CAMPFIRE
TYLER BY TAYLOR KENT
For all of us who know him, it’s hard to imagine calling him anything other than Campfire Tyler. The name fits and flows so well with his personality and style that it feels like it must have belonged to him for his whole life. But it hasn’t always been this way. In fact, Tyler Littlejohn is on his third identity. He started out six years ago as a hip hop artist with an entirely different name, Stoner Love. As his abilities evolved, he eventually morphed into acoustic artist Stony Amore. Something still didn’t feel quite right. The Beaufort native wanted a name that would encompass his love for the nature of the place he’s always called home. Now, he describes himself as a “phoenix that rose from the ashes of his past identities”. To him, choosing the name Campfire Tyler goes back to the nature of hanging out on his back porch, listening to the crickets and playing guitar. His music and identity has an easygoing, comfortable feel that’s easily relatable to all lowcountry natives. In the past year, he’s grown into himself as an artist and truly found his voice. With a debut album under his belt and a summer full of shows to play, Campfire Tyler is just getting started. A pivotal point in his life occurred eight 38
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months ago when he made the decision to stop drinking. Suddenly, with a clear mind, he found himself full of motivation. He began to write songs, treating them as a time stamp for what was taking place in his life and his newfound sobriety. His songs became his diary, and the writing came easy. The rawness of his lyrics combined with his rolling melodies make his songs light and appealing, even when dealing with heavier topics. It’s an impressive quality for an artist to possess, and Campfire Tyler has it mastered. His relatability and humble attitude comes through in his lyrics, and it’s hard to believe he’s relatively new to songwriting. As he was writing, he also started to gig regularly, playing “anywhere that would give him a shot”. He had been playing guitar for several years, but as he put it, finding out that you could get paid and fed to do it changed the game for him. It was last spring when Campfire Tyler put together a show and a setlist, a combination of his originals as well as songs from his influences, ranging from John Prine and Billy Strings to Outkast. His versatility catches the attention of any audience, and it didn’t take long for him to grab the attention of both local
venues and other local musicians, one of which being Kyle Wareham. A successful singer/songwriter himself, Kyle is an artist and producer with his own studio on the island, Shelter Studios. The two hit it off, and Tyler enlisted the help of Kyle to record his first self-titled album. This past November, the pair did all of the recording for the seven song record in only two days. It was released in March on all platforms, and has already been very well-received. In fact, it was so well-received that it inspired island percussionist Nate Douglas to get a Campfire Tyler tattoo inscribed on his arm, a huge sentiment to the artist. After recording with Kyle, Campfire Tyler began to venture out to play Hilton Head bars and restaurants. He has no plans to move from his home in Beaufort, but enjoys being able to play the island’s music scene. For him, it’s almost like the best of both worlds. This summer and into the fall, Campfire Tyler will be at Frosty Frog every Thursday, and Steamer Seafood every Friday-Sunday. As far as the future, he plans to continue putting out more songs and working with musicians across South Carolina. To follow Campfire Tyler, you can find him on Facebook @ Campfire Tyler.