Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Bellin.
Alex, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I have always loved country music. I remember driving around in my parent’s minivan and hearing 90’s country on the radio when I was a kid. The music always spoke to me. When I started writing my own songs in college, I found a place where I could express the deepest emotions and experiences of my heart through narrative and melody and started playing gigs around Fort Worth in 2016, starting with a residency and the now closed Aardvark bar.
After a few years, I put my band together and started playing full band shows around DFW and Texas. I started listening to a lot of classic soul music and found that it wasn’t much different than the country. Both genres started in the beer joints and were originally meant to get people dancing. We started throwing a few honky tonk versions of soul songs into our set, and really trying to find the groove that makes the great country and great soul move.
I quit my job at the beginning of 2019 and this was my first year as a full time musician. It has been more than anything a learning process, but I am grateful to even get a chance at doing what I love. In addition to being a songwriter/frontman, I also play the pedal steel guitar and frequently play alongside other great DFW songwriters as a sideman and session player.
Has it been a smooth road?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road, but each opportunity of failure or roadblocks have helped me learn something. People don’t realize how much goes into a successful show as an independent artist. Between working on your craft, writing songs, building a great set, forming and making a tight band, booking and promoting shows, all the way down to the nitty gritty of live sound, there are a lot of things that can go wrong, and they do. More than anything, I have learned to have a positive attitude when things go south. A flat tire on the way or a power outage during a show can really stress you out, but I try to keep a level head and laugh about the silly stuff.
Tell us more about your music.
I feel like people are missing real country music. If you go to a crawfish boil or tailgate in Fort Worth or Dallas, there’s a good chance you’re gonna hear 90’s country. I have always loved the songwriting in 90’s country, and I try to write songs that have narratives and settings people can really see, or step into. I think when people go to a bar on a Saturday night, they want to have fun, they want to dance. They don’t want to hear someone sing slow and sad Americana funeral dirges for 3 hours. I still have some deep and sad songs, but I feel like I have to earn them before the audience is going to be engaged. If the dance floor is packed, we won’t even stop. We will mash up into the next song.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think people are really craving emotion and humanity and music. Between the digital beats and production, a lot of music these days doesn’t make you feel a whole lot. I think the country world is heading back to more honest songwriting and real people playing real instruments in every song. I hope the whole snap track and hip hop beats in country music is on the way out, there is nothing that gets people moving like a good drummer.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.alexbellin.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexbellinmusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlexBellinMusic/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/alexbellinmusic
Image Credit:
Jared Lindsay, Rebbeca Burleson, Flavio Cervantes, Liz Starr
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