Meet Ty Stonehawker

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Ty Stonehawker.

Hi Ty, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
My story begins as an actor in school. My first appearance was the school Christmas play and I wanted to be the show’s star. I think I was eight years old; I was a little Christmas present. The cast did a choreographed dance and I was trying so hard to steal the show that I tripped and fell into the other children wrapped as Christmas presents; we tumbled like Domino’s. It almost looked like it was part of the show. It was the cutest thing you ever saw. 

My parents put me in piano lessons, but I rebelled. I didn’t like playing church hymns, and I thought the piano teacher smelled like mothballs. I remember on the days of my piano lessons, my mom would follow the school bus in the minivan to make sure I got off at that stop. I remember one time I got off the bus and ran and hid in the bushes. My poor mom. (LOL)

I was in every play in junior high and high school. I lettered in the theater; I was in the choir until I was elected class president, which gave me the ability to drop one elective, and I gladly dropped choir. (I felt the same way about choir as I did piano lessons. And now, I LOVE to sing!)

I was the class president in my sophomore and junior years. I was impeached from the presidency for partying .(I got caught with marijuana, which was illegal at the time). Around that time, a friend owed me money and gave me his guitar to pay the debt. I quickly learned C D and G chords and was off to the races playing tons of cover songs. 

The first song I ever learned was Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’.” By the time I started college, I was writing my own tunes; nothing too prolific, but every time I wrote a song, I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I still play those songs to this day. 

I got my real first taste of a big concert production when I saw the band Phish in 1999. I fell in love with the bright lights and the whole concert scene. I wanted to be up on stage, and I knew it. Then, after college, I moved to Sandpoint, Idaho, and became a ski bum at Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort. 

I started attending a lot of concerts and followed Phish throughout the band’s entire summer tour, from start to finish, in my lime green 1978 Volkswagen bus. I sold microbrews in the parking lot; one for $3, or two for $5.  I made enough money to get a ticket, gas money, some party favors, and more beer to sell to keep me going!

By the time I made it to the East Coast, I got stuck. I helped to build house that summer to make enough money to drive myself home back to the West Coast, to Idaho here I lived.

I started my own production company a few years later; I wanted to bring concerts to the little ski town. That’s how much I loved music. I started putting on and promoting concerts at the historic Panada Theater in town. I eventually opened my own club called Three Glasses. It was a basement bar with a stage. We welcomed local, regional and national acts at the theater. 

The cool part is, when it was a good fit, I would open the show or play during the set break. Acts that returned to town began to invite me onstage to sit in with them. I was playing a lot and began rubbing elbows and carving out my career. 

I was also working with the radio stations to build ads and promote my businesses. I ended up getting.  a job as a live on-air FM disc jockey at 95.3 KPND, a triple-A radio station. My radio name was “Stoney.”

I hosted a fun program called “Stoney’s Home Ground” on Sundays. I’d feature local and regional musicians, or whoever I was promoting.  The artists would come into the studio and play live.

I have been called “Stoney” since before I smoked my first joint. I did end up living up to the name, but now, I go by “Tyler,” and I’m proud to tell you that as I sit here and write this, I’m one year sober and actively practicing the art of recovery. 

In 2008, I started the Stoney Holiday Band, and in 2009, we recorded our first album. I was still working as a radio DJ Monday through Friday; running the production company and the bar, and I playing with the Stoney Holiday band on the weekends. 

One Sunday, I missed my radio show. I let a lot of folks down that morning; the musicians who were scheduled to play and my boss at the radio station. I felt bad about it, and my absence was a result of partying too much at my show the night before. My boss, who I’m still friends with today, gave me a choice. It was either the radio station or the band. I get that I chose the band. 

Stoney Holiday Band started playing all over. We moved to Portland, Oregon. By this time, my drug and alcohol abuse was out of control. I had a huge ego and a short fuse; I thought I was “King of The World.”  My intentions were always good, but my actions lacked. The band ended up breaking up.

I went to rehab for heroin. At this point, I told myself if I never did heroin again, I could continue drinking and using other drugs. I never used heroin again, but I became an alcoholic.

When I met producer, Mark “Mooka” Rennick, at his studio, Prairie Sun Records in Sonoma County, California, he told me that if I got sober, he would produce a record for me. I did just that. I put myself through rehab, and three months later, we started our work in the studio. We spent the next year recording my solo album GAMBLIN’ MAN (which is dropping later this summer). I’m really proud of it. I got to work with the most amazing musicians and singers. 

The title of the album is fitting because my whole life has been a “gamble.” 

I’ve gambled on everything. I finally got sober, sold my farm and I’m gambling everything again on my music career.  I just moved from Oregon to Nashville!

All of these experiences made me who I am today and made me the musician that I am today. I have so much to write about and my songs have a lot of depth and meaning to me; I think my listeners find a lot of depth and meaning in my songs.

I write songs for everybody. Now, that the man behind the music matches the message in the music.  I can create beauty in this world, and anybody is allowed to latch on to that beauty. This is for everyone. 

One day at a time, I practice recovery, and I learn and grow. I am not the same person today that I was yesterday, and I will not be the same person tomorrow that I am today. I strive to be better. I want everyone to be better. The world is not a competition. It’s about doing the best you can as an individual and helping others.

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 not been smooth journey. I struggle with addiction to drugs and alcohol. I have a year of sobriety and am currently in recovery. 

That being said, there have been so many ups and downs with my music career. I have so many stories where I felt like I was almost there and then, I blew it–missing an opportunity. The 2009 Stoney Holiday album as example-A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN. We recorded it but I have never printed it.

I never even had it mastered. 

I was insane in those days. I was busy pretending I was a rockstar, trashing hotel rooms, and ruining my own reputation before fame. There are certain festivals that will not ask me back. There are bars and music venues that don’t want me back. 

I followed the bottle instead of my dream. I thought that I was progressing, but I was in a constant state of pause. 

Today…

Since I started my recovery journey two years ago, I’ve recorded my first world-class album with an amazing producer and so many top musicians. I started taking vocal coaching, guitar lessons, and piano lessons. I’m now being mentored by multi-platinum songwriter Andrea Stolpe. 

In all these areas of learning, vocals, music and songwriting, I never wanted to be taught. I wanted to be self-taught. I wanted to be unique, and what I realized was that I was holding myself back and that no matter how much I learned, I would always be unique. I’m the only one with my thumbprint. I’m the only one with my eyeballs. 

No matter how good I get at singing, playing the guitar and writing songs, I will always sound and feel like a “Ty StoneHawker.”  I’ll just be really good at it. 

We’ve been impressed with StoneHouse Entertainment/Ty StoneHawker, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

Stonehouse Entertainment is the production company that I started in 2004. We produced concerts. The biggest concert that I ever put on was for Eric Church; right after his first hit on the radio. We paid five grand. (I think, it’s ten grand just to talk to him on the phone these days. LOL) Stonehouse Entertainment produced a ton of concerts over the years. 

I spent 10 years in Oregon growing hemp and cannabis. When the industry crashed, I turned my drying barn into a music venue called the Hemp Barn. 

Stonehouse Entertainment is now the umbrella of my independent record label; it could be bright in the music industry for others.

I definitely see myself helping other young aspiring artists get to where I am. If I can get here, I can help someone else get here! 

I also own StoneHawker Coffee which I just recently launched. 

I’ve had property in Guatemala for six years. I own a healing yoga and arts plant medicine retreat on Lake Atitlan called Casa Curative. The lake is an old super volcano Caldera that blew off 80,000 years ago. It’s beautiful for vacation. Especially if you like being near or on the water. Anytime you want to go to another town you have to take a boat. 

I saw that Starbucks was selling coffee beans from the lake for $40 a pound, so I got in on that action. 

I went to the five coffee producing towns around the lake, taste-tested a variety of coffees and met the farming families. I picked the family that I resonated with the most and bought my first 300 lb. of coffee beans. 

I put the beans in six pieces of luggage and boated them across the lake to a taxi. Taxied them to the airport. Took the six pieces of luggage through the airport and, of course, when I landed in Texas, the border control took me to a special room where they read me the riot act.  They told me that if I just told them what I was really doing with the coffee they would go easy on me. 

After they put my coffee beans to the scanner, they let me go. 

Now, we have StoneHawker coffee beans. 

We pride ourselves on having the best coffee in the world. The coffee beans ranked 87 points in their cupping notes, which is in the top 10% of all coffee in the world. It is a delicious coffee we’re calling the batches from Guatemala, “Funk Up Your Perk!” 

I’m also involved in fashion—have been for a number of years. I started designing my own clothing; the clothing line is StoneHawker Clothing.  It’s western wear meets south American flare. 

I take cowboy shirts and add bright colors. I take the beautiful fabrics from South America and central America and I create really fun bright festival clothing and stage attire. 

A lot of artists love wearing my clothes on stage because it is really bright and a lot of fun. 

If you’re wearing a StoneHawker design, you’ll have compliments tossed at you all night long, and if you’re drinking StoneHawker coffee, you’re going to fly high like a hawk. 

[The funny thing is that I’m selling coffee now. I like to say that I’ve always sold whatever I’m on! Thank God, now…it’s just coffee. The years prior, I was on all kinds of stuff and I got myself in and out of all kinds of sticky situations. Like the late great Jimmy Buffet said in a song “I did my share of smuggling. I moved a little grass. I had enough money to buy Miami, but I pissed it away so fast, weren’t meant to last.”]

Thanks for having me Nashville Voyager!  It was blast!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tystonehawker.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tystonehawker
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ty.stonehawker

Image Credits
Andy Evinger