Meet Nashville’s Rising Stars: Singer-Songwriter Erik Stucky

An Interview With Edward Sylvan

Nashville is a great city, particularly for a musician. The thing I love the most is the access to great musicians and producers. As far as recording goes, the sky is the limit. No matter what you are looking for you can find it here.

As a part of our series about Nashville’s rising stars, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Erik Stucky.

Originally from western Colorado, Erik Stucky relocated to Nashville, Tennessee following the release of his debut album Stray Clouds in 2017. The mandolin player is known for his easy listening voice (think Jack Johnson or Jason Mraz), smart lyrics, folk instrumentation, and big band arrangements — all beautifully exemplified in his sophomore album, Good Vibrations. Stucky has performed across the United States and Europe. When he’s not writing or playing music, Stucky enjoys exploring the outdoors, reading, practicing martial arts, hunting, and eating great food.

Thank you so much for joining us in this series! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us a bit of the ‘backstory’ of how you grew up?

I grew up in the San Juan mountain range of Western Colorado — a beautiful place with rugged 14,000 ft mountains all around. It’s a relatively undiscovered part of the state (until recently). In a lot of ways, it’s a pretty regular ranching and farming community.

My two brothers, my sister, and I were all homeschooled for most of our upbringing, though I entered public school in eighth grade. Homeschooling has its drawbacks, but it also has a lot of major upsides. I was able to do so many different things as a kid that I didn’t realize until later in life were pretty rare. We (my siblings and I) played many sports, competing in ski racing, soccer, football, wrestling, swimming, tap dancing, and several others. As part of our homeschool curriculum, we also took art, creative writing, and MUSIC!! I found the mandolin at the age of eight when I heard Mark O'Connor playing it at a bluegrass festival in Silverton, CO and proceeded to beg my parents to buy me one.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

I have always been moved by music, even before I started playing. I have had many different things happen that ultimately directed me to write, play, and sing. And I’ve had many points where I made the conscious decision to keep going. One particular story that comes to mind is when I made the decision to make the jump and move to Nashville.

I am an avid hunter. I love the time in nature, walking in the footsteps of the millennia of ancestors that have come before us.

So. . .

I was hunting Black Bear in Colorado and had been out for about five days (sunup to sundown) looking, sitting, searching, waiting, waiting. . . And on the evening of the 5th day, just before dusk, I saw two ears poke up from behind a nearby bush. A ghostly quiet Black Bear was coming into view. I was in shock, hands shaking as I raised my rifle and put my crosshairs on him. It was an easy shot, but I just sat there looking at him. . . and he looked at me. . . and then he turned away and calmly walked back into the forest.

For a while I was frustrated with myself, not to mention I was hassled by my friends for letting it get away. Why hadn’t I taken that shot?

For one reason or another, it just didn’t feel right to pull the trigger. And I am glad that I did not. That bear taught me something. Something like, “You can practice forever, you can be out in the woods all day and all night, but when the opportunity presents itself, if you don’t pull the trigger then you might as well be bear watching. Don’t fool yourself — you are not hunting.”

Over the course of a week or so, I began to recognize the bear as a symbol for my life and the music industry. I needed to “go for it,” or be content as my opportunity faded away, silently slipping out of view until it was gone.

Three months later I moved to Nashville. I haven’t looked back.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

That’s a tough one. . . I am totally blown away that I got to take lessons from John Moore. I was a kid who was very passionate about the mandolin, but in my part of the state (and country), access to a professional mentor was scarce. One of my musical hero’s was a mandolin player named Chris Thile from the band Nickel Creek. As a stroke of luck or destiny, John Moore had been Chris’s teacher for ten years. . . I’d say I’m the luckiest kid who ever had a dream of being a musician to have my hero’s teacher (also a legend in his own right) live a few hours from me. . . and willing to teach me.

Can you share with us an interesting story about living in Nashville?

Yes!

An artist friend of mine named David Starr had been coming to Nashville (from Colorado) for a few years to write and record his music. Right when I moved to town, I sent him a text message asking when he would be coming back to Nashville. He replied something like, “I’m here now in the studio with John Oats (Hall & Oats), do you want to come down?”. . . Ummmm, YES!!

Literally within three days of moving to Nashville, I was sitting on a couch next to a Rock & Roll icon as he produced my friend’s album.

David took a picture, and I sent it to my mom, who was a huge fan. Since then I’ve shared the stage with John on a couple of occasions.

Can you share with us a few of the best parts of living in Nashville? We’d love to hear some specific examples or stories about that.

Nashville is a great city, particularly for a musician. The thing I love the most is the access to great musicians and producers. As far as recording goes, the sky is the limit. No matter what you are looking for you can find it here.

One example is my producer, Paul Allen, who knows I am a huge Lyle Lovett fan. I love the big band sound Lyle brings to his “country music.” Horn sections, soul choir, etc. — it’s very unique.

Anyway, I knew that I wanted to make this album with lots of horn parts, so my producer called Vincent Ciesielski to come in to play trumpet and flugelhorn. I got to talking with Vini and found out that he had played in Lyle Lovett’s band for almost twenty years! I told my producer this, and he just said “Yeah, that’s why I called him.”

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from it?

Too many mistakes to count, let alone remember! Haha.

One particular story happened more recently than I would like to admit. . . so we can pretend it was when I was “first starting out” (wink, wink).

I had been getting ready for a show back in Colorado and checking all my gear: extra guitar strings — check, capo — check, guitar IN THE CASE — check, guitar picks in my pocket — check.

When I got to the show for soundcheck, I reached in my pocket for my picks and they weren’t there.

I realized at the last minute I’d changed my pants and had not taken them out of my pocket. I quickly googled the nearest music store and it was closed. And I didn’t want to walk around asking people, “heeyy, uhhh, do you have a pick I can borrow?” Because that just doesn’t look good. It’s the equivalent of showing up to a track meet with only your Birkenstocks!

My face was getting red and my hands were getting cold, as I kicked myself for being such an idiot!! Luckily, I called my mom who was coming to this show, and she was able to get my picks to me ten minutes before show time. Thanks, Mom!

Lesson learned: check and double-check your pockets!

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Grateful. . . absolutely. Sometimes to the point of tears.

When I was around the age of ten, my father was able to get in contact with John Moore. John had been an L.A. studio musician and performer (three-time winner of IBMA’s Band of the Year award), but had moved to Colorado to further his horse training business. John is an absolutely incredible player and was my first introduction into the elite level of musicianship that exists in the industry. My mom would drive me the three-hour trek to his house a few times a year and drop me off for the weekend. I would help him with tasks around his ranch (as much help as a kid can be), and he would give me mandolin lessons. He gave me a solid foundation to build on, and I would not be the musician I am today without his mentorship. No question about it.

Once I moved to Nashville, I became friends with Paul Allen, who produced this album (Good Vibrations). Paul is absolutely world-class on something like nineteen different instruments, has a number of Grammy Award wins, etc., etc. . . I don’t know what it takes to qualify someone as a musical prodigy, but he is one as far as I am concerned. I have learned so much from watching him — not only about playing music but also about navigating the industry and being a professional that other professionals want to work with.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

At the moment, most of my energy is going into performing and promoting my album Good Vibrations. It’s very exciting to have the singles come out and to be outperforming after the long COVID layoff. The full album drops on August 6th, and I can’t wait. So much time, energy, and money goes into creating a project like this, and it is so rewarding to finally see it out into the world.

Once this process is complete, I am excited to get to work on the next one. . . :)

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

I don’t know if I have 5 things that I wish someone told me. . . because I was probably told them at one point or another. . . but wasn’t paying attention! However, here are a few things that I have found to be true along the way. Before I start, I’d like to preface by saying that I am by no means perfect and these are ongoing battles. So, I write them as much as a reminder to myself as I do for anyone who reads this:

1. “Pretend you are a professional..until you are one.” In any other profession (if you are an employer anyway) you don’t take sick days, tired days, “not inspired” days. You show up and you hit it hard for 40 hours a week (minimum)! You don’t drink on the job and you don’t show up late. When I started viewing what I do as similar to that of a professional athlete — who needs to train everyday, eat right, get sleep, and eliminate time-wasting distractions — big things moved.
2. “Trust yourself.” Nobody knows what’s right for you, but you. I used to ask people all sorts of questions like, “should I move to Nashville?” “Should I go to college?” “Do you think I can make it?” Etc. You already know the answers. . . People’s advice often comes from a place of fear, bitterness, or unconscious belief patterns of which they aren’t even aware. If someone has something you want, ask, listen, and digest. Then make your own choice if none, some, or all of the advice is right for you.
3. Frank Zappa has a great quote that really resonates with me. When asked what advice he would give to young musicians his response was “There are two things that you have to do. One of them is to not stop, and the other one is to keep going. But, when you get there you’ll find out that it’s still tough.”
4. John Moore said something to me at a very young age that I’ll never forget. Though, it took me a decade to understand. During one of our first meetings together he asked me something like, “what do you want out of the mandolin?” I replied, in my high-pitched, ten-year-old voice, “I want to be world-famous!” He kind of smirked and replied, “You just worry about being world-class, and the fame will take care of itself.” Truer words could not be spoken by a mentor to a pupil. I’m so thankful to John, from the bottom of my heart, for everything he’s done for me.
5. Don’t make excuses. (I’m looking at myself in the mirror.) For every reason that you have for not getting your work done, there is someone who faced the same challenge and found a way to beat it. For God’s sake, there are people out there who learn to play guitar with their feet because they don’t have arms!

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

Something that has helped me is getting (and staying) in touch with my “WHY?”

Why are you here doing this? Attention? Money? Social following? Though, I understand the utilitarian aspect of those things in an industry, they are so empty and have always left me feeling like it’s never enough.

I love music — playing music, writing music, listening to music — and finding new creative domains within myself. As long as I stay in touch with that, I am happy, excited, and inspired. That’s my WHY!

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I hope to inspire in people the same thing that I continually try to inspire within myself — to be themselves. Live the life that they know is for them and let their light shine. It doesn’t matter what you do in life, only that you are being true to yourself and giving yourself the benefit of the doubt that you can be, do, and have your deepest desires. Not only that — it is a crime to both you and the world to not grant your soul its birthright.

Tim Andrews once told me (and I think he said it best), “You have a beautiful Soul, and it deserves to be @*&^ing heard.”

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“. . . and David took his staff in hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, and put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag. And with his sling in hand, approached Goliath.” 1 Samuel 17:40

This quote is on the opening page of The Talent Code — a great book that I read at a time when I needed clarity. The biblical quote hit me like a sucker punch to the gut. Slay your dragons and don’t back down.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

Yes, Bob Dylan. Need I say more?

How can our readers follow you online?

My website is www.erikstucky.com

Instagram @erikstucky

Facebook @erikstuckymusic

Youtube @erikstucky

Spotify and all other streaming platforms: Erik Stucky

This was very meaningful; thank you so much! We wish you continued success!