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Brett Bone: remembering his roots

Local musician is Woman’s Club guest

By ZOË HAGGARD - zhaggard@t-g.com
Posted 8/13/22

When Brett Bone started playing guitar, he couldn’t decide if he wanted a left- or right-handed guitar. He is ambidextrous after all.   

  That’s only one of his …

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Brett Bone: remembering his roots

Local musician is Woman’s Club guest

Posted

When Brett Bone started playing guitar, he couldn’t decide if he wanted a left- or right-handed guitar. He is ambidextrous after all.  

 That’s only one of his talents. The Shelbyville native is also a rising Nashville singer-songwriter.  

 At just 19, he’s got a deep voice that’s ever so slightly touched with some country twang. He also plays his 8-string guitar (right-handed, he decided) as if it’s meant to be in his arms.  

 But it took a lot of hard work to get where he is today. And while presenting at the Shelbyville Woman’s Club Wednesday afternoon, he said he had his mentors to thank for that, especially his middle school music instructor Carl Keating at Thomas Magnet School.  

 Bone said his first memory of music began when he was just five years old. The song “Bad Day” by Daniel Powter had just come out and Bone remembers his mom singing it in the car.  

 “I had to really adapt to music. But I get it from my mom...She was just constantly singing, singing, singing,” he said. 

 And maybe she sang too much, he joked. Though he sang along with his mom at home, when in elementary school doing small musical production, Bone admitted he didn’t sing but rather lip-synched to the music. 

 It wasn’t until Bone got to the fifth grade and had Mr. Keating as his music instructor that he branched out. By middle school, Bone decided to learn an instrument. So he gave Mr. Keating a call.  

 Bone started on piano with Mr. Keating. “And he was teaching me all this music theory...and I was like I have no idea what you're talking about. It took a few times to really get piano down.”  

 “At first, I didn’t really think music was cool at all. But all it took was Mr. Keating showing me a few things on the piano and here I am today,” Bone said.  

 At the time, he was playing pop music and old R&B music. Then, he decided to pick up a guitar. 

 “I still play a little bit of piano today, but not as much as guitar,” Bone said. “I picked up guitar and played until my fingers bled, and I got frustrated a few times.” 

 Finally, after playing a bunch of cover-songs, Bone said he got the urge to begin writing his own music when he was 17. “I’m sure the first thing that I wrote was horrible. I don’t even want to know,” he joked. 

 “It’s just like anything starting out; you’re not going to be the best-of-the-best...So I’m trying my best every day to get better and better, whether it’s on guitar or piano or lyrically.” 

  But just after two years of songwriting, Bone already has two singles out, “The Man” and “Lone Wolf,” which can be found on any music streaming platform (like Spotify or Apple Music).  

 Bone is also studying business management at Middle State University. He aspires to, of course, become a Nashville-based country singer-songwriter.  

 Moving to Nashville four months ago, however, was an eye-opening experience. “You think you can go to Nashville and write. And then you go to Nashville and write and everybody’s better than you. But you have to start somewhere.”  

 Though there’s never a dull moment he says, especially with his singer-songwriter roommates. One of his roommates writes for Craig Campbell and the other writes for Riley Green.  

 Bone said he’s grateful to be surrounded by so many talented artists that help him grow day to day. But then he thinks about his roots and the mentors who got him to where he is today. 

 Speaking in front of many of his former principals and teachers at the Woman’s Club, “I think that’s one of my biggest things in life: the younger generation wouldn’t be here without you guys and passing your wisdom and knowledge down.”  

Such a perspective has impacted his life so much that Bone wrote the song “The Man” about it. It’s a song about those who have been able to pass down wisdom and shape the younger generation. 

“This song, I usually say, is about my grandfather and my father. But in reality, it’s about every one of you—every baseball coach, basketball coach, every principal—everyone I had growing up that has really molded me to keep it going.”