Meet Anthony Culver

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anthony Culver.

Hi Anthony, 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.

My story starts when my mom’s dad passed away and left me a banjo. I didn’t want to play the banjo, I wanted to play the guitar. To my surprise, my mom traded in the banjo for an acoustic guitar. I started reading all kinds of music books, as many as I could find, then my parents got divorced.

I started to live with my dad and didn’t concentrate on music for a while until my uncle sent me a Gibson hollow body acoustic with a Marshall amp. I started playing that all the time. After school, I would run home and play my guitar. Low and behold, I didn’t know my dad had come home from work. He came down to the basement as I was playing my guitar, took it from me and smashed it on the pavement into pieces. I was devastated.

I still had an acoustic guitar, so I would play that every day after school. Then one day, I found out my dad was getting married. Every day after school I started writing and that’s how I became a songwriter. I wrote them a beautiful song for their wedding, although when I got home from school the day that they were supposed to be married, my dad left me with a babysitter and took her own kids to the wedding. That made me feel even more wanting to get away from where I was. It wasn’t long after that I went back to live with my mom, who loved everything about music. My mom bought me my first PA. I practiced singing, writing songs and learning everything I could about music, including different instruments.

I became a singer and eventually sang in a few bands before I started writing my own songs for my own band. I started having my own type of bands, some were very successful. I started singing a lot of metal and rock, but kept feeling it in my heart that it wasn’t me, and my mom knew it. My mom said she would never come and see me play again if I sang metal, LOL, so I started writing country songs, lots and lots of country songs. Some were good, some were crazy, but I kept plugging along until that one day I decided that I needed to move to Nashville. I ended up staying with a manager in Nashville who took over that part of my life, and let me tell you it was an interesting ride. I learned the ins and outs of the music business real fast and how people stomp on you. People lie, people will do anything just to get your money, but I stuck with it and never gave up. I currently have two songs on the radio.

I’ve received some awards for my songwriting skills and I made friends with a lot of big songwriters in Nashville who gave me a lot of tips. It’s been a long hard ride, but I’m not giving up. I know I have a gift and I know what I want to give to the world, so I thank God I’m still here, doing what I love to do and I still have my mom.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The only thing that is hard is when people say that I should give it up because I’m getting too old, or when people say that they don’t like country music or they don’t like rock music. I just smile and play on.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I write songs with a melody. I come up with a cool lyric or phrase first for the chorus, after that it just all comes together. I piece it all together and then write it on one full page. I’ve been writing all my life this way. I can write a song in 10 minutes, or I could write a song in 2 weeks. I also like to co-write too.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
I have a unique voice compared to other singers which makes me sound different. I also know how to work the crowd and I usually dress differently than today’s country artists.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.akcodymusic.com
• Instagram: @akcodymusic
• Facebook: @akcody
• Twitter: @akcodymusic
• Youtube: akcodymusic
• SoundCloud: akcodymusic

Image Credits
[email protected]