Nica Strong: I understand you started playing piano at 11 years old.
Drew Pulliam: Yeah, around 11 or 12. And I picked up Guitar, I was probably about 14.
NS: And your mom was involved in community theater.
DP: My mom ran the local community theater in the town that I grew up in. I had a lot of siblings and she couldn’t afford a babysitter. So, I was always there with my siblings, just hanging around getting babysat by the employees there.
NS: That’s so much fun. You get to meet diverse people and see different perspectives.
DP: Yes, and it’s such a cool place for growth too, because it’s all volunteers who are doing it. And it’s really cool to see people not getting paid to work towards something bigger than themselves.
NS: How did that early experience in the arts shape your decision to pursue music? Was it ingrained in you?
DP: I think it was ingrained in me. I always knew that I wanted to do something in the arts. I had lots of phases as a kid. I went through a soccer phase where I really wanted to play soccer and other stuff like that. At one point I went through a short phase where I wanted to be an artist, that one didn’t last long… like a painter, but I wasn’t very good at that. Music has kind of been the phase that stuck. At one point I wanted to go into theater, and I’m still kind of open to it, too. But I just got really into songwriting and music and storytelling. And that, from watching my mom direct. When you’re a director, you’re definitely a storyteller. Watching her tell those stories on the stage inspired me to write songs and tell my own stories.
NS: Your ep title was 16, going on 60. And then your new album Back Of My Mind. I love that song by the way and I think you have such a unique, distinct sound that I love.
DP: Oh, thank you!
NS: Can you tell me about the significance of the titles and how they reflect your artistic journey and observations on life?
DP: 16 going on 60 was the first record I ever made, and it was the one that I made mainly with Steve Azar. He was great. He’s always been so supportive and helped me find my sound as an artist. That’s always a journey, because artists go through different phases. Bob Dylan got really big and then went electric. 16 going on 60 was kind of like me, a young Drew, breaking into the scene. At times I felt like an older soul because of a lot of people I went to school with listen to music coming out today. I do a lot of that too, but I was 13 or 14 listening to Billy Joel, Elton John, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder nonstop. I’d go hang out with friends and start playing Billy Joel, and they’re like, “All right, that’s enough out of you.” (laughs) And so that’s where that title came from. Like Steve’s words. He said, “An old soul in a young kid’s body.” And then I don’t want to call Back of my Mind a breakup album, because it isn’t. It talks a lot more on that. But a lot of the songs focus on different feelings and different situations of love and relationships, whether it’s before a relationship or in the middle of one or after and the kind of these thoughts that you have in the back of your mind. Some of them even that you’re afraid to say out loud. So, in many ways the album’s pretty expressive in that way. But that’s where that title kind of came from.
NS: Do you play nearly every instrument on your new album?
DP: Yes, I went to Delta State to be closer to Steve so we could work together a lot more. It’s in the middle of the Delta in Mississippi. There’s a lot of blues players and rock and roll players, but not many folk players. And I really just wanted to chase this folkier sound for this album so I ended up learning a whole lot of instruments. I saved up a lot of my tip money from playing gigs and bought a mandolin and taught myself to play. I played a lot of the drums on the record, but not all of them, because there’s just so much talent in Mississippi, and I wanted to take advantage of that. So much talent, so much culture. It is a really cool place.
For the most part I played a lot of the songs on the album. Also, I would get done with classes, and me and my friends would go in the studio and goof off trying to see what we could come up with (laughs). A lot of this album is just a lot of college kids hanging out, having fun and seeing what we can cook up.
NS: When you are starting a new song, what usually comes first for you – the lyrics, the melody, or the concept? Can you kind of walk me through your typical songwriting process?
DP: That’s a tough question, because it really it comes different every time. It’s weird. Every time I start a song. I feel like I’m learning how to song write all over again because each song is like so different from the last, like it’s a completely new child is what my mom says. She’s like, “Your songs are like your children”. And every time I start a song it’s different.
Maybe I’ll have a lyric that comes to mind and I’ll pull out my phone and jot down real quick. I’ll have like melody kind of come to mind, and I’ll pull out my phone and sing into my phone. In fact, the other night I was on vacation with my family, and my phone was dead, and I had an idea come to mind, and it’s like 2 in the morning. So, I go and I grab my sister’s phone and record the idea into it and then forget about it. The next day she was like, “What is this?” And sent it to me. Sometimes I’ll just sit down at the piano or the guitar, and I’m like, let’s see what happens. Every time I start a song I feel like I’m learning the process of songwriting all over again.
NS: You’ve drawn creative styles from Southern novelists like Flannery O’connor and William Faulkner. How do their storytelling styles influence your approach to songwriting?
DP: That’s a good question. They definitely do. I love to read a lot. I read a lot of novels and a lot of poetry. Leonard Cohen has also been a big influence in my writing, as far as his poetry books. I love his poetry books, and William Faulkner. I like to read, and I like music, art and literature that makes you think. They have ways of influencing me and half the time I don’t even realize that they do. I’ll write, and then my mom will say, “That reminds me a lot of William Faulkner”.
NS: If you knew an artist who said that they’re struggling in the music scene and they want to quit, what words would you give as advice?
DP: I would tell them to find what’s unique that works for them. I moved to Nashville 8 months ago and what I’ve noticed so far is that the people who succeed are the people that really find joy in doing it, and also that don’t label themselves, or like restrict themselves at all.
The most are people who have a unique sound to them. They’re not trying to fit into any genre. They’re making what they think sounds good. In return they get a sound that’s unique. But the main thing is to make sure that you love and really enjoy what you’re doing. You have to have joy when you’re doing it, and you’re bringing joy to others, too. It’s hard to use it to bring joy to others whenever you’re not really enjoying it yourself.
NS: What’s one message you hope listeners take away from your new album, Back of My Mind?
DP: A lot of it tackles the feelings that you go through and experience during a relationship. A lot of people, at least from what I’ve seen, put on a face when it comes to relationships, like, “Oh, it’s sunshine and rainbows, and it’s perfect”. And relationships are work. They’re tough and I’m hoping that through these songs people can get more of an introspective look on how a relationship can actually be and realize that maybe they’re not alone when they’re experiencing these feelings that they’re hearing on this album.
NS: If you could collaborate with any other artist living, or not, who would it be? And why.
DP: Ray Lamontagne, I think. I’m a big Ray Lamontagne fan. I love his music, he’s so cool. I love his writing and his voice too, and then, probably Leonard Bernstein. His knowledge is out of this world. And he’s a very creative individual, or was, but I think that’d been pretty cool, to collaborate with him.
NS: What are some of your biggest challenges you face in the music industry so far and how have you overcome them?
DP: Hmm! Just figuring out production. I really enjoy songwriting and playing live, but getting into the studio and figuring out how to capture sounds, and the feeling that you had when you wrote the song, is a lot trickier than people give credit for. The hardest thing about making music so far is really capturing these feelings in the studio. I feel like I got a lot closer on this album. I’m super excited for people to hear it.
NS: What are your long-term goals for your music career?
DP: A billion dollar mansion, I think (laughs). I will hopefully continue to make music with people that I love and using it to bring joy to other people, and hopefully pay the bills while I’m doing it.
NS: When you were doing the gigs, do you think that has shaped you, and how you approach your music? Is the same when you are doing concerts?
DP: Yeah, playing gigs has an effect on the way I write. In fact, I was just talking to my friends about this last night. When you’re playing gigs, every gig is different, but I’ve been playing a lot of writer rounds recently and you’re up there on stage with 3 or 4 people, and you’re playing in a bar room or a restaurant. What I’ve noticed is that your songs have to, in the first 30 or 40 seconds, really snag a hold of people’s attention and then maintain it throughout. That means you have to throw some curve balls into your writing, and I feel like that’s what I’ve been subconsciously focusing on whenever I’m writing. It’s like, ‘all right, I need something that’s going to snag their attention off the gate. Make them turn some heads a little bit when I’m writing.’ I think that’s as of right now, the biggest way. It’s affected my writing and the way I create.
NS: Your videos are very interesting. Who comes up with the ideas and how do you go about tailoring the video to a specific song?
DP: I did “Back of My Mind” with Gus Black, and he is so incredible. He’s really inspiring and super fun to work with. We had this idea of an industrial looking room with the sand, glass and everything kind of matching. Then a lot of it was getting in there and having fun performing it. That was super fun because he was like, “You gotta go big! Go big, Go big!”. That was fun to shoot.
I asked my friends Zach and Jackson, who live in Nashville, to help shoot “January”. We shot it in Franklin, right outside of Nashville and rallied some people to be in the video, and they were super sweet to help out. That one was really just playing and singing it and having fun jamming along to convey the message. It’s a coming of age song and tells a story of going off to school and spending time with family, because you’re about to move away from them. Mom had the concept for that idea and helped out with it. She’s a director and is always super helpful whenever it comes to the videos.
And Roses was a collaborative effort to come up with the concept. It’s about rekindling an old flame in a relationship. And the Solutions group are good friends of ours and were super helpful coming up with ideas on filters and grains. Nine times out of ten it’s a collaborative effort. It’s everybody kind of getting together and having fun thinking up ideas. I really love collaborating on stuff like that.
NS: Have you ever made a mistake performing? What happened, and how did you handle it?
DP: That’s where theater has helped me a lot because I make lots of mistakes. Theaters trained me that if you mess up, keep going, and act like nothing. There’s been plenty of times where I’ve had voice cracks (laughs), especially because I played a lot of gigs in my teenage years. Well, I just have the worst voice crack and it’s funny, because I’ll just kind of smile and look at like my siblings, who are sitting over here because they’re always sweet to come out and watch, and we’ll just kind of laugh for a minute.
NS: Do you have any parting words for your fans?
DP: Yeah, stay tuned for the rest of the album. I really think you guys are gonna enjoy it. I’m already writing for the next project and getting ready for that. It’s gonna be a fun one.
