Elton John described him as “if Bill Withers made country music,” but for Kashus Culpepper that only scratches the surface of his unique sound, the multitudes of which are displayed in full force on his full-length debut Act I, which was released January 23.
Growing up in Alexander City, Alabama, the singer was always around music, whether it be in church or in the car, but aspirations for a career performing didn’t materialize for the former firefighter and EMT until he found himself stationed in Spain as a Navy corpsman during the pandemic.
“I wasn’t much of a player, but I was listening to so much music growing up,” recalls Culpepper. “I had headphones on all day, even at school, which caused me to get in trouble quite a bit. I would’ve loved to play back then too, but garage bands weren’t really a thing in our town when I was growing up. If they were, I would’ve tried jumping in with folks in a flash.”
During his period of isolation abroad, Culpepper was gifted a guitar, leading him to learn how to play and to eventually post cover songs online. After leaving the Navy in 2022, he returned stateside and began booking cover act shows at honky-tonks and dive bars across the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Although he immediately loved what he was doing, he also noticed that only playing other people’s material would have a short shelf life.
“Once I realized the cover thing would run its course, I knew in order to make a career in music that I needed to start writing my own songs,” he explains. “For so long the thought of writing my own songs and having people sing them back to me was just a silly dream, but now, less than three years later, I’m releasing an 18-track album I helped write the entirety of.”
Ranging from country to blues, rock and roll, pop, and soul, Act I is a full-on musical onslaught that caps off an amazing five-year journey for Culpepper, setting the stage for a continued meteoric rise in the years to come. On the album he’s joined by fellow stars-on-the-rise Marcus King (“Southern Man”) and Sierra Ferrell (“Broken Wing Bird”). But where the compilation really shines is on the tracks in between, like “Alabama Beauty Queen” and “Break Like Me,” that see Culpepper not only pouring his heart out, but doing so with catchy hooks and differentiating styles while remaining fully authentic to who he is – a Southern man making Southern music.
Less than two weeks before Act I’s arrival, Culpepper spoke with Good Country over the phone about his love for Tyler Childers, the importance of co-writing all the album’s material, what it was like earning the support of Samuel L. Jackson, how his collaboration with Sierra Ferrell on “Broken Wing Bird” came about, and more.
How far back do the origins of these 18 songs go? Are most from those early days of writing in 2023 or more recently as you’ve refined your voice?
Kashus Culpepper: Well, the ones that’s already been out [as singles], they’re definitely from around the same time that I was starting out writing. But a lot of songs that haven’t been put out yet, aside from “In Her Eyes” and “Mean To Me,” are all a little more recent.
In reality, none of these songs are that old if you didn’t start writing until 2023!
Exactly! When you think about it, none of these are that old. There’s so many artists who’ve been holding on to songs for years and years – like Chris Stapleton, who just won a GRAMMY for “White Horse” over a decade after first writing it.
Why was it important for you to have a hand in writing all 18 of these songs?
I’m all about developing myself as a songwriter, because it’s something that I can do for the rest of my life even after all the performance stuff is done. Songwriting is something that I truly believe in and love, so I want to be the best at it that I possibly can be. And to be the best at what you’re trying to do, you have to do it all the time and you have to write with people that are way better than you. That’s what I’ve been able to do with this record. I’ve been writing with people that are way better at writing than me. It’s been amazing.
The record is called Act I. Does that mean it’s part of a larger body of music to come?
At the moment, I don’t really know. I called it Act I not as an introduction to who I am, but because I’m a big movie guy. I love theater, movies, dramatics, all of it.
With that in mind, I know you had a run-in with A-list movie star and one of your biggest heroes, Samuel L. Jackson. What was that like?
Samuel L. Jackson is one of my favorite actors of all time. I got a connection with him when “After Me?” was coming out. It definitely makes the world feel a lot smaller when some of your favorite actors or your favorite artists know who you are. A lot of times growing up you think you will never be in connection with your idols, so it really was a humbling experience. It made me realize that anything is possible.
If you have a dream, you can do it. If one day you want to talk to Oprah Winfrey, you can. Don’t take your foot off the pedal just yet!
Has that one happened for you?
No, I have not talked to Oprah Winfrey, but I would like to! And you get a car! And you get a car! [Laughs]
With regard to “After Me?,” wasn’t that one of your first original songs to gain traction online?
My first big song on socials was “Who Hurt You,” but following that I posted a clip of “After Me?” and everything just went crazy. I’m really glad I put it up on socials after writing it with my boy Mark Addison. We didn’t think anything of it at the time – we were just writing. It’s been insane seeing what the song has turned into since then, especially live.
That’s another thing – it’s been cool to see all the new songs develop their own personality with the crowd. For a while, “After Me?” was people’s favorite song, but now it’s been overthrown by some of the newer ones, which I like because it tells me that I’m continuing to write new songs that people want to hear.
Was it always your vision for your debut project to be this massive or did it unknowingly balloon to 18 songs while in the studio?
I think it was the fact that I had so many great songs in my brain that showed the timestamp of a point in my music career and what I’m doing as an artist. Also, I didn’t want to hold back songs that I thought would be cool for my next project – I needed to put them out right now. When people listen to it, I want them to know exactly what was in my head at the moment I was creating it. That way it and everything I do that comes after it can always stand on its own.
You mentioning a desire to curate a specific moment in time reminds me of the intro track that kicks off Act I, where you’re playing the role of a radio DJ on KC 97 FM. Was that intentional on your part?
That’s exactly where I was trying to go with it. I was just trying to show people what it’s like in my head and trying to transport them to a new world as soon as the record starts. If you listen to it start to finish it feels like a radio station tailored by me. My goal is to bring listeners into my world. I hope people don’t skip it, because if they listen to it top to bottom, they’ll understand. It’s like, “Okay, Kash is curating a playlist with all kinds of influences, because he is a man with different sides to him as a person and musically.” I don’t really care about this or that in terms of genre, so long as the song makes me feel something.
And who knows… maybe someday Apple Music or iHeartRadio will come calling and give you the keys to your own real-life KC 97 FM?!
Don’t tempt me! [Laughs] I would love to do something like that. I don’t have time for it right now, but I would make time!
@kashculpeppermusic Messed up kid- Tyler Childers #tylerchilders #countrymusic #fypシ ♬ original sound – Kashus Culpepper
I know the church was a large part of your early musical upbringing, but what role did the radio play in all of it, if any?
For sure. I don’t remember the name of the radio stations, but there was something about summertime in small town ‘Bama, driving around with the windows down that was so freeing. And country music has always given me that same type of feeling. At the same time, I have so many memories not only with country, but also with soul and pop records. I remember a time when I’d even go around singing along to Lady Gaga.
Then when I was in the military and I found out about guys like Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson, and Kolton Moore, they turned into my backroad jams and even went on to inspire me to eventually start writing songs myself.
Speaking of Tyler Childers, didn’t you have a moment with his song “Messed Up Kid”?
Yeah, that was one of the first ones that really started popping off for me. Since then I’ve also done “Lady May” – which got a good response, too. I just love Tyler’s music. He’s got one of the most soulful voices I’ve heard in a long time. It reminds me of people I was in church with. In a way, I feel like Tyler and I probably went to the same church growing up. I’ve just connected with his music so much. Not just Tyler, but a lot of other people in Kentucky, too, now that I think about it. One thing musicians from there have in common is they love singing from their soul and being authentic.
Since you were just speaking about soul, one of the most soulful songs on Act I from my perspective is “Break Me Like.” Mind telling me about it?
That song definitely draws from the fact that I am with someone that I should not be with, but it’s okay because we’re in this moment and I know what she’s gonna do to me and it’s fine since right now I need to be with somebody. “Break Like Me” started with that idea in mind, then I had these really weird chords that I came up with while writing with Grady [Block] and Hank [Compton] over at Big Loud. After fumbling around with the lyrics that I had in my head, I came up with something that had a real funky, low-fi kind of vibe. We wanted it to tell a story and be relatively heavy, but while giving it production worthy of cruising to and vibing out with.
What about “Broken Wing Bird” with Sierra Ferrell. How did you bring her aboard, and did you always envision the song as a duet?
I wrote that song with my producer, Brian Elmquist, and at the time wasn’t thinking about it as a duet. We’re both lovers of Willie Nelson and wanted a song that felt like you could be on your back porch and listen to it morning, afternoon, or night with a drink in hand and not have to think about it too much. It’s a song that makes you feel warm and feel at home, but it wasn’t until the production of it when we thought about doing it as a duet.
Once the idea got brought up, one of us made the comment that whoever it is, it would have to be someone that has a voice that feels like it’s not from this time. Eventually Sierra’s name came up and it was like a lightbulb going off. She’s literally the first person that I would want in the whole world to be on this record, but I wasn’t sure if she’d be available to do it. Once we got the green light my excitement went through the roof. I’m so proud that she’s on this record, because she’s an artist that I truly love. I’m hoping somewhere down the line we might have something in the works that’s a bit longer of a project too.
I (and most other people) would not be against that one bit!
Looking back over the past five years, what has your musical journey thus far and bringing Act I to life taught you about yourself?
For so long, I thought I didn’t belong in places, that I wasn’t able to do this or that. The biggest thing I’ve learned is to just dream big because you never know what could happen. You just have to believe in yourself and you can do anything, no matter how crazy it sounds. For the longest time, I didn’t have a dream of doing music because I just thought I couldn’t do it. I thought I wasn’t the kind of person to be singing songs on stage, but look at me now!
With you referencing dreaming big I have to ask, what’s next on your musical bucket list?
My goal is to just keep creating, growing as a songwriter and learning more about myself along the way. If I do that I feel like everything else will follow and I’ll keep growing as a songwriter and as a promoter.
Photo Credit: Cedrick Jones
