Entertainment
BY R A N DY PAT T E R S O N, B O O M E R O C I T Y.C O M
T
HE INTERVIEWS that grace this
magazine are normally of iconic, legendary, or up-and-coming artists. Big names, so to speak. This month you are going to learn about a talent well before the rest of the world is turned on to him. His name is Austin Crum, and believe me when I say that this 16 year old guitar prodigy is definitely the next Stevie Ray Vaughan or Joe Bonamassa. Rock. Blues. Country. You name it, Austin nails it. Born to Gina and Chad Crum and raised in Newport, Austin literally cut his teeth on the guitar. To hear Austin’s parents tell it, they discovered that their son was gifted on the guitar at a very early age. “We knew he had talent when he was a baby,” said Chad. “He could keep rhythm,” added Gina. “Yes, he had a little toy guitar. I’m talking little bitty. He was probably one. We gave him a pick, and he would play along.” “He always carried a pick,” agreed Chad. “When we would get ready to go to church, he would make sure that he had a pick in his little pocket when he was old enough to walk around. We have a lot of music at our church. Austin would watch the guitar player, and he would actually have his pick. We’d be singing in the choir, and he would be over there playing the guitar player’s licks.” I asked the Crums if they thought that prenatal learning factors into Austin’s talent. They said that it might have been due to listening to a lot of Stevie Ray Vaughan while Austin was in the womb. “Every time that I was in the car when Gina was pregnant, I was really, really hard core into Stevie,” said Chad. “I bought all of his records and went back – even to his earlier stuff. I went back to Texas Flood. I just couldn’t get enough of it. But it all started with wrestling and Austin. He got RSV when he was three weeks old and really sickly. When he had trouble sleeping at night, we would put Pride and Joy on headphones and he would go out just like a light. It’s truly his favorite song. I don’t know. I guess only God knows if that had anything to do with it.” Austin shared with me his earliest memories with the guitar. “Well, everybody in the family plays,” he said. “My cousins, Matthew and Steve, play. I watched them growing up. I learned a lot of stuff from them and just kinda built on it. That’s basically it.” Austin couldn’t remember the first song that he learned, but his proud momma, Gina, knew. “Folson Prison Blues,” she said. “That was the first song you ever performed somewhere besides in church. And, you played it on a flat top.” And Austin’s first gig? “We had kind of a talent show thing at school,” said Austin. “We did Folsom Prison, 58
EVERYTHING KNOXVILLE Januar y 2016
Austin Crum and Family
and my dad played bass, I played guitar, and my granddaddy – he sings bass in church – sung Johnny’s part on Folsom Prison. That’s probably the first thing we’d ever done out in front of many people like that.” As to whether his peers are supportive or derisive, Austin said, “They treat me really good, actually. They think it’s cool that I can play. They ask me to play. We have some guitars in the back of the chorus building. They tell me to get one out and play something. I mean, they’re actually pretty supportive about it.” I asked Austin who his biggest influences were on the guitar. “I’d have to give it to Stevie,” he said. “I mean, I’m straying into different kinds of music now, but he’s the one who started it.”
As we kibitzed about SRV, Chad added this little morsel of trivia. “Austin actually got to share the stage with SRV’s keyboard player, Reese Wynans. You couldn’t have washed that smile off of Austin’s face. Austin was sitting in with Whitey Johnson at Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar in Nashville. It sounds awful, but it’s a family atmosphere. He shared the stage with Whitey Johnson, and Reese was sitting in with Whitey. Austin came off stage, and I remember him telling us, ‘Man, that was such a weird feeling to look over at Reese and nodding off to him like, ‘Go ahead, Reese, take that.’” East Tennessee has produced a lot of amazing, world-renowned talent. Mark my words: Austin Crum will be known as one of them. Because of that, I suspect that Austin will be nodding to many more great musicians in the future. You can read this interview in its entirety at www.boomerocity.com.