Introduction
After years of chasing his own sound between roots music, soul and storytelling, Tyler Hutton is finally arriving somewhere that feels entirely his own.
In this interview with Glitch & Gold, he reflects on authenticity, imperfections, songwriting, creative independence and why honest performances will always matter more than perfection.
From Los Angeles to Nashville, from band dynamics to finding his own voice, this conversation captures an artist choosing feeling over polish, and substance over trends.
01 Finding His Own Voice
You grew up on The Beatles, Motown and roots music. When did that shift from influence into something that actually felt like your own sound?
I think that is an ongoing process for me. It has taken a long time to find my own voice in my music and I still hear my influences in what I write but with the last few tunes I have released I think I am closing in on my own distinct sound.
02 Outsider By Nature
You’ve said you never really connected with contemporary music growing up. Do you still feel like an outsider in today’s scene, or has that changed?
I still feel largely the same and there are a few reasons. The first being I don’t really like the way modern music is produced in a lot of cases with the aim being this perfect and seamless sound. It doesn’t feel like there is a lot of room for imperfections and I prefer an organic human performance, all of my favorite records are littered with little imperfections that make them sound real to me.
Although there are many modern exceptions I should add. Secondly, I find that I don’t relate to the lyricism or writing in a lot of what I hear that is popular at the moment, feels like a lot of it is trying a bit too hard and less on the authentic side.
Don’t know if that is fair for me to say but it’s how I feel although it opens me up to lots of criticism myself of course. Luckily I have endless music from past decades to listen to and discover and of course I do like plenty of modern artists, they just don’t happen to be in the top 40. A lot of my favorite contemporary artists are here in Nashville like Elijah Ocean and Tony Hannah.
03 Stories, Feelings Or Both?
Your songs feel very story driven. Do they usually come from real moments, or do you build stories around a certain feeling?
I think it happens both ways, songwriting is funny like that. Sometimes I don’t even realize I am writing about a real moment until much later and other times the feeling I am capturing in a song doesn’t even feel like my own.
04 Classical Roots
You studied classical guitar before fully stepping into songwriting. What did that period actually change in the way you write today?
It is kind of hard to put my finger on because I have done my best to not think in terms of theory when it comes to songwriting which was a large part of my music education. But I think it is often in the chord changes or the melodies I write where I sometimes realize I wouldn’t have written that way without the background in classical.
05 Own Path, Not An Easy One
You spent time in Los Angeles working with others, and now you’ve moved to Nashville focusing more on your own path. What changed for you in that transition?
It was a lot of false starts for sure. I never really wanted to be a solo artist because I love nothing more than the collaborative aspect of a band.
But a band requires a lot of work and a synchronicity on top of a lot of egos endlessly clashing in my experience which has been exhausting and unsustainable. I have always really enjoyed taking a backseat as well though and still do, playing bass or guitar in other projects and bands.
I realized at some point though that I needed a vehicle for my own creativity and so doing it this way as an individual just became a necessity by default over time.
06 Music Before Images
Tracks like Through My Window or The Gunslinger feel very visual. When you write, do you see images first or hear the music first?
Almost always the music first and the lyrics later. But every so often I will write some poetry or lyrics that I set music to. I suppose those songs start as images.
07 Soul Music & New Chapters
Your newer release Wish I Had A Girl Like You feels a bit more direct and open. Is that a conscious shift, or just where you are right now?
I wish I could say I wrote that song! It is a cover of an old and slightly obscure Robert Moore tune that I love.
But it is partly where I am right now because it is the first in a series of old Soul/R&B tunes I am going to cover and release as singles. It’s a bit indulgent I know but I can’t resist, I’m having a lot of fun with it and that music is very near and dear to my heart.
08 Honest Songs, Real Feelings
You’ve mentioned caring less about technical perfection and more about voice and storytelling. When did that shift happen for you personally?
I think I picked that up from listening to the bands I love. Especially those from the 60’s who pioneered studio recording at a time where they couldn’t just endlessly perfect everything.
It has definitely always been my approach. I am just trying to capture a natural and honest performance with varying degrees of success. I like the gamble of that a bit and honestly technical proficiency in music sounds very sterile and one dimensional to me when it is the focus.
I am partial to a more primal approach that relies solely on feeling.
09 The Songs That Stay Behind
You’ve talked about having a backlog of songs. How do you decide which ones are ready to be released and which ones stay unfinished?
Gosh it has kind of just happens as I go. I have always written really prolifically for better or worse. So I have lots of songs that in my mind aren’t good enough to be recorded. I tend to see these as exercises in writing or just songs I have outgrown.
I have a bit of a process where I set out to make an album and write a batch of songs with that intention in mind. I did this with my first two albums. I have written so many others that are either recorded and unreleased, half-recorded or abandoned entirely.
My problem is I get really excited about something fresh and new and lose interest in older songs. But every once in blue moon I unearth something and decide to record it like this tune “Lady” I put out a while back. I found this old demo of it and decided it would be fun to cut it.
10 The Road Ahead
If this current chapter is about getting out there and playing more live, what can people expect from a Tyler Hutton show right now?
I consistently and solely have been playing acoustic shows for the last several years which can be really limiting. So I am looking forward to getting a band together to play my songs like they are recorded or even to breathe new life into them.
I also have a TBA side project with my songwriting partner, Sam Davis that we are most certainly going to recreate live in some capacity! So lots of full band shows in near the future!
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