Hello reader,
How are you today?
Today, we’re excited to talk about another emerging artist who is making some great music: Los Angeles musician Luke Tyler Shelton.
During a recent interview with SWT, Shelton described his overall sound as “folk rock with 70s pop and country influences.” However, his sound is constantly evolving from song to song.
“I feel that my sound can change with each song I write as my influences are constantly in flux,” he says. “Right now, I’m super into artists like Carole King, George Harrison, Labi Siffre, and Paul McCartney.”
On July 18, he released his debut EP Blue Sky, which was produced by Shooter Jennings and Jonathan Wilson. It includes the singles “A Bus Ain’t A Home” and “Hell Of A Ride”.
His biggest goal for the EP was to “take the songs I’d felt were my strongest at the time and attempt to do them as much justice in the studio as possible.”
“It was my first experience having real sessions, in real studios, with real producers and I learned a lot about the process and am extremely grateful for it,” says Shelton.
We’re glad Shelton included “Feeling Always Down” on the EP. It’s one of our favorite tracks so we’re excited to highlight it as part of our Singles Spotlight series. Shelton says he got the idea for the song when he was “driving super early one morning to my friend’s house and I was listening to George Harrison’s ‘Behind That Locked Door’.”
“George has been a constant inspiration for me and after listening to the song I got really inspired to write something sad,” he says. “It’s funny because people have asked me what that song is about and what I was so sad about. But I don’t think I was actually upset about anything when I wrote it. [laughs]”
Once he got to his friend’s place, they weren’t even awake yet, so he just parked his car, grabbed his guitar from the back seat, and wrote “most of it right then and there.”
He began to realize the “Importance of collaboration with both producers and musicians” while recording the song.
“Since those sessions I feel that I have a better understanding of the process and a better understanding of myself as an artist with what I want to create and how I want to do it moving forward,” says Shelton.
“Recording it in the studio was really satisfying because I’d been playing the song live with my band for almost a year prior. It felt really good to finally get to record it and I think it came out beautifully. I think my favorite parts of the song are the producer Jonathan Wilson’s drums, my pianist Hunter Watt’s beautiful piano playing, and the guitar solo done by my buddy Alex Amen.”
We wholly agree. Shelton’s heartfelt, powerful vocals, sublime guitar strumming, and backing instrumentation combine to a stunning composition that warrants repeat listens. It’s easy to get lost in that rich tapestry of sounds that wash over you like waves. While there’s plenty of George Harrison influence on the song, Shelton’s talent really shines through and showcases the impressive knack for songwriting he’s already developed.
We’re excited to see where he goes from here!
You can catch Luke at the following shows:
September 6 – 7 – Dawes Park (Evanston, IL)
September 27-28 – Commodore Ballroom (Vancouver, Canada)
You can follow and listen to Luke Tyler Shelton at the following links:
His fantastic website: LukeTylerShelton.com
Facebook: Facebook.com/luketylershelton/
Instagram: Instagram.com/luketylershelton
TikTok: Tiktok.com/@luketylershelton
YouTube: Luke Tyler Shelton on YouTube
Spotify: Luke Tyler Shelton on Spotify
Apple Music: Luke Tyler Shelton on Apple Music
Bandcamp: Luketylershelton.bandcamp.com/
Joshua is co-founder of Scummy Water Tower. He’s freelanced for a variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites, including: Rolling Stone, The Boston Globe, Chicago Sun-Times, Guitar World, MTV News, Grammy.com, Chicago Magazine, Milwaukee Magazine, MKE Lifestyle, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, A.V. Club, SPIN, Alternative Press, Under the Radar, Paste, PopMatters, American Songwriter, and Relix. You can email him at josh@scummywatertower.com.
