Today we’d like to introduce you to Holden Amory.
Hi Holden, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Chicago but spent most of my childhood in Vermont. I started writing songs when I was eight years old, after a local singer-songwriter, Jon Gailmore, came to my third-grade class to teach a workshop on songwriting and composition.
However, it wasn’t until I was 16 that I picked up a guitar, even though my mom had tried to get me interested in it years earlier. Junior year, I had the last block of school free, and my academic counselor suggested I take a guitar class. It was a perfect storm of events. My guitar teacher gave me the entire semester to write songs in her office, and that spring, I performed one of my originals at the school talent show.
At school, I was known more as a class clown or an athlete, so everyone was surprised when I walked onto the stage with a guitar and started singing an original song. It was in that moment that I realized performing was what I wanted to do with my life.
After high school I attended Lake Forest College in Chicago, initially majoring in political science before quickly switching to music. Two years later, I dropped out to pursue music full-time. I moved to South Florida and started playing as many open mics as I could, building up experience, getting shows under my belt, and making connections with other local artists.
After recording my first album, I was driving to Miami to promote some of the songs when an 18-wheeler kicked up a 20-pound piece of metal that came through my windshield and struck me in the face. I underwent three reconstructive surgeries to get back to “normal”. Due to the media attention from the accident, I was contacted by music industry executives and producers to hone in on my songwriting craft. This led me to spend some time in Nashville recording and songwriting.
Then COVID hit, and I was forced to move back to my family’s farm in Vermont. Without the ability to jam and perform with friends, I picked up a loop pedal and spent the next year learning songs and figuring out how to become a one-man show.
When I eventually returned to Florida the following year, I took a job at The Wick Theatre in Boca Raton while building up a weekly music schedule of my own. That schedule kept growing, and I’ve been performing several shows every week ever since.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Definitely not, my life has come with many unexpected turns. But I would not have it any other way. Each bump that I’ve questioned eventually came to be fruitful and led me right where I am supposed to be. The biggest example being my accident which led me to find God. Then there was my time in Nashville where I wrote hundreds of songs and was constantly told they were not good enough. That pushed me to get better and now I have written over a thousand songs and gotten to work with some great people in the industry, an experience that helped me grow tremendously.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a singer and songwriter, first and foremost. Beyond that I specialize in live looping on stage, something I have gotten quite adept at after performing 5-8 shows a week for several years. Live looping is similar to what Ed Sheeran uses in his live performances, where an artist builds a song from scratch using their instrument and vocals. Individual layers are recorded and looped in real time to create percussion, rhythm, bass, and other elements that form the backing track, all performed live. This is what people know me best for. I am most proud of the resilience and persistence I have demonstrated when it comes to overcoming barriers and continuing to pursue a career as a full-time musician. I believe that also sets me apart, after being in this industry for over 15 years, I have grown to understand the ebbs and flows of performing and balancing my family life with a successful career in music.
How do you think about luck?
There is no such thing as luck.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.holdenamory.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/holdenamory
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/@holdenhmusic
- Youtube: https://YouTube.com/@holdenamory
- Other: https://tiktok.com/@followingholden
