Joey Hyde’s putting the finishing touches on his major label debut – rare for a 25-year-old whose backing band stars old friends instead of session musicians. And the album is being produced by a buddy, something else that the label isn’t normally into.
But Hyde sees these elements as advantages.
“It makes it unique. No one has the sound I’m getting because no one’s using the guys I’m using,” he says. “It keeps it fun and fresh. It feels new and organic.”
To that end, the LP’s first single “Get It On” is a poppy summertime anthem decked out with guitar-heavy, Keith Urban-like hooks that get lodged deep inside most melons.
Hyde grew up in the bedroom community of Kentwood, Michigan, listening to Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and AC/DC. He was always drawn to the guitar parts more than the vocals. He moved to Nashville and started getting regular gigs at popular honky tonks on the competitive Broadway Street strip. That’s when his country music education began.
“It was a new thing for me, but the guitar style was exactly the same as what I learned on those classic rock albums, which is what turned me over to the country world,” Hyde says.
The singer-songwriter then started digging deeper into country classics – and legends like Merle Haggard.
“The best songwriters in the world make country music,” Hyde says. “Merle is such a risk-taker.”
In his brief tenure as a country musician, Hyde’s toured with mega country stars like Kip Moore and Lee Brice.
“It’s amazing as a young artist to go in and open for someone who already has a solid fanbase,” he says. “You start trying to earn those fans and make them fans of what I do; it’s a huge platform.”
But opening for Lynyrd Skynyrd remains the biggest coup of Hyde’s short career thus far.
“If I had a nickel for every time I played ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ I’d be Warren Buffet,” Hyde says. “Honestly, I was too nervous to even say, ‘Hi’ to [Skynyrd].”
He says hello to Salinas and Casa Sorrento Saturday.
JOEY HYDE 9pm Saturday, Aug. 2, at Casa Sorrento, 393 Salinas St., Salinas. Free. 757-2720.
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