In talking about his music, singer-songwriter Justin Hines says, “Honestly, I don’t remember wanting to do anything else, period.” That sense of it being something as essential as breathing emanates from every track on
... In talking about his music, singer-songwriter Justin Hines says, “Honestly, I don’t remember wanting to do anything else, period.” That sense of it being something as essential as breathing emanates from every track on his soul-searching debut album, Sides.
Justin absorbed his musical gifts from his family – “My dad plays a mean folk guitar,” he says, “and my mom has a great voice.” Justin’s been told that as a baby, he was carrying a tune before he was talking, and remembers that, “My grandmother Margaret always had this thing that I was going to be a singer. She had me singing in church and for relatives, so any stage fright left me early.”
There was also the influence of an inanimate – but equally musical – fixture of the household, a jukebox of his dad’s, loaded with old 45s. He’d sit in front of it for hours, listening to every song, note for note. It’s still in his basement, and it still inspires Hines with classic recordings by artists including James Taylor, Willie Nelson, Cat Stevens, Jim Croce and Harry Chapin. Read more
