Born and raised in Tazewell, Tennessee, Andrew Hopson is a young country artist who is quickly becoming a rising star in Nashville and he’s doing it by adding his own fresh twist to country’s traditional honky-tonk roots.
Hopson grew up playing an array of music on guitar, piano, and vocals with his brother at their farm outside of Knoxville. Adopted at a young age, his mother encouraged Hopson and his brother to explore music in its vast essence. His brother and he shared a guitar throughout their youth, taking lessons from Ben Eller, a guitarist in a deathcore band called Whitechapel. Hopson chuckled, explaining, “Once I figured out how to play, I would sit and just play Ozzy Osbourne all the time. My mom has heard the guitar solo for the song, ‘Bark at the Moon’ probably 300 times, at least!”
With music being an outlet for him at a young age, Hopson found himself in a couple bands throughout his teenage years and later branched out on his own upon finishing high school. Hopson’s roots are nothing less than diverse with influences stemming from classic rock, bluegrass, metal, gospel, and of course, country music.
“It’s great that it’s happened. I never would have expected it to happen this fast either, which I mean three years is not a few days but that’s pretty fast for young people to be able to do things like that in my opinion,”
Andrew Hopson
Up until high school, Hopson never took singing seriously. Once he realized his mother and brother weren’t covering their ears every time he sang along to a song on the radio, he figured he really wasn’t too bad. Two days after he graduated from high school, Hopson was recruited and introduced to Nashville, soon becoming a rising artist in the music-city.
“It’s great that it’s happened. I never would have expected it to happen this fast either, which I mean three years is not a few days but that’s pretty fast for young people to be able to do things like that in my opinion,” said Hopson.
Moving from the quiet boondocks to Nashville’s bright night lights was a tough adjustment for the young artist. Hopson showed a glimpse of his country soul when he admitted traveling back to his mountainous homestead after being in the concrete jungle for too long.
Although he likes to take a break from the city life, Hopson spends plenty of his time in Nashville songwriting with his partner Steve O’Brien and singing. Hopson released his first single, “Paint the Town Redneck” in 2019 and recently put out his newest tune, “Stronger Than That” earlier this spring. In the song, Hopson’s voice resembles hints of Midland’s Mark Wystrach, Trace Adkins, and Hank Williams Sr..
When asked about his new single, “Stronger Than That”, Hopson explained he was inspired by Alan Jackson and the song, “Do You Believe Me Now” by Vern Gosdin. The original version of the new single was slow paced until Hopson suggested they “make a honky-tonk song out of it” which remixed the tune completely.
“[Steve O’Brien] just starts playing this melody and we kind of sit there and get the first verse together and he stands up to go use the restroom. While he was gone I had been sitting there singing it over and over and the chorus just came to me all at one time. That’s the first time that’s ever happened to me. The lines of that chorus all came. I’m sitting there singing it and he walks in and sits down and (O’Brien) says, ‘Is that the chorus? Well maybe next time I’ll just get up and go to the restroom, have a bite to eat and you’ll have an EP,’” he explained, laughing.
As for Hopson’s future, he hopes to release a single titled, “New to Neon” before his EP drops this summer. Long term, Hopson wants to keep writing more music and sharing it to his fans in Nashville and beyond.
Check out his new single, “Stronger Than That” today. For more information visit https://www.andrewhopson.com/.
