A few weeks ago, Nashville-based singer-songwriter Evan Honer released his second album, Fighting For. It’s a 16-track tour de force that touches on pure Appalachian Americana (“Nowhere Fast”), aching solo acoustic melancholia (“Mr. Meyers”) and straightforward rockers (“Wake Up, Come Down”), all anchored by Honer’s resonant but vulnerable voice, which resembles the pained but confident cry of My Morning Jacket singer Jim James.
It’s a strong album, in other words, which is exactly what Honer needed, because he was following up a debut that got some serious attention. That album, 2023’s West On I-10, was released on Honer’s own indie label, Cloverdale Records, but it did numbers like a mainstream release, particularly on streaming services. Just a year later, Honer’s music is at an astounding 200 million streams, and there are individual tracks on the album with tens of millions of listens.
Sure, Honer had critical raves from People magazine and No Depression, a roughly 5 million strong social media base, mainly on TikTok — but tens of millions of streams? How did that happen, exactly, especially for an indie release?
Don’t ask the artist; he’s still bewildered by it. All he knows is that he started out as a 13-year-old guitarist who fell in love with the music of singer-songwriter Tyler Childers, and decided he wanted to do that, too. And now, here we are, 200 million streams later.
“It surprises me every day,” Honer said. “I just started writing those songs in my last year of college and recording them with my friend that had started producing music the same time. We were just making these songs. I didn’t really think anything of it, and I’m surprised people are resonating with it.”
Stripped-back sound
Honer did, however, offer some possible reasons that his music caught on.
“I think it’s the straightforward lyrics and simple production,” he said. (Honer’s writing is almost entirely autobiographical.) “That’s a popular trend right now. Most of the songs are stripped-back with minimal instrumentation. I think people started to miss that a lot, and now I think it’s coming back. People just like raw, emotional music.”
When it came time to make his next project, Fighting For, Honer was feeling the heat of expectation.
“I felt a good amount of pressure,” he said, “but I think a lot of it was unnecessary pressure that was just in my head. But I had so much fun making the album, and I loved it a lot. I decided that I don’t really care too much what happens — these songs mean a lot to me, and I had a good time making them with my friends.
“If it goes to number one, then that’s awesome,” he continued, “but if it doesn’t, then it’s totally fine. That’s the way I try to look at it.”
Fighting For was released on Honer’s indie label Cloverdale Records, even though he got plenty of interest from major labels after his debut made a splash. Honer decided to stick to his own label, despite the improved promotion and distribution opportunities that a major can provide.
“I don’t think there’s any right or wrong way to do things,” Honer said. “I don’t do well with a lot of opinions and voices in my ear, whether they’re telling me about the music or the marketing side. So just for the sake of my mental health, I figured it was best for me to just keep my team as small as possible so I don’t have to worry about going through hoops. I have the freedom to do whatever I want and to release whatever I want.”
Catch Evan Honer at Music Farm. 8 p.m., July 20. Tickets are $20 advance or $25 day-of.
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