We were lucky to catch up with Tyler Lee Frush recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tyler Lee, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

“State Of Mind” my last album, you might say opened my eyes to the more artistic side of music. Not to say I wasn’t artistic minded before, but I’d always had thoughts about “radio songs” or “hit singles”. To use those terms now is almost considered like swearing! While working on this album I spent hours, and days crafting a storyline that I wanted to write an album around. And the album itself isn’t necessarily a straight forward narrative that explains what our main character is doing, as much as it’s a collection of songs that explain our characters State of mind through their journey. So every time I would sit down to write my priority became less about “is this song going to be successful?” Or “does this fit the industry standards?” And morphed into an approach more along the lines of “does this song serve its purpose of the narrative?” And “does it have the right emotional themes?”

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

How I got into music, the short answer is Johnny Cash. I was introduced to his cover of “Hurt” by a friend of mine, and that same night I went home and deleted every other song that I had on iTunes. There was an emotional connection that I felt with that song (and music video) I struggle to truly comprehend to this day. But to continue it didn’t take me long to come to the decision that I was going to be a singer, only problem was, I didn’t sing! (Still wouldn’t even call myself a singer) So I figured the next best thing was the guitar. Luckily for me my parents were supportive of a middle schoolers silly dreams of being a musician and bought me a cheap guitar and some music lessons. And then it happened, the moment that turned not just guitar, but music itself upside down for me, my dad got me tickets to see Van Halen. I still remember seeing Eddie Van Halen play, the sounds he could make, the speed, the complete mastery of his craft and it transformed me, the only word I can use to explain how I felt was obsessed! (I even have a Van Halen tattoo that I am proud to say I still like)

Years after seeing Van Halen I turned 18 and decided that it would be a good idea to move to California and become a professional guitarist, and another moment of transformation happened. While living in Long Beach and working at the Whisky A Go-Go on Sunset Boulevard I decided to go waste time at the local Guitar Center. As I started playing I noticed what looked like a homeless man lay a guitar across his lap and play what can only be described as a MasterClass performance (or at least I thought so). And as I stopped playing to watch and listen I noticed that none of the people who were shopping or working even stopped to notice. And it hit me, no matter how good I was, or thought I was, no one was going to stop and listen.

So I decided, I would move back home to Georgia and start from the ground up here. But once i arrived, I like to say God forced me to sing, because I could not for the life of me find a singer that didn’t have some kind of drug problem or was even interested in the music I was writing. So I started a short lived career as a sell sword, playing guitar for any and everyone who needed it. And one night some friends and I went to an open mic and somehow they managed to convince me to sing a song. It went horrifically bad. I forgot words, had a voice crack that would make a 12 year old cringe, but in the end I realized something, if that was as bad as it gets, I can handle it.

So after a few years of singing and learning to create my own sound I decided to round up a few people I knew and attempted to play shows, it was a rocky start to say the least, but through trial and error all of the pieces started to come together. And that’s when i met my musical brother, Steven Morrison. On night my band was booked at MadLife, the venue Steven ran sound at, and after our set we got to talking and he asked me to send him a song so he could mix and master it for me. Kind of a trial run you could say. So I sent him “Firewood” a song that I had recorded on my iPhone, and a week later he sent back what you can now hear on any streaming platform. And we decided to work together on a project that later would be morphed into “State Of Mind”.

I know I’m long winded when it comes to these things but there is plenty more that I left out that maybe you all can pull out of me one day! But when it comes down to it what my journey has taught me is that I am not a singer or a guitar player, I am an artist. Regardless of the fame or financial gains, the art comes first.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

What is success? Growing up I would measure an artists success in sales. This band is more talented than that band because they sold this many copies of that album and yadda yadda yadda. It took me a long while to break from that and learn that success is in the eye of the beholder. But watching people listen to music really changed my outlook, and if I can make you feel something, a certain emotion, good or bad I feel like at the end of the day I’ve done my job.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

What’s most rewarding to me, that is a tough one to answer because it changes day by day. Some days it’s being in the studio and we see and hear it all coming together. Some days it’s a text from someone just saying that my work means something to them, and some days I’m just happy to finally not be listening to music and just relax! But in all seriousness I think the most rewarding thing is that I found what I love doing, creating. And to just live in those moments is a reward in itself    

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tylerleefrush/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tylerleefrush/
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0WDSC6lrWBuVsFBX6sUAhv?si=tVWIcKs-S8SLIOTREZWkRQ https://music.apple.com/us/artist/tyler-lee-frush/978514455

Image Credits
Just A Fan Photography