Life & Work with Zack Hicks of West Nashville

Today we’d like to introduce you to Zack Hicks

Hi Zack, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
The beginning of my story is a lot like most. You have this talent/dream, but not really sure what to do with it. Naturally I started singing in school talent shows and in my church. It’s sort of funny, before having the confidence to sing in front of an audience, I use to sing to my girlfriend over the phone. She recorded it once without me knowing and showed our choir director at church. He gave me no choice and had me singing a solo that next Sunday. I sang “who am I” by Casting Crowns. Ironic if you think about it. From there, I sang solos and became apart of the church choir through my time in high school. Life happened and my focus was more on growing up and finding out where I wanted to go. I moved to Dallas tx at the age of 18, looking for something bigger than my small town of Arkansas. I always had this feeling I wanted more out of life. Almost like a destined for something greater feeling. Once I hit 21 I started going to bars and singing karaoke. I got a lot of attention from it. Entered into karaoke competitions and was honestly out singing 3-4 nights a week at local bars. That transitioned into me auditioning for American idol. That didn’t go as planned and the experience was very overwhelming.
I’ve always had a passion for connecting with people. I love it. I love hearing others stories and I love helping others get to where they’re going. So in making those connections – I had a good friend who was at dinner with one of the producers of The Voice. He knew I had just tried for American idol and had no plans for reality tv. He tried convincing me for the voice. I gave in and auditioned. This decision was by far the best one yet. I met some of the greatest people and ultimately ended up moving to Nashville with 3 other contestants from the show. Nashville is a wild ride. I have had highs and I have had lows. My move to Nashville introduced me to other dreamers like myself. I had never really been around other passionate dreamers coming from a small town. So this was exciting. After a couple of years in Nashville, I found myself easily distracted. With jobs, going out with friends, spending money I didn’t have. Doing all the things a lost boy in a big city would do. My dream slowly started becoming a memory. Until one day, I woke up. I couldn’t take watching my dream sit in the back of my mind anymore. I decided to put all I have into music. I had to live my dream in order for it to come true. I had to finally make it a priority. I’ve went down a couple of roads to get where I am today. It’s been a roller coaster for sure, but I am excited to be finally releasing original music this summer and taking on the dream head first.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been a road full of gratefulness, appreciation and a lot of tears. I have had lots of no’s. I have had my dream taken for granted. I have dealt with some pretty outrageous people. But I am so grateful for every experience. Good and bad! This dream has lead me down some darks paths. It has shown me life in a way some couldn’t understand, but I feel a lot will connect with. I have dealt with homelessness, I have dealt with greed, I have dealt with people taking my kindness for granted and I have dealt with people taking my situations for granted. There’s been a lot of heartache.. but I am so thankful for that heartache. And I plan to use it to help others through my songs.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a man of many traits and talents. I usually put a lot of passion into almost everything I set my mind to. Which leads to success in most cases. Music in particular is most definitely the one that means the most to me. I think that’s why I let myself get distracted for so long. I wanted to get myself to a mindset where I am completely ready to take on this dream. I wanted to take care of my life’s trauma so that I could find the right words to put into my songs. Life has thrown all of us many traumas, but if you take that trauma and actually learn from it, life is truly limitless.
I’d say I’m best known for singing, but never had really done much with it. I want to change that. I want music to be what everyone thinks of when they think of me. I want to truly leave a legacy that helps others find their passions and promotes positivity in their lives.

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I love that Nashville is a place of hope. It is music city! There are so many talented people here not just in music, but of all passions. It is a place where people like me who spent years dreaming of creating and living out there rockstar dreams – can go and have those passions come to life.

What I like least… it’s hard to see Nashville grow so fast. I know that’s very generic, but it’s true. Also, I don’t want Nashville to lose its spark. I don’t want it to be over saturated so that people always feel that same feeling that I did when I first moved here in 2016.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Zzhicks
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BGU9xCFNc/?mibextid=wwXIfr