Imagine tuning into your local radio
station to discover what sounds like a handful of your favorite country
legends singing together on one single song. You've never heard this
song before, and yet, you can't help but feel as though you could almost
sing along. Then, just as this new sound begins to feel like a
comfortable, old pair of jeans or boots, the DJ interrupts with "Ladies
and Gentlemen... that was the new single by Nashville recording artist,
Tim Culpepper!"
It’s at this very moment you realize that you've just discovered
honest-to-goodness real Country Music again! And that feeling, of
hearing multiple country legends together on one song, is simply the
answer to the question George Jones posed in his 1986 hit, "Who's Gonna
Fill Their Shoes?"
With hints of Randy Travis, Keith Whitley, Gene Watson, and George
Jones, it only takes one listen to know who influenced Culpepper's
smokey, honkytonk, brand of vocals. What you need to know is... he's no
accident. In fact, you might say it's in his blood...
Tim's journey began as kind of a love story, with the marriage of his
Mother Judy, to his father, country entertainer/musician, Forrest
Culpepper, or "Curly", as he had come to be known by those who
frequented the honkytonk scene in and around Montgomery, Alabama. The
birth of Tim, soon after, would complete an already accomplished family
of singers and musicians that, at the time, included such close friends
as Hank Williams, Sr. (who had passed, before Tim’s birth), and Marty
Robbins.
While most children began life experiencing a mostly subdued
environment, young Culpepper was backstage with the likes of Hank, Jr.,
Marty and Johnny Cash, or in the audience with his Mother, while his
father was performing. On one occasion, while sharing stories of her
son’s early childhood, Judy fondly recalled one particular night during
a Hank Jr. performance, when songwriter and manager, Merle Kilgore, was
charged with babysitting "little Timmy", while she got up to 2 step, "It
wasn't the 'Brady Bunch!'" she laughs. "But we sure were a family!"
By age 9, anxious to take part in the "family business", Tim
approached his Father, holding an over-sized Epiphone guitar, asking for
his first lesson. Having earlier traded the stage, for more stable work,
as an over-the-road trucker, his Father agreed to teach his son with ONE
condition- Tim had to promise that when ready, he would take his gift to
Nashville. Curly did not want his son to waste his talent in the bars of
Montgomery. In his opinion, the serious musician needs to be where
things were happening...
After high school, where Tim spent early evenings playing football,
and late nights performing at any local venue his Mother could talk into
allowing the under-aged singer to enter, Tim kept his word and made his
way to Nashville.
He would eventually be discovered by Nashville based Honkytone
Records, managed by songwriter/producer, Elbert West, while performing
in the famed honkytonks of lower Broadway.
Under the guidance of West, Tim would spend the following two years,
honing his craft, while writing his first album, "Pourin' Whiskey On
Pain". The title cut, having been the self-penned song that sparked
West's interest, would now represent the body of work that would launch
his career as an Artist.
With the recent release of his first single and video, "Ghost", Tim
continues the process of bringing full circle, a journey that began as a
simple honkytonk love story under the neon lights of Montgomery,
Alabama.
So yes, you might say that country music is in his blood…But upon
closer inspection, you might also agree that Tim Culpepper, as one of a
rare breed of singer/songwriter Artists, is the lifeblood of Country
Music...
