers an insider's view of the campaign to 'break' Young Hines and his Brendon Benson produced debut "Give Me Change". Emily White and her unique commission based team at Readymade Records will be sharing their insights in regular posts. But today we begin the series with Young Hines sharing, in his own words, the start of his journey:
Hi Hypebot Readers!
My name is Young Hines. I'm the first artist on Brendan Benson's Readymade Records. I've been playing guitar and attempting to write songs since I was 12. Not that long ago i was a touring upright bass player in a bluegrass band. On one of my drives across the Verrazano Bridge in New York I decided to put in a new disc called "Lapalco" by a guy named Brendan Benson. This record restored my faith in modern songwriting and opened my eyes to other artists that were saying some of the same things, but from varied perspectives that I for the first time, since the music of generations past or from a genre apart from rock n roll, truly related to. That record(s) made me want to get a tape machine
and put it in my house and record an album of my songs. Problem was I didn't have loot for any of that.
Around that time, the band I was in went on hiatus and I found myself unemployed in Nashville. I did maintenance work at a closed down hydro electric plant on the Tennessee River that was transitioning in to a marina for while. With cutting grass and scraping algae getting old, I began to formulate a plan. I began making lists of three things I could do to get myself closer to my goals every day. So three things a day (even if it was phone calls) for about month and I landed a gig in Chicago with one of the top Beatle's tribute bands playing 120 shows a year. From the moment I took that gig it was means to an end. Having said that, I gave 100 percent of myself at every show and I'm a huge Beatles fan as well as making some of the best friends I've ever had.
Once I got the tape machine and mics and pre amps I began recording. Very soon I was at 18 songs and felt like I had completed a record. I pushed those recordings on most of my friends and posted some of them on YouTube. With no manager, label, or press interest in my record I continued playing around Chicago and continued to record at home in my free time which was substantial. I imagined that if I could complete three 18 track records with only my best material, that with some hard work and luck, I could find a noteworthy producer to produce the very best of these three volumes.
About the time I began working on the third volume, out of the blue I got an email from Brendan Benson himself containing a cover of a song I had written while working in the hydro electric plant, a song called "Only In A Dream". I fell out of my chair literally. I immediately began to make plans to leave Chicago and make my way back to Nashville. A writing session with Brendan and a Penske moving truck later, I was in Nashville. I immediately began playing any show I could pick up in the Nashville city limits all the while developing a relationship with Brendan and his manager Emily White. This eventually led to me going to Brendan's house one day and handing him my three volumes of demos. He said to me "Why don't I pick the best of this material and produce a proper record for you?".
Dream realization.
I took what Chicago money I had left as well as selling off most of the gear I collected and put it towards this record and this venture. Brendan had just finished his record "What Kind of World" and In 10 days we recorded my debut LP "Give Me My Change" with amazing musicians including Brad Pemberton of Ryan Adams and the Cardinals and Sam Farrar of Phantom Planet in an incredible studio called "Welcome To 1979" with Benson at the helm. Seemed to me it was halfway through the record when Brendan and Emily formally invited me on Readymade Records and an opening slot for The Raconteurs in my home state of Georgia.
Not long after followed a deal over the pond on Lojinx. Rather quickly Emily put together a team of interns for the label to coordinate my daily activities. Shortly after that a release date and tour were planned for all markets. Since then I've made it a daily practice to say "yes" to any opportunities the Readymade team sends to my inbox. After so many years on my own, I assure you I wake up each day thankful for emails from a team working on my behalf. I'm as eager as anyone to see how Readymades' model works out for all of the people involved in the promotion of "Give Me My Change". I believe the key to selling this record is getting out on the road doing more shows than I've ever done before. I'm looking forward to it.
On your mark, get set...
More @ YoungHines.com
