Episode 3, Talking South Carolina Elliot Poston Interview

Episode transcript:

Angela Barrett “Hey guys. Thanks for joining me today. I have with me Elliot Poston, who is, quite the talk of South Carolina right now in the country music world. thanks, Elliot, for being here.”

Elliot Poston I appreciate you having me.

Angela Barrett “Yeah. So, you’ve caused quite a stir here lately with your, new single, the, Country Way. even, we’re nominated for an award, right?”

Elliot Poston “Yeah. You know, I released it back in February, and immediately, it got me was heard by a group of individuals who wanted to put it in a rotation on their radio station as part of a monthly on monthly listenership, competition. Yeah. Past me and three others were part of a competition for the artists of the month, for the Carolina Country Music Awards.”

Elliot Poston And almost one came close.

Angela Barrett “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, hey, it’s you. It’s just great. Get nominated. yeah. So now, how long have you been, playing country music?”

Elliot Poston July. I’ll be a year.

Angela Barrett And so you never even played it all before me other than strumming at home?

Elliot Poston “I only played and sang in church. Well, it wasn’t until last July that, that I started, started playing. Our first show I had was broadband right here in Camden. And, buddy man also got me hooked up the steeple chase. And, from there, it’s just kind of grown now.”

Angela Barrett What did you do with people? Chase?

Elliot Poston I play music.

Angela Barrett gotcha.

Elliot Poston “Yeah. So? So, it all started with my wife, and I was actually eating at a local establishment and hot Perry guy playing. We were sitting there just enjoying ourselves, and I never said no, I could do this. Maybe make a little extra money on the side. And she’s like, yeah, you know, if you want to take like, 1 or 2 shows might, that’s fine.”

Elliot Poston “I was well, it’s just one of those things. I had my first show and word got around. I had a lot of people come out for my debut, a lot of friends. Right? And we were excited for me and, word got around that. Hey, you can look this guy. Look, I’m type of thing. And I’ve been blessed.”

Elliot Poston What was supposed to be 1 or 2 shows a month has gone to.

Angela Barrett 1 or 2 shows a weekend.

Elliot Poston “Oh, I’m closer to 3 or 4 shows a week now. this past month, the summer guys my own work schedule for my corporate job. But, right. I’m normally hitting about 3 to 4 shows, two shows a week. There’s one start here coming up that I’m. I’m six shows in a row while.”

Angela Barrett “Well. So now, again, you just released and that was your very first single ever released, right? Yeah. Congratulations. And, what made you. I listen to the a great song. and so truth. Yes, ma’am and no, ma’am. And you give up your seat for the elderly. I like it, what they. What was the inspiration for that song?”

Angela Barrett Where’d you get the idea?

Elliot Poston “You know, I think I think there’s a couple factors. one. One. I think for the first thing, I wonder, did I work? I really wanted to pay homage and and everything to the way I was raised. you know, I can I can tell my parents all, talk about how how great they they are. and I can talk about my, my grandparents and my memories from them, but, kind of putting it in a song, this makes it kind of last forever.”

Angela Barrett “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

Elliot Poston I grew up in a small town called Pamlico in South Carolina.

Angela Barrett Yes. You did.

Elliot Poston “You know, I remember that the house on the front of the, cover art is actually my grandma’s old house.”

Angela Barrett

Elliot Poston “So this meant a lot to to me, it meant a lot of my family, my extended family, just to project all together and, I had there’s so many of my family members who I’ve just said, hey, thank you for this.”

Angela Barrett “Yeah, that’s pretty cool. Very sentimental. See, now, what do you kids. I know you’ve got two kids. What do they think about, that being, the up and coming area?”

Elliot Poston “so my my family is my biggest fans. Sure. So it’s it’s fine. you know, just playing. There’s some there’s some games that I can’t come to because of age and stuff, but, a lot of them, I’d say probably 95% of the stuff up the shows I play. so, hey, just tell me. Hey. Yeah, we know we say 21 and up at this time, but if it’s your family and they want to be here right?”

Angela Barrett Because I see you’re playing mostly in bars.

Elliot Poston “Yeah, well, I, I actually, I play, I play you mainly like restaurants.”

Angela Barrett “Oh, okay.”

Elliot Poston “Restaurants, but they serve alcohol. Sure, sure, sure. They’re like last night. Last night I was on sports bar. I played that, but it’s just at 10:00. And they have a 21 or not rule. just eliminate any issues. and, but they they told me, I said, hey, if your family wants to come and and hang out the whole time, they’re more than welcome to, just because they’re with you.”

Angela Barrett “Yeah, yeah. Yeah, sure. Now we’re worried. What would you say? I guess the biggest venue you’ve played at and. Yeah, we’ve been doing it, but a year and here already. but what would you say I guess the biggest venue you’ve played so far?”

Elliot Poston The biggest venue.

Angela Barrett “Or biggest crowd, I, you know.”

Elliot Poston “Oh, probably my single release concert.”

Angela Barrett Okay. Where’d you do that?

Elliot Poston “I actually, we, I did a single release concert, actually, the art center here in Camden.”

Angela Barrett Oh. That’s cool.

Elliot Poston “Oh, and we we sold it out.”

Angela Barrett “Oh, cool. So, the rest, I mean, it’s cover songs. The rest of. What you saying? Your country music. Who’s your who’s your go to when you’re, you’re doing that. I mean, do you have one artist that you do more of their songs than any other or.”

Elliot Poston “it’s pretty spread out, I’d say, because I don’t I don’t just do country county music artists. but I don’t just do country. Right. And, it’s kind of it’s kind of the fun part. Whenever you’re playing cover music is you’ll be sitting there also and you’ll go into a song and, and everybody just turns your head and it’s like, whoa, you know, I don’t want to give anything away.”

Elliot Poston “You just have to come hear me. But I’ll play some classic, some 80s classic rock.”

Angela Barrett

Elliot Poston My wife’s favorite band is Journey of All Time. Is journey.

Angela Barrett oh. That’s right. It is to.

Elliot Poston We danced to journey in our when it’s always based on journey. Thought you was. I love Chris Stapleton. I loved Luke Combs. I love Brooks and Dunn. I play a good bit of Bailey Zimmerman as well. Yeah. I’ve gotten into more Travis Tritt.

Angela Barrett “Oh, go throw one away.”

Elliot Poston “That I’m. I grew up, and that’s what I grew up on.”

Angela Barrett Yeah.

Elliot Poston “37 Brooklyn, 90s country. I love 90s country. so a lot of the stuff I’m playing is known as the 2000 Scout troop, primarily. Or it may be it’s a remake of. Sure. I like, like Luke Combs did on, Fast Car. Yeah. Batman.”

Angela Barrett “So, yeah, I have mixed emotions about that. Since I’m such a Tracy, I have some say.”

Elliot Poston “I mean, very mixed.”

Angela Barrett Emotions.

Elliot Poston “And I, I really loved whenever they did it together at the Grammys. Yeah.”

Angela Barrett “And I was gonna say, have you ever seen, Luke Combs in a concert in person?”

Elliot Poston No. Bucket list.

Angela Barrett “Yeah. Let me tell you, I.”

Elliot Poston Hope I can be entertaining one day.

Angela Barrett Do I?

Elliot Poston “I said, hopefully I don’t have to watch him. Hopefully I’m just on stage with him one day.”

Angela Barrett “Yeah. Well, the you know, there are people who are entertainers and then there are people who are good singers, you know, he is one hell of a entertainer. I am just feeling you right now. I was just like, I mean, obviously he can sing. That’s a no brainer. But, you know, you just don’t. I didn’t see that coming.”

Angela Barrett “That’s like, wow, great. Great concert. yeah.”

Elliot Poston He’s good. He seems like one of those guys that is just. He’s he’s a man. He’s a man’s man. He’s a guy’s guy.

Angela Barrett And doesn’t care.

Elliot Poston Be your best friend.

Angela Barrett “Yeah, yeah. Oh, I think I like his attitude. a little bit. Here I am. And, you know, that’s kind of how I am. Yeah. Here it is. Don’t like it? We’ll have to. So, Right now, I guess people are calling you or you’re still kind of reaching out. I mean, I guess right now, probably, like.”

Angela Barrett So we’re calling you kind of play now.

Elliot Poston “the ground is the ground. Yeah. I don’t want to. In order to grow your foot. Right, you have to get into new, new areas. So.”

Angela Barrett Sure.

Elliot Poston “I’m pretty regular at some places. And the majority of places when I play there, that’s they’ll say, hey, let’s go and get yard for a couple more or some. Yeah. No, I’m blessed for that. so some venues are harder to work with and others, and, you know, it’s just one of those things that I’m they love to work.”

Elliot Poston “I’m allowed to play somewhere. But if you miss out, you miss out.”

Angela Barrett Right?

Elliot Poston “Yeah, yeah. And, but there’s but there’s also you also get to the point where you, You so book that you’re, you know, you have to figure out what to do next.”

Angela Barrett Right?

Elliot Poston “you know, places where I may play once a month or every other month or every third month, I may have to say, hey, I need a bat. We need to, update the schedule one. You know, I can only do once every four months, sir.”

Angela Barrett Right.

Elliot Poston “Well, that,”

Angela Barrett So.

Angela Barrett What’s next? Where are you going from here? You got a new one coming out?

Elliot Poston “I do, actually, yeah, I got a couple coming out, so I’m going to be releasing, periodically, so I’m in the studio July 10th through 12, and, if everything goes well, my, the first song I’m releasing, I’ll be release, at the end of July or mid August.”

Angela Barrett Nice.

Elliot Poston It’s called he can’t spell Bush without USC.

Angela Barrett “Okay. Tell me, tell me the story behind that name.”

Elliot Poston “All right, so I was hoping you’d ask. Know I call it in the 97th because that.”

Angela Barrett

Elliot Poston “In February and, they were asking the question, if, you know of, any, scholarships that maybe people have been given or maybe that even yourself has received that aren’t your typical athletic or academic scholarships. And the premise behind that question was once wrote, was there first school in the nation? So for provide two full ride scholarship to individuals for cornhole.”

Elliot Poston “Okay, so so these two gentlemen from Colorado or national champions out of high school playing cornhole. well, thanks for the opportunity. Hey, we could sponsor them. Sponsor them in a sense. Sure. They were our uniforms. They, you know, for our education. And because it’s a non NCAA by sanctioned event, any prize money won, they get to keep nice.”

Elliot Poston We’re again we’re getting seen all over national television. They’re getting the keep them up keep their winnings. And that’s and so I call it in and I’m just speaking of them and everything and told them who I was. Not actually I received the scholarship for singing when I was in college.

Angela Barrett Is it.

Elliot Poston “And they asked if I still sang. And of course, naturally, I plugged myself near it. That’s. Yeah, I’m that’s doing it. Yeah. That’s music artists, healthy person, blah blah blah. And you know, I, I posed the question, I said, here’s I said, here’s the question. If you’re of age, okay. And, you’re throwing are they all you had to have a beer because I’ve never seen people play cornhole without having a beer in their hand.”

Elliot Poston “and Jonathan Russ mentioned, he said, you know, he said, can you imagine, if USC got a cornhole team and were sponsored by somebody, they’d be sponsored by Miller High Life or or Bud Light or Budweiser. I said, no, if if USC was ever get sponsored by anyone, then it had to be Bush, because you can’t spell Bush without USC.”

Unknown You you you.

Angela Barrett You.

Elliot Poston But and now that’s true. And he he didn’t tell. And I got a kick out of that. And he said you should write a song about that. So I went home and I wrote a song about that day.

Angela Barrett “That’s pretty cool. I like it, I like it. That is an interesting, well, one cornhole story and, something for the trivia books. but, yeah, I, I like where that came from. That’s funny too. You’ll have to make sure that’s, somewhere on the cover of that single, when it comes out.”

Elliot Poston “Yeah. So, so I actually have a, I have a really nice graphic already for. So a bit. I’ve been posting about it, trying to get some, some interest. but.”

Angela Barrett “that’s the. So that’s the meaning on Facebook, that I saw with the beer can and the USC. Okay, now that makes sense. That’s it. So where where do you record? Where is the studio?”

Elliot Poston “So I use a guy by the name of Kenny McWilliams out of, Columbia, South Carolina. He’s at Archer Avenue Studios. He’s amazing. He’s he’s the one who he’s produced. My first album, all right now. Album. Single. And I’ve had I’ve had other people, after hearing it, have reached out and said, hey, I’d love to record you, blah, blah, blah.”

Elliot Poston “And I’m like, you know what? I appreciate it, but it he’s my guy.”

Angela Barrett Yeah.

Unknown You you you you you you.

Angela Barrett Yeah.

Elliot Poston he’s first. He was able to take my vision and just run with it. I’m not the best. And I was explaining what I want.

Angela Barrett “But, that feeling.”

Elliot Poston “But he he has a knack and the ability to you, just piece, piece stuff together and and, I couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out, and it’s just, very, very great guy, honest, easy to work with. And it’s just one of those things that for me, it’s it’s a no brainer. Hey, I appreciate you reaching out, but I got my guy.”

Angela Barrett “Yeah, yeah, well, you probably get a lot more of that, too much time goes by.”

Elliot Poston “And even me, I don’t want money from you. Okay, great. But no, you’re right.”

Angela Barrett “True, true.”

Elliot Poston “Is that, you know. And, you know, even even though I’m only a year into this, I’m 37. I have been around for a while. you know, I was born at nine. I wasn’t necessarily born last night.”

Angela Barrett “Yeah, I, like you said it followed the turn truck yesterday. Yeah, that’s my. Yeah, I get it. so, going back to, kind of when you started, when did you first start playing an instrument of any kind and how did you learn?”

Elliot Poston So I’ve taught myself.

Angela Barrett

Elliot Poston “so I started I actually started singing first. I only, well, I say, I started I Play-Doh. I took a little bit of piano lessons back when I was in like sixth grade. my grandma had an old piano and a cousin who was taking piano lessons, and, I just picked up on it. Quick, quickly. my cousin even makes comments now.”

Elliot Poston “She’s like, yeah, you just make me sick. I’d be in there, perhaps a piano playing piano, struggling. You just come in and just start playing everything that’s, you know, so I, I guess I just kind of picked up on it, but I, I played for like, six months, so that’s five, six months. And he quit. and I but I, I barley sang when I was like 15 and I sang for the first time, in church.”

Elliot Poston “Wait for a youth Sunday. I sang a blessed assurance acapella. Oof! Because I, actually heard a guy at FCA camp who was one of our counselors sing it. I was like, man, that sounds so good. I bet I could do that. I know,”

Elliot Poston “So so I did it. And so a few years later, I. And, let’s go out to college now said, you know what? it’s cool just to sit there and same if I have a guitar in my hand, I can play and say it. I’ll be better.”

Angela Barrett “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.”

Elliot Poston “So, actually borrow my guitar for a little while to learn how to play before I finally got my own.”

Angela Barrett “Yeah. I can’t, play any instrument whatsoever. And, not a tune in a bucket. So, that will not be happening over here. but I always am in all of those that do and have the bravery to do it as well. I mean, because it takes a lot of nerve. Do you still get nervous?”

Elliot Poston “not necessarily nervous. not to where it’s, like, crippling or can’t do anything. Sure. I get a little AC or anxious just ready. Yeah. Maybe. Maybe amped up. Yeah. you know, just really start. But, like, now, I was probably most nervous at my single release concert.”

Angela Barrett “Well, yeah, it was just you.”

Elliot Poston “Well, I had a band. I had a band behind me. and every. I had a band with me, we had on our set. Yeah. I play three hour sets now, and I still do it, and it’s just. But it’s just me. I play three hours and just me and no band right now. I really get nervous for that.”

Elliot Poston “But I think I think a lot of it is because, you know, I’m getting there an hour early. It’s taken me 30 minute to set up, and by the time I’m set up, I get set up, finally get me some, probably get me something to drink or or just use restroom, tidy up, whatever. Whatever I need to tidy up.”

Elliot Poston “I’m up there, where I’m playing. I think that’s because my mind doesn’t have a chance to really slow down.”

Angela Barrett Yeah.

Elliot Poston “And in the whole, where when my single release concert, we got set up, we had a couple hours. Did.”

Angela Barrett “Oh, well.”

Elliot Poston “Oh, yeah. Whatever. so it’s just one of those things that this, it was this was just a bit one of those big moments. Yeah, sure. My life, you know, you know. So we sold out the place. You. It holds like, plus a little over 200 people. We sold it out and that’s fantastic. Yeah. So.”

Angela Barrett “Well, I, I’m excited for where you’re headed, and I know it’ll be big things. And go ahead and try to get my autograph. Now, before you get too big for your riches there and, Yeah. but, best of luck to you. And, you have a beautiful family, and, please tell them I said hello because I’ve looked at all their pictures on your Facebook page.”

Angela Barrett “dude, Facebook Snoop, obviously. and what a beautiful family. But, looking forward to see where you go.”

Elliot Poston I appreciate.

Angela Barrett It. Absolutely.

Elliot Poston “Be sure to check out I can’t spell Bush without USC. That’s right. end of July, mid August and you can check out Better Than I deserve in the fall. And then you can check out the back roads from the way.”

Angela Barrett “That one sounds interesting. Take. Well, great. Thank you so much.”

Elliot Poston Thank you.