In this interview spotlight, I chat with Stu Basham about his music, challenges, technology and more. Although Stu is in NYC, he will be relocating to Nashville in a few months. He is also expecting his first child in July!

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)

I’m from a small town in Oregon where I was as far from country music as you could get. I grew up listening to classical music with my parents and pop music when I could get my hands on it. I now create pop country music but I’m trying to throw in some past influences now like Dave Matthews Band and John Mayer who I used to listen to non-stop in high school.

What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?

I’ve been writing songs for 10+ years and it wasn’t until last year did I take a look at country music. I always brushed it off thinking it was about dogs, trucks, and beer, but when you really get down to it, these songwriters are brilliant storytellers that really make you feel something when you hear the songs. So I began to write my own country songs. The early ones had some potential but I’m still working every day at improving the lyrics to really tell the story in the song. My motivation is to keep writing every day and try to write 100+ songs this year. One of those songs, I hope, will have what it takes to help me get a publishing deal or some type of development deal.

This has been a lifelong dream for me and knowing that I’m super close to getting there keeps me hungry and motivated every day because I see the growth over the past few years and how my songs have gotten better and deeper in a meaningful way. “Getting there” isn’t the end goal but it’s a close enough target for me to achieve this year and keep me going until the next goal is in front of me.

How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?

With this release I was trying to create a light hearted summer song telling a story about a young couple sneaking into bars trying not to get caught. I was creating a Jack and Diane sort of tale called “You and Me and our Fake IDs” creating this story of two 19 year olds who create new names for themselves and then the ironic thing is the girl ends up actually having to change her name when they get married.

Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?

The hardest part for me is the promotion. I love songwriting and producing and wish I could spend all my time doing that. I want to get better as a songwriter and an artist but when I have to put that down and put on my promotion hat it’s very challenging. My time is precious when I’m working a full-time job and married so any time I spend promoting is time that’s not writing the song of my career. That’s a big tug-of-war I have with myself is how much time do I want to give to promote this song I’m really excited about versus moving on and continuing to write the next song which could be even better.

The other challenge goes along side that which is getting heard by the industry folks. There’s so much great music out there it’s nearly impossible to cut through and get it into the right hands without having a connection who can send it to the right people. That’s what I’m working towards right now.

What was the last song you listened to?

“On My Way to You” by Cody Johnson. Great song with a great artist. What a cool journey he’s had and such a hard working guy.

Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?

MP3s because of the ease of use.

How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why? 

I use Spotify pretty much exclusively as I like their content and playlists. I also really like Podcasts so I use the podcast app a lot.

Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?

Soundcloud is where I’ll be putting up some more demos in the next few months. Some will be fully produced but most of them will be strong demo quality songs that I just want to get out there instead of collecting digital dust waiting to be produced. People can also chat with me via Twitter as that’s my go-to social media platform now.

Anything else before we sign off?

Thank you so much for focusing your efforts on helping new and undiscovered artists. It’s people like you that I am so appreciative of that really take brand new people and showcase their music to the world and for that I really am grateful.