COUNTRY STAR OF THE MONTH: CHAYCE BECKHAM

It has been awhile since an American Idol made it to the big time and even longer since super-star status. Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood are the benchmark that all singers that enter and leave the show shoot for. More often than not they quickly drift off into obscurity and are only remembered when you see a special reviewing that year’s moments. You give a quick, “Oh, yeah I remember that winner” and then do a Google search to see what they’re up to. I’m not saying that Chayce Beckham is the next big star to come off American Idol, but he may do it by just being himself.

Beckham comes out of California and listening to his his music can tell you who he listens to for inspiration. He seems to fall into the “old is new again” genre of recent artists that have their toes dipped into outlaw country where Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and Hank Williams Jr. established their roots. Chayce says that those artists along with Bob, Marley, Hank Williams Sr., and Bob Dylan are the ones that he is inspired by. You can hear it in his songs like Tell Me Twice and especially in his song 23. The recent release is steadily climbing the charts with it’s soulful sound and lyrics that touch on the dangers of drinking too much at an early age. The first time it came across my speakers I was immediately hooked with the sound and made sure I took return trips to it to really dig into the lyrics.

Artists like Chayce Beckham, Jackson Dean, and Warren Zieders are showing up more often on the charts, and fit a sound more like Chris Stapleton and Luke Combs then any of the other mainstream artists out there. For those of you that say that Country Music has too much Pop sound to it these are the alternate musicians to turn to. I think it says a lot that he was the first American Idol winner ever to do it with an original song. His duet with Lindsey Ell sounds a bit of the Nashville produced been there done that variety, but the artists’ edges gives a it a different feel. Maybe this is the spark that Country Music needs to get back to it’s roots where it sounds more like Willie and Waylon and less like a song that could find itself in rotation next to Post Malone.