Stu Basham is currently an artist living in Nashville and recognized as One to Watch by NSAI. Stu's music feels like a mix of Luke Bryan with an influence from Fallout Boy. His singles, "Hits Like a Girl," and "Sucker for a Good Time," has elements of pop and country and are both songs that you could hear playing on a rooftop downtown on a Friday night. Basham believed in his dreams of being a full-time musician so stopped pursuing his commercial pilots license and started chasing songwriting. Here's what he had to say about how he's been turning a dream into an every day reality.
Provide a brief background of yourself as an artist, what has changed in the past year?
Well I've done music for the past 20+ years playing everything from jam band kind of stuff to pop to indie rock and now I've finally found my love in country music. I got bit by the country bug while living in NYC around 2018 and quickly became obsessed with the art and craft of songwriting. I started writing all the time and really focusing on the lyric aspect of the songs. I moved to Nashville in 2020 with my family right before everything hit, so when the pandemic started I just used it as an opportunity to write as many songs at home as I could.
This year I've finally branched out and began releasing material as an artist. I've got so many songs that I want to be heard and as a songwriter it's hard to get people to listen when you're only shot is getting them cut by someone. So I'm out here releasing my songs to the world because I love songwriting but also love being on stage and performing. Where are you based out of? I've been in Nashville since 2020 moving here from NYC. What are you planning on releasing this year I'm planning on releasing a new single every 6-8 weeks focusing on some cool summer songs over the next few months. Have you been co-writing with other writers? I've co-written a few songs with people but my schedule is pretty challenging to get something on the books so I tend to write almost all my songs by myself at this point. What was the process for writing and releasing this single? What genre of music do you play and why did you choose it? I wrote this song in January of 2021. It is a fun summer country song that got a really good recommendation from Nashville Songwriters Association (NSAI) and thought that was pretty cool. I just sat on it for a long time and even got a demo singer to sing on it so I could pitch it but it essentially was collecting dust. So when I decided I wanted to start releasing songs I said why not choose the song that everyone seems to like. It's got an energetic, sexy, rock n roll kind of country vibe to it that will be really good in live shows so I'm excited to eventually play it for people on stage. Where have you been playing live music and planning to play this upcoming month? I've been doing several writers rounds in Nashville meeting some cool people and some amazingly talented songwriters. I don't have any gigs on the books right now as I'm just focused on releasing music and writing new material. Hopefully I can play some coming up this summer. What do you like most about your music career? I like the freedom now of writing the songs I want to write and also the ability to release them when I want to. I love that even though I have a "regular job" I still get to write songs all the time and share my passion with others. Why did you choose a career in the music industry? What are your long term goals? I love the music industry. My current job is actually in it so it helps me learn a lot of different aspects especially in the live music sector. My long term goals are to keep releasing music and partner with a publishing company and record label to get the songs out there. In the next 2-5 years I'd like to have some type of deal and begin touring with artists opening for them and eventually doing my own headlining tours. What is one song that would describe the soundtrack of your life? This question was the hardest one for me because my mood changes every day. Some days I need a good heartbreak song in my life, some days I want a drinking song or a summer anthem so it just depends. I asked my wife and she hilariously said "I Get Knocked Down" by Chumbawamba because of the adversity I've faced and how I keep trying and never give up.
LINKS:
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/stubasham/
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@stubasham
Spotify -