Michael Huff charts own course with ‘Other Hearts’

C, G and D. Artists have built careers off those three simple chords, and here in Nashville, Belmont senior Michael Huff looks to start something of his own with the release of his debut EP, “Other Hearts.”

The record comes after a summer recording session in Smyrna, Ga. Huff contacted producer Randy Bugg and for the first time left the familiarity and comfort of friends’ porches and small local audiences for the professionalism of the studio.

“It was just a big jump, and it was kind of frightening at first, but exciting at the same time,” Huff said describing the recording experience. He spoke of the sense of accomplishment. “To be doing this thing that I’ve dreamed of all my life, to say this isn’t ‘someday I’ll get to record these songs in a studio– that day was yesterday, and it happened;’ it was just overwhelming, but it was wonderful.”

Though, getting to this point came only after eight years of writing songs and ditching nap time as a child.

“My sister was taking piano lessons while it was my nap time, so I, beginning to connive as a little kid, thought ‘I’m going to finagle this and I’m going to get into piano’.” Luckily, Huff said, piano turned out to be something he enjoyed instead of just a trick to stay awake.

From there, Huff turned to the guitar after learning a few choice chords from his dad – C, G and D.

Initially, he started out writing and playing within the church genre but eventually found what was outside of that, namely Sufjan Stevens’ album, “Seven Swans.”

“[He] was the first artist who ever showed me that he could do whatever he wanted with songs,” Huff explained. “I put it on, and I didn’t get what was happening, but I knew it was beautiful. He kind of blew the doors wide open and from there I found a lot of inspiration.”

These days, Huff plays songs steeped in folk and Americana. Part of his approach lies in not only listening to artists like Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham, Leonard Cohen or, more recently, Hank Williams, but in tracing back the roots of songs and absorbing the rhythm, language and style.

“Style is a weird thing that I’m still trying to figure out,” he explained. “For me, it’s more about writing the song, and the songs sort of dictate the genre.” The result is that Huff’s music seems to flow in a very natural direction, and “natural” is a word well suited to the album and the artist.

“Other Hearts” comes off sincere and earnest, the product of “heart on sleeve” songwriting, informed by “absorbing” influences instead of mimicking, and delivered by a voice, both clear and warm.

Huff writes, in part, about his own experiences. “Little Birdie,” for example, stems from one day when some birds built a nest by his window.

“At first I was kind of annoyed because they would be singing all the time when I was trying to sleep, or in the early mornings, but then I decided ‘OK, this could be kind of cool, I’ll watch it be alive and hatch its eggs’.”

Subject matter like this accounts for an intrinsically hopeful and positive air to the EP, although those vibes are not exclusive.

“Then one day [the nest] was gone,” Huff continued. He never saw the eggs hatch and never found out what happened to them. “Hope and disappointment, and the kind of strain between them– I think that’s the tone that lots of the EP strikes,” he said.

“Other Hearts” seems to say that all is never lost. Perhaps the balance between the good and the bad is exactly what makes up a life. “Blues Man” is an acknowledgment of this dichotomy. While there is cause for sadness, the sadness can manifest itself in something richer and more meaningful.

Huff also leans toward story songs. “Fortune Teller,” is tale whose sentiment is familiar, especially for this age range. Uncertainty for the future, framed with the advice to “stop looking forward and start living.” The song’s imagery works well against the solitary strumming.

“Song writing is something I’m doing all the time,” Huff said, “so I often have songs that I’ve finished all the words and then I’m reworking the melody for a couple months, or there are some that come all together at once.”

Since coming to Belmont, Huff has found community with his friends and fellow songwriters.

“Sometimes, a group of us get together, and just insist on writing a song and say, “OK, by Thursday, you have to bring a song to our house and we have to play them for each other even if they’re terrible, and often times half of them are and half aren’t, and we know it, but we did it– we wrote a song.”

As Huff continues to look beyond the “smaller communities” he has enjoyed, playing house shows or just “huddling around couches,” his post graduation plans revolve around his music.

Though he’s only played in Nashville, Oklahoma City, and a few other cities around his home state, Huff has his sights set on touring.

“I want to tour and take this thing anywhere that has a stage and a microphone,” he said, “anywhere with people who listen.”

Listening in
Other Hearts is available at Grimeys, Cosmic Connections, CDBaby.com, and directly from Huff. Look for a release show in early spring.
For a free download of “Little Birdie,” click here.

Find more at:
Myspace.com/michaelhuff
or
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Michael-Huff/114880901163?v=wall&ref=ts