We were lucky to catch up with Huck & Lilly (aka Ken & Andi Johnson) recently and have shared our conversation below.

Huck & Lilly, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

We have both enjoyed a career in music since the early 2000s. Writing songs professionally in Nashville as staff writers for publishing companies who placed our music with major recording artists. It was a great way to make a good living. When streaming became the standard for the consumer it became apparent to us that writing full time in the traditional arena was not as much of an option for us or the majority of our beloved Nashville songwriting community that we have always felt so blessed to be a part of. It’s like if you were a baker and bread became free. Music became free. We were concerned about being able to earn a living in that environment going forward. We felt like it was a better bet for us to find a niche where we could perform live to make a living. We had to find something different where we could still use our skill set and be happy doing it. We had written a bit of children’s music for our own children and for friends and family with kids just for fun. It kind of caught on and developed in to a thing for us worth pursuing. We wanted to distinguish our kid’s music from our regular songwriting efforts so we came up with the names Huck and Lilly in 2014 and began to develop the brand.
In 2015 we met with Kevin Boyle and the team at Seaside and started doing one, one hour show per week in the amphitheater there throughout the summer. We now do two shows per week, Tuesday and Thursday, March – August.
We are also doing weekly shows at Alys Beach Amphitheater and Marina Park in Watercolor, FL.
Other regular venues include Hammock Bay in Freeport and an array of private events, churches schools etc.
We will do well over 100 shows per year in total. Sirius XM Radio also embraced our music on their music channel for kids and that has been very helpful. It has all been been such an unexpected and very meaningful experience for us. We are so grateful to have been able to provide a soundtrack for so many young families’ vacation memories on 30a. We also could not ask to work with better people than we do in all of our venues on 30a including our home base team at Seaside. They are all amazing. In the process we have released two albums and are about to release a third as well as 10 singles to satellite radio.

Huck & Lilly, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

The purpose of our writing and recording songs for kids is to not be a typical children’s music option. Our intent is to create music that kids will love that the parents enjoy just as much. Not that there is anything wrong with traditional children’s music but that’s not us. We are for the whole family.
Children’s music is unique as an artist because you can make music in any genre you want and perform them in the same show. You can explore any subject as long as it’s is family friendly and be as whimsical as you want.
Some of the humor is by design, for the parents and grand parents and may go over the heads of kids much like family movies do. Our fans usually range from age 2 to 9 as well as 21 and up.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Being able to see all of these happy families making memories at our shows has been immeasurably rewarding for us.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Our goal is to have music for kids that the parents and grandparents can also enjoy. We’ve had parents tell us how after they drop their kids off at carpool, they continue listening to Huck & Lilly, sometimes not even realizing that they are still listening to music for kids : ) We are so happy the grown ups enjoy our music as well! Being Nashville songwriters for 20 years and teaming up with Grammy Award winning producer Skidd Mills, our goal was to create music that can be enjoyed by all ages!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: www.instagram.com/huckandlilly
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/huckandlillyofficial
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/huckandlilly
• Other: Spotify: https//:spoti.fi/3BTQYhk

Image Credits
Photos – Dawn Chapman Whitty