Will Hoge

Born and raised in Tennessee, songwriter Will Hoge blends soulful Americana and heartland rock & roll. An insightful songwriter with a keen eye for the details of life in the heartland, he's capable of writing arena size anthems like "Middle of America" (from 2015's Small Town Dreams) and intimate character studies such as "Strong" (from 2013's Never Give In) with equal skill and emotional honesty. After several albums that emphasized his rock & roll impulses, 2024's Tenderhearted Boys was a contemplative effort with Hoge playing most of the instruments himself. After spending his childhood in the Nashville suburb of Franklin, Will Hoge left Tennessee to study history at Western Kentucky University. Music drew him back home, however, and he relocated to Nashville to assemble a band that included former Georgia Satellites frontman Dan Baird. Hoge then cut his teeth on the Southern bar circuit and issued a live release, 1999's All Night Long, before inking a deal with Atlantic Records. With the label's support, he entered Memphis' famed Ardent Studios to record his official debut, Carousel, with engineer John Hampton (the Replacements, Gin Blossoms). The album was released in 2000, and Blackbird on a Lonely Wire followed in 2003 (albeit without Baird, who'd left due to the band's demanding tour schedule). Atlantic were unhappy with Hoge's sales, though, and he found himself receiving minimal attention from his label. Requesting release from his contract, Hoge became a free agent. Following his departure from the Atlantic roster, Hoge combined a relentless tour schedule with a string of independent releases, from live albums and brief EPs to a full-fledged studio effort, 2006's The Man Who Killed Love. Taking note of Hoge's work ethic, particularly his 200-plus shows per year, Rykodisc signed the artist, and Draw the Curtains, his fourth studio album and first effort for Rykodisc, was issued in October 2007. It was followed by yet another aggressive fall tour. Recording sessions for another record began in 2008, but work was put on hold on August 20th, when a scooter accident left Hoge severely injured. He focused on his recovery for the remainder of 2008, undergoing months of physical therapy. He eventually returned to the project in 2009 and released The Wreckage later that year. Hoge put out his seventh studio album, the appropriately titled Number Seven, in September 2011. Hoge and co-writer Eric Paslay received 2012 Academy of Country Music (ACM), Country Music Association (CMA), and Grammy nominations for Best Country Song for "Even If It Breaks Your Heart," the opening track on the Eli Young Band's album Life at Best. In December of 2012, Hoge released the digital-only EP Modern American Protest Music, which included the songs "Folded Flag" and "Ballad of Trayvon Martin." In October of 2013, Never Give In, his eighth full-length, was released by Cumberland Recordings. The album's first single, "Strong," was tapped by Chevy for its 2014 Silverado pickup truck ad campaign. He followed it in 2015 with the album Small Town Dreams, which landed at number 15 on the country charts. While touring in support of Small Town Dreams, Hoge hit a career wall. He enjoyed writing songs for others and playing live, but he had fallen out of love with being in a band. After a period of introspection, he let his working group go and took off on a cross-country tour playing solo shows. Reclaiming the joy that inspired him to make music a vocation in the first place, he began writing while traveling. He reentered the studio with an ace cast of studio players and completed Anchors. The self-produced 11-track set was previewed in June 2017 by the single "Little Bit of Rust" (a duet with Sheryl Crow) and followed two weeks later by "Baby's Eyes." The album proper appeared in August from Eldo, a label Hoge founded to release his music, with distribution by Thirty Tigers. Hoge quickly followed Anchors with My American Dream, which appeared in October 2018. 2020's Tiny Little Movies was a thematically and musically diverse LP, including personal numbers about failing romances and broadsides against political and spiritual dishonesty. 2022's Wings on my Shoes was dominated by Hoge's Americana and heartland rock influences, though it closed with the guitar-and-pedal steel shaggy dog story "Whose God Is This." For 2024's Tenderhearted Boys, Hoge aimed for a spare, low-key sound with the songwriter handling nearly all the instrumental work himself.
© Andrew Leahey & Mark Deming /TiVo