TPL: Knox Tour Diary

Featuring coverage from:

FEB 2 @ THE SINCLAIR - CAMBRIDGE, MA: Lisa Czech

FEB 3 @ THE FOUNDRY AT THE FILLMORE - PHILADELPHIA, PA: Carolyn Lederach

FEB 8 @ HI-FI - INDIANAPOLIS, IN: Everly Ormiston

In 2019 you followed your musical ambitions and moved to Nashville. What was that experience like for you, adjusting to life in Nashville and finding your place within the music scene?

Knox: It was intense.  I had never done anything like that. Like I just said, I kind of grew up in the middle of nowhere, I graduated with 44 kids in my high school class. The world has a lot to offer, and I always knew that I wanted to go somewhere like that. Moving to Nashville, I didn't know anybody except for my cousin and he showed me the ropes when I moved here.

If there's anything that I knew I was always really good at, it was talking to people or meeting new people. It was an adjustment, being out on my own and then, it was like the first time that I had been thrown into adulthood.  I was 20 and moved down, I learned a lot about myself and how the real world works very quickly.  I'm super glad that I did it.

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You signed a publishing deal in 2022 and released your first EP, How To Lose A Girl In 7 Songs. You spent a lot of those early days in Nashville writing for other artists, but you said that the songs on that EP were too special to give away. What can you tell me about those songs and releasing them as your first EP?

Knox: I had been writing for other artists for probably two years. I had one song called “NYC” that I always knew nobody else could ever sing. I was like, even if I never put out my own music, which I wasn't planning on at the time, and I was like, even if nobody ever hears this song, it will always be mine, you know?

That was the one song that was too special. Then I made the whole EP [How To Lose A Girl In 7 Songs].  

I signed a publishing deal to be a staff writer with this company, Riverhouse.  Basically, I showed them these seven songs and I was like, these are good, and I was trying to pitch them to other artists. I told them I think somebody should sing these. And they were like, Yeah, somebody should sing them. And that person's going to be you. I was pretty reluctant. I just never really imagined myself being in this position. They pretty much just convinced me they were like, we'll just put out one song and if nothing happens, we won't make you put it out anymore.

Then sure enough, I put out my first song, and now it has like 30 million streams. So I guess they were on to something.

You grew up in Ohio and played basketball before becoming a musician. What can you tell me about your childhood and journey into playing and pursuing a music career? What did you learn from those early experiences that you feel has helped you now?

Knox: Have you ever seen the movie, The Sandlot? That was my childhood. I grew up in a town like that with friends like that, and we would just go to the park and play basketball. Sports were just always like the thing growing up.

That was pretty much all I ever did my whole life was sports. Then after high school, I just decided I was going to start playing guitar. And I loved it. I think the biggest thing that I learned from growing up in that way, where it was always so much playing against each other and stuff, I've just become a very competitive person. I think part of when I started playing guitar, I was like, well if I'm going to play guitar, I want to be the best.  

So without having, those big imaginations and big dreams, I don't think I could have a job like this.  And so I'm super grateful for those times, out in the middle of nowhere with my boys.

You've had a bit of a whirlwind rise in the success of your career, with your song "Sneakers" becoming an overnight hit, getting to open for one of your favorite bands, The Band Camino, for your first tour, and signing with Atlantic Records, to name a few. It all sounds so surreal! What have those experiences been like for you, and if you could go back and change anything about your journey so far, would you? 

Knox: I wouldn't change anything as far as that goes. It was a cool experience. I feel like I got really lucky as someone who started on TikTok because anybody can go viral and put up a million views.  

Where I got lucky I will forever be in debt to The Band Camino boys, who are thankfully now, some good friends of mine.  Which is cool because they're one of my favorite bands. I'll forever be thankful for them because I posted my first ever TikTok and three weeks later I was on tour with Band Camino, I feel like a lot of people who start on TikTok don't get to be put in front of real faces and real people that fast.

I feel like that had a huge impact immediately while I was having a viral moment, it immediately built a foundation for, like real people who were tuned in to what I was doing instead of just seeing a 15-second clip on TikTok and remembering it for 30 minutes and then never thinking about it again.  I'm a super lucky dude.

What has it been like for you to find your voice as an artist, after writing for other artists? What do you feel it was about writing your song "NYC" that made you realize you were capable as a writer?

Knox: It's different. Writing with other people. I was always in the headspace of ‘how would this person say this?’ How would they do this? How would they make this song? I think it's almost cooler because now it's like, what do I want to say? And what do I want to sound like? Selfishly, it's a little more fun to write for myself.

You released your latest EP, I'm So Good At Being Alone?, last year, and most recently you released your latest single "Here's To Us". What can you tell me about the EP and collaborating on a couple of songs with Nightly and Charlotte Sands, as well as the new single? How do you feel your music has progressed since your first EP?

Knox: I think the newest EP, I'm So Good to Being Alone compared to How to Lose a Girl,  it's just like a more mature-sounding record.

I feel like we pushed the boundaries on the type of music that we can make. We have songs like “Love Letter” or the song with Charlotte Sands that are like full-blown rock songs.  It's punk rock right down the middle as you can get, but it was also cool to do that on the opposite end where we have like full-blown pop songs with Nightly. The song “I'm So Good at Being Alone” just kind of expands on what we were capable of.  Which I think was super sick and a super fun experience to make.

It's one of those things, I live in Nashville, and I've been there for six years.  Artists like Nightly, Band Camino included, all those guys are like Nashville royalty. Those are people that a lot of kids that move to Nashville look up to, whether they know it or not.

It's so weird to talk about them like this now because now they're like my very good friends. They paved the path for people like me to be able to make this kind of music and for it to do well. To have them on the record and kind of feel like I now get to be a part of that, I think that is special.  I'll never take it for granted.

You have a unique sense of songwriting, with plays on words like in the songs  "Love Letter" and "Nevermind". Are those normally happy accidents or do you ponder over those for a bit?

Knox: I definitely do some pondering. I feel like when it comes to making songs, I know that we make rock songs or whatever, and they sound loud and crazy.  But I always say that if a song isn't good on just acoustic guitar, it's not a good song. So I'm a very like songwriter-songwriter if that makes sense. 

I just think the coolest songs are the ones that I hear and think, how did I not think of that?  I think my songs kind of have to have that kind of ‘duh’ moment.  I feel like there are so many songs that have been written so many times. I always am trying to be like, ‘What has never been written?’

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You have just started on your first Headlining tour! What are you most looking forward to and how does it feel to have the tour be sold out? 

Knox: ​​It's incredible, my first ever tour and there's not a single ticket left is so cool, and something that still doesn't make sense to me.  I'm still like, ‘what is happening’ every single day. I'm just really excited.

I'm signed to Atlantic now, which is incredible and, I get to go do these shows, have Instagram followers now, and all of that. But at the end of the day, it's still just like me and my friends making music. My producer, Cam Becker, still makes all the songs in his bedroom, you know, and nothing has changed.

It's cool to see how many people it's reached and touched and what its impact is. That's probably the most special thing just seeing people show up to the shows and you can just tell they care about the songs. 

What do you love about being on stage and performing? What do you feel it is about your music that fans connect with?

Knox: I think it's just fun.  You show up to the show and everybody is just having fun. Every song is upbeat. Every song has moments where people can scream, you can dance, and you can jump.  Then there are parts where you can cry and be sad in a good way.  So I think at the end of the day, it's just like everything about it is just fun.

The simplest answer is that it's so cool to be on stage. You can tell people have been waiting for this all day and you're making people's days.  Just to see that many smiles on that many faces is just really special.  I'm super lucky to be able to experience and have that impact on people now and again.