Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Wyly Bigger. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Wyly, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

In the past couple of years, I’ve gotten to a point where I’m able to support myself solely on music. I still work a part-time job for some supplemental income and for something to do during the day, but music is bringing in the majority of my income. It took a while to get to that point though. I started performing publicly in high school, but it was just the occasional restaurant gig that felt more like a novelty than a profession. It wasn’t until I went to college in Starkville, Mississippi that I started playing more and more at college bars and small town festivals and things. I had a part-time job to help pay my monthly expenses, but by the start of my junior year, I walked away from it because I realized I was making enough playing music to cover everything. From that point on, part time jobs have come and gone, but music has been my main profession.

I don’t know if there’s any way I could’ve sped up the process of getting to where I am today. It was a lot of networking and just putting myself out there. A lot of people aren’t willing to give you a chance when you’re just getting started, but once I was able to get a chance (shoutout Dave’s Dark Horse Tavern and Commodore Bob’s in Starkville), somebody would hear me and open up another opportunity, and that might open up two or three opportunities, and it would web out from there. Coming back to Memphis, I already had some connection, but I continued to get out and meet as many other musicians and venue owners as I could. Now I’m to the point that it’s rare for me NOT to have a gig, and it feels like the wheels are continuing to move. I’m very happy with where I’m at and where it feels like I’m going.

Wyly, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I grew up just outside of Memphis, Tennessee. Neither of my parents are musicians, but they love music, so as a kid, their tastes in music exposed me to a lot of different genres. I really took to the early blues and rock n’ roll music from Memphis though, and my parents helped foster that love, taking me at a young age to see Jerry Lee Lewis play in Memphis and B.B. King in Indianola, MS, among other shows. I really fell in love with that style of music, and started playing it early on.

When I was about 4 years old, my sister got a toy piano for Christmas, but I was more interested in it than she was. I started figuring out these old songs by ear, so my parents put me in lessons. By the time I was nine, I had played my first “gig” at the local diner in our hometown, playing oldies favorites and Elvis classics. I continued to play music all through middle and high school, but it always felt like more of a hobby than a profession. It wasn’t until I got to college at Mississippi State and started playing at a bunch of crowded college bars that I got a real taste of performing for a crowd. By my junior year, I was playing every weekend in and around Starkville, and I fell in love with the grind of being a professional musician. When I returned to Memphis, I kept the momentum going I had built in Starkville and built connections that have allowed me to play concerts and festivals in Memphis and around the Southeast.

In 2017, I recorded my first single “Memphis Nights” at the legendary Sun Studio, the same place that produced all of the music that inspired me as a child. A few years later in 2021, I released my debut EP which consisted of 5 originals songs recorded at Memphis Magnetic Recording Co. in downtown Memphis. I’m proud to say that select tunes from that album have gotten radio airplay “from coast to coast” — it’s been played as far west as California and as far east as North Carolina. Since then, I’ve been writing a lot more, and I’m anticipating getting back in the studio soon to record a full album.

When writing my original music, I’m typically writing about personal stories, but musically, I try to channel those influences I grew up with while adding my own flare to it. The influence of notable piano players like Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Charlie Rich, and Pinetop Perkins, among others, all contribute to my style. I’m a pretty big history enthusiast as well, specifically music history, so I always like to honor the spirit of those rock n’ roll pioneers in my own music, not only because I love that genre, but they laid the groundwork for most all modern music — we wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing without them!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding thing to me is when I’m able to move someone through my music. Any time I’m able to connect with somebody through a song, whether it be one I wrote or just a cover I’m playing, it’s incredibly meaningful. As much as I love playing music for my own enjoyment, the connection that music creates between people is the most rewarding part of it. It’s what makes music so alluring to me, and to a lot of people. Whatever our differences are, music seems to always bridge the gaps between us.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

As I noted earlier, I’m a big music history enthusiast. One book that changed my perspective on my place in the music scene was Robert Gordon’s “It Came From Memphis.” Rather than examining the larger-than-life legends of the birth of rock n’ roll, it looked at the local musicians in Memphis at that time who were witnesses to that scene and even contributed to the development of it, but did not reach the level of fame of an Elvis, Jerry Lee, Al Green or Otis Redding. Gordon’s booked described these key players in the Memphis scene in a way that sounded just like what the Memphis music scene looks like for me now: a tight community of folks playing local bars and making music together for the love of making music. They didn’t know the impact they were having on history. And even if their names may not be in every history book, they made that impact.

That revelation really gave me new perspective on where I am in my musical career and what impact I can have. It encouraged me to keep working on my music and to not be discouraged if I’m not yet playing big venues or traveling worldwide. Hardly any of those folks in Gordon’s book started that way. They began local, and quietly made a name for themselves. Memphis has an incredible musical community that I’ve been blessed to be a part of, and maybe, as I continue to work with these talented musicians around me, we can create something that one day down the road will have an impact on music. Or at least on the city of Memphis.

Contact Info:

• Website: wylybigger.com
• Instagram: wylybigger
• Facebook: wylybiggermusic
• Youtube: @wylybigger

Image Credits
Alden Claire Chapple Photography Danny Day Photography Jamie Harmon (Amurica World) Photography