Life & Work with Drew Erwin

Today we’d like to introduce you to Drew Erwin.

Drew, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
So I moved to Nashville in 2018 with my homies Jeffery, Spencer, and Graham from college. We all went to the University of Memphis and studied the music business. Their band started gaining traction our senior year, and they were planning on moving to Nashville after graduation.

They had management in the works on a tour for the fall lined up and needed someone to run sound. I always loved tinkering with audio engineering and was really burning out in Memphis playing bar gigs. When they asked me to do it, I knew that was my excuse to leave Memphis and dive in headfirst and really learn a new skill that I was always interested in.

I toured with them up until the pandemic hit in 2020. By then we were playing arenas, and as fun, as it was to take it all in, I knew my ultimate dream was to write and perform music, and although supporting my best friends was super fulfilling, the pandemic seemed like a proper time to reevaluate. They were growing extremely fast, and really needed an engineer that had the tech knowledge that I lacked in some scenarios.

So when the world shut down, we all got our own places, and I holed myself up and really started writing and falling in love with music again. I started a project for fun and started making music under the name ‘Kingston Hythe’. I released a lot of music in 2021. A song a month, sometimes 2. Just for fun. and through that process, I feel like I really started discovering myself as an artist.

Since then, I’ve been writing a lot of music and being a little more precious with it. I’m looking to start releasing stuff late this year or early next year. But under Drew Erwin instead of Kingston Hythe. I’m incredibly proud of the writing and it feels like me.

In the meantime, though I’m still writing for myself and others, and touring playing bass for American Idol season 19 winner Chayce Beckham.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Not incredibly smooth. In a perfect world, I would be doing my music full time. But I’m thankful for any opportunity I have to travel and make a living doing anything music-related.

I still run sound here and there for different artists. And sometimes the road can be tough mentally for me when I know it’s not my end goal to play/work for other artists.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m really proud of my development as a writer over the past two years.

I think my voice/writing sets me apart from others. Currently, I think the intimacy of my live sets is what I specialize in and what I’m known for, but also I have no idea.

I just try to be as authentically me as I can and try to connect with people through performing my songs, and it seems to be working so far! which is really encouraging.

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. People who have knowledge love to share it. especially in music. In my experience, keeping all doors open and relationships open has been really helpful.

If you’re available for a gig, take it. You never know what you will learn and who you will meet.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @drewerwin_

Image Credits
Tanner Yeager, Sarah Partain, Blake Oliver, Ainsley Barousse, and Nina Long