Ethan Crump
Hartwell, Georgia, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2016 | SELF
Music
Press
Ethan Crump's debut EP Hellfire & Amazing Grace came out this June.
He is from a small town between Atlanta and Athens called Hartwell, Georgia. Ethan has a mature outlook, understands the musical troubadour traditions and both his songwriting and instrumentation are based fair and square on the backbone of folk and country music. His voice is pure and clear, without unnecessary adornments. He sounds like a young Steve Earle or Guy Clark.
“Most of these songs are just simple stories that I felt compelled to tell,” Ethan Crump says. “No fancy writing or pretty singing.”
“Ethan is an extraordinary talent, a songwriter, artist and musician and it has been a pleasure to work with him,” says one such veteran, award-winning hit songwriter Beth Neilsen Chapman. “His perspective is very original and I can't wait to watch him continue to develop.”
Here's a clip of the excellent 'Mason County Blues' from the EP:
Click title above to link to full article. - No Depression
If I wasn’t already keen on Georgia native Ethan Crump’s debut EP by the time the first song was a few bars old, I certainly would have been by the third and fourth tracks, ‘Mary Ann’ and ‘Mason County Blues’, which are delicate pieces of country music songwriting and singing that suggest a lifetime of experience rather than Crump’s nineteen years on Earth. They also suggest the restraint typical of someone who has written enough songs to know what to leave out – except apparently he only started writing in 2015.
Too often a young or new artist, nervous that they might never get another chance, will want to show the audience what they have: all the stories, all the tricks, all the verbal gymnastics. Crump suffers from none of this. He clearly has a strong storytelling instinct that he follows all the way through the five songs on this EP. There is not a single note of doubt about what he is doing, nor is there insecurity – he doesn’t demand attention but, rather, commands it.
The songs are identifiably country music; they feature judicious use of traditional instruments that allows Crump’s voice to deliver his stories, and either he has naturally great diction or he’s made sure that he sings clearly so that his stories are given the best possible chance to be heard.
Some of the early press about Crump has him as ‘the real deal’. Yes, he is. He’s also an artist whose work is worth savouring. There’s enough shade in here to break your heart and enough light to keep you coming back for more.
Hellfire & Amazing Grace is out now.
www.ethancrump.com - Jolene: The Country Music Blog
“Ethan is an extraordinary talent, a songwriter, artist and musician and it has been a pleasure to work with him. His perspective is very original and I can’t wait to watch him continue to develop.” - Award Winning Songwriter
“Keep your ear out for a fine young songwriter with a voice like a young John Prine. He’s a big talent who will surely be getting noticed.” - Singer/Songwriter/Multi-instrumentalist
"Ethan Crump stares off into the distance in the video, mirroring the longing that is ever-present as he shares his “Mason County Blues”. The nineteen year-old songsmith looks for a way out on the track from his recently released E.P. Hellfire and Amazing Grace. The yearning for listeners is sadness that the song has to end." - The Alternate Root
“Ethan’s songs are true to the great storytelling/folk tradition of John Prine and Guy Clark, yet sound less revivalist and more of a new gener- ation of the lineage. He’s clearly at ease with who he is and honors his Georgia roots with songs about family members, country wisdom, and the rural scenes that are fading too quickly from Americana. With just his voice and fingerstyle acoustic guitar Ethan’s able to captivate a room, and he charms equally with his humor-laced upbeat melodies and aching slow songs.” - Arts Editor + Writer, Mountain Xpress Magazine
"Hellfire and Amazing Grace presents five stories from Ethan, leaving listeners with the hope that his pen has a lot of ink."
Read the full review here:
http://www.thealternateroot.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5293:ethanc-handag&catid=230:new-releases-from-the-alternate-root - The Alternate Root
“The songwriting is outstanding. I have a bad habit of comparing artists
to each other. Even though each artist stands on their own, in my mind, if they remind me of an artist that I really like, it is a compliment. That being said, a lot of the writing on the project reminds me of John Prine. That is the biggest compliment I can give because John is my favorite songwriter of all time. Ethan’s writing is fresh, not cliched. It is not predictable, but once you take the journey in each song, I look back and say, ‘How did we get here,’ and, ‘This is exactly where the song should go. How did I miss it?’” - 92.1 WLHR
“With the catalog of songs he’s already penned coupled with his utterly de- lightful stage presence, I think it’s safe to say the sky is the limit for Ethan Crump. Fans of John Prine and Guy Clark should absolutely get in on the ground floor and dig into this rising young talent." - The Grey Eagle
I'm here to tell you good people that @ethancrumpmusic is the real deal. - TwangNation
“Ethan’s well crafted lyrics and comfort with the audience made his per- formance pleasurable and memorable. He will be a great addition to the singer-songwriter community and has great potential for future success.” - Musicalou Productions | Talent Buyer for Isis Music Hall, Asheville, NC
"I like each and every song on this 5 song EP, but let’s go with the excellent title track. Hellfire and Amazing Grace is a song inspired by his grandparents. It’s a well-crafted song and a story beautifully told. I love it." - One Chord to Another
“Congratulations to Ethan Crump, this year’s grand prize winner of the third annual NewSong Presents: LEAF Community Arts Festival Sing- er-Songwriter Showcase and Competition. Only 19 years old, this Hartwell, Georgia native writes and sings well beyond his years, and had last night’s audience hanging on every word and melody.” - President & Founder, NewSong Music
Promo - Ditty TV
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
There’s not a whole lot I can say, seeing that I’ve only been on this earth nineteen years. I guess I could tell you about when I got my first guitar, or when I joined my first band, or who my biggest musical influences are, but I think I need to start with my childhood. I was home-schooled as a kid (I know you’re not surprised…). My cousin Kristi, who was also home-schooled, lived next door to me. Everyday around lunch time we would walk through the field, down what we called the buttermilk trail, to my grandmother’s house.
My grandmother, Mrs. Charlotte Crump, was a retired cook. Born into the Great Depression, she spent much of her childhood with a cotton sack slung around her shoulder. She grew up to marry my grandfather, Bennie Crump, and together they started the S&W Diner. By the time I came along she had already retired and sold the diner to her sister Sandra. Oh, I failed to mention that we never called her “Grandma” or “Grannie”. To us, this old lady, strong as a pine knot and tough as Georgia clay, was simply known as “Nannie”.
When we would arrive at Nannie’s house she would have a whole Thanksgiving cooked for us daily. Fried chicken, fried okra, mashed potatoes and gravy, cornbread, salmon patties, and sweet potatoes just to list a few. It was far more than anyone could eat. So needless to say, we had really happy dogs.
About two or three times a week, a few of her siblings would stop by and join us for lunch. Like her, they had grown up in hard conditions. Many days they spent with their backs hunched over, toiling away under the heavy heat of the sun. This wasn’t some kind of part time job to go on their resume, it was just life.
I would sit there and listen to them talk and laugh and cuss. The way they made words. The way they told stories. I like to think it’s a part of me. Maybe it’s the reason I take words and stories so seriously. Either way, it’s the most important part of who I am. More so than any guitar or John Prine album. So if you like my songs, know that I didn’t just pull them out of thin air. I spent years watching, listening, and learning.
Band Members
Links
