Conversations with Henry Conlon

Today we’d like to introduce you to Henry Conlon.

Hi Henry, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
I’ve been making music for as long as I can remember. I always used to get in trouble in school for whistling and must’ve driven my teachers nuts. I started playing guitar when I was in about 6th or 7th grade. I didn’t have much direction by way of songwriting but I found it easier to write my songs than to try to learn covers so I started writing songs on my acoustic guitar and slowly began putting together a set (with no plans yet of performing). I started performing at coffee houses in high school.

In 2017, I found myself getting sober and figuring out what I was going to do with my life and I stumbled upon Json Isbell’s Southeastern Record, and hearing the stories of sobriety from a sober person inspired me to pursue my craft further. I felt like I was seen heard and understood for the first time in my life and I began to dive deeper into songs, particularly Americana/country/folk music.

I worked at a small guitar store for a few years and saved up for a move to Nashville and in 2019 I made the move. I moved down with a guitar and a bag of clothes and no real plan. I ended up applying to the Belmont University Songwriting Program and was accepted and began taking classes. I found a little hole in the wall called Belcourt Taps (closed in 2022) and began meeting people in the Nashville songwriting community. I fell in love with Nashville and decided it would be home for a while.

I’ve now written over 200 songs and have cut with songwriters over multiple genres. I have released a few singles of my own, some independently and some with Texas label State Fair Records. I began working with producer Paul Ebersold (Morgan Wade, Reckless) in 2023 and will be releasing new songs in 2024.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I think that there will always be setbacks in the life of an independent artist. The struggles of booking and promoting yourself while also continuing to create content consistently is for sure daunting and can at times be hard but the second, I step up on a stage I remember what the work is for. Playing my music for people has always kept that fire burning and made this whole journey worth it.

I think that the biggest setback is always going to be finding my voice and what it is I have to say about my world and the world around me. That’s the part that feels like it’s my biggest task. I always look for new ways to describe my experiences and to describe the world as I see it while adding a refreshing or unique personal take to it.

Striking a balance between saying what I want to say and still being relatable/marketable is sometimes a struggle, especially in today’s world where short fast hooks on social media are what sells and I’m trying to construct a cohesive narrative but that’s part of the challenge of it and sometimes making those two worlds meet is the fun part!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As a singer-songwriter, and especially as an independent artist, I am my team. I’m in charge of writing the songs, funding the projects, booking the tours, promotion, PR, and publishing. It’s a struggle but managing to get it all together on my own is one of the things that I’m proud of. It’s taking some time to figure out and it’s still a learning process in a lot of regards but each step of progress I make along the way allows me to feel accomplished for the work that I’ve done.

As a writer, I would say the thing that I specialize in is creating a narrative and constructing it in a way that has a familiar and marketable feel, while still being fresh and having ideas that challenge the listener while also being good quality entertainment to consume. One of my favorite things is getting a call from another artist or a manager saying that they need help finishing a project and they need my special touch on it. I find that I thrive in the setting and I can help other artists create something unique and new.

I also applied the same principles to my music. I think that the songs that I’m creating are unique and have their identifiable brand or someone can listen and go “Oh yeah that’s a Henry Conlon song”.

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
This question is always been interesting to me. I think that the music industry has always been butting heads with itself. There is the music side and there is the business side and those don’t always agree. I think right now the business side of it has taken over the entire process and the industry is looking for quick easy money.

And I think that is resulted in a lot of carelessness in the approach to making careers with potential for longevity. In the last five years or so, I think there’s been a huge shift however back to creating art with a shelf life and promoting artists that have long-term potential. I think in the next 5 to 10 years we will see a marriage of these two ideas, I think we will see the industry shift into putting time and energy into careers rather than singles and using social media as a tool for growth rather than the sole metric of success.

Contact Info:

• Website: henryconlonmusic.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/henryconlonmusic/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyzSdLHbzzJ7O0FjWdTivYg
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6M2VbobMvtceSmISPuxJUR?autoplay=true

Image Credits
Chelsea Rooker, Garrett Keafer, and Colby Craig