Raised on the east coast up in New Jersey, Alan Carl has just gotten his feet wet in the Nashville music scene. He has signed a publishing deal with Lord and Thorne (Darryl Price’s new publishing company) and is hitting the ground running with shows all over Nashville. Carl did his first interview with The Shotgun Seat and chatted with us about his life growing up and his future plans.
Growing up on a soy bean farm in New Jersey, Carl lived the typical country lifestyle, enjoying hunting and fishing. “I listened to all different genres with my family,” Carl says of his upbringing. “My dad would listen to The Temptations or Willie Nelson so I grew up on that kind of music.”
Carl very quickly discovered that the traditional college track was not for him. Staring out the window one day of his New Jersey community college, he decided that he was moving. “I was not paying attention and I just, in the middle of class, got up and handed in my books and moved to Nashville.” Though just twenty-two, the drive he lacked towards college he found instead in the music industry, playing shows and working hard to make his musical dream a reality.
We asked about his current influences and what shapes his sound and he explained that he doesn’t like to close himself off to one genre when listening to music now. “I like to experiment and sound fresh and new and different,” he says. “It’s good to respect the legends, like George Strait and George Jones but as for my music influences I listen to everything. I even listen to a little Justin Bieber every now and then.” Taking his traditional country crooner voice, he has been playing gigs all over Nashville.
Carl writes as much as he can, and is compiling a bunch of songs for his debut EP. “Productivity is the best word that will describe for this year, I really want to hustle and get my name out there,” he says.
To listen to Alan Carl, follow him on his social media outlets: Twitter and Instagram.