Skip Ewing owes his country music career to taking a big gamble at a young age. The singer-songwriter recently opened up about his life and work, revealing that he essentially “ran away from home” to chase his dreams.
“When I came to Nashville, I had a job,” Ewing recently told American Songwriter. “I was offered a job to be an ensemble singer in a show at a place called Opryland. I basically ran away from home to do it. I got in the car with someone I didn’t know. I had my guitar, a banjo, a couple pairs of jeans, and some shirts, and that’s it, and I never went back.”
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Ewing is an acclaimed singer-songwriter whose songs were recorded by Keith Urban, Zac Brown Band, George Strait, Keb Mo, Kenny Rogers, and Willie Nelson, among others. Earlier this year, PopCulture.com had a chance to premiere Ewing’s song “Windmill,” and also chat with him about his career, including how his songwriting process has evolved over his three decades in the music industry.
“I was a kid just out of high school when I came to Nashville. All I knew about songwriting was what I’d heard on recordings like James Taylor and Merle Haggard,” he told us. “Anything else was just searching my heart and utilizing whatever musical knowledge I’d gained from singing and playing since I was 4 years old.”
“Once my songs began to be noticed and I signed a publishing deal, writing became all about trying to make my publisher and record executives happy by writing what they believed would make the most money,” he continued. “I learned from everyone I could, everyone I wrote with. I had quite a bit of success doing that, but over time I felt as if it was eroding my artistic soul in a way.”
Ewing went on to confess, “The truth of it is, I never set out to be a songwriter or a country star. That’s just who and what I was: a songwriter and an artist. For me they’re inseparable. I followed my heart and my passion for expressing myself in ways I hoped would move people.” Finally, he added, “It was the people that mattered. It still is.”
