Indie Music Spotlight – Keeton Coffman

Keeton Coffman is a Houston based indie outfit releasing beautifully produced and personal songs about life, love, dignity, pushing forward and growth from it all. At times restrained and others roiling like an incoming tornado, his latest release Killer Eyes is an emotionally taut journey with moments of true sublimation along the way.

MusicZeitgeist: Talk to us about how your sound evolved to this point…

Keeton Coffman: The sound evolved from my love for Motown, combined with the storyteller of my favorite songwriters. Each song points to a moment of release…the “point” of the song. Instrumentation is just the vehicle we hope to use to help the listener feel this moment. So we had to be strategic about where and what instruments we used and how we chose to let the song breathe, evolve and deliver. Acoustic instruments do this better for me and Ryan (my producer).

Horns, pianos, real drums and percussion instruments – we even used some toys his young kids use. But the high view is that this songs feel like Texas. They feel like a drive down a country road. A dance in a living room when it’s a summer night. A walk through the hill country. At least, that was our aim.

Keeton Coffman

MZ: Can you expand on the production process and how you got such a gorgeously produced sound?

KC: The great sound of the record is three fold: First — Ryan Cecil. His studio Golden Gnome tracked all individual instruments and he was able to cater that to my exact desire.

I want things to feel like people hammering on their instruments…I want you to feel the players. He nailed it. He’s a genius.

Second – sound arts recording studio help us get the drums right where we wanted them. That was the foundation of the record.

Third…the players. Ryan played a ton of the guitars, he is a great guide to me as a keys and acoustic player, and then Tank Lisenbe on drums, and Cody Smith on bass. They actually never played in the same room…all tracks were Dropboxed…but they made it FEEL like they were. Lastly, but certainly not least, is David Whimbish who arranged and played all the strings you hear.

MZ: What do you write about?

KC: You. I write about you. What else is there? I think of songs like Trojan horses–they can sneak in to a person’s life, encourage them, empathize with them, give them hope…disguised by melody and a great beat to dance to, but inside…it’s hope for your soul. So with regards to what I write about, I try to write about you.

Keeton Coffman

MZ: What motivated this record?

KC:The record came out of the first answer…I need to write songs for you, and for us, and for me. I need to write music for real people with real issues. When I grew up, I had U2, Tom Petty, Bruce…just to name the greats, let alone others who meant just as much to me. Now…what do we have? The radio? I wrote these songs in hopes they would find YOU and tell you, “We are the same. I’m with you. Next step is together.”

Learn more at the Keeton Coffman Official Site

Listen now to “Let Her Go” by Keeton Coffman and other artists we have featured at the MusicZeitgeist.com’s free Indie Music Jukebox

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