Hailing from central Pennsylvania just outside of Harrisburg, Connor Manley just released his second studio album, Otherside of 21. Relatively new to the country music scene, Manley taught himself how to play guitar at the age of 19, and prior to that spent his time writing poetry. “I think I started a little late to the music game,” said Manley. “My playing skills were a little lackluster on the first album, production skills-wise, me and my producer that I work with who is a close friend of mine have both, in our opinion, gotten so much better.”
Westward Expansion
Manley’s debut album, Westward Expansion was released in 2019. When asked about his past work Manley says that “the first album we recorded completely in my studio which is just like a chicken coup that we turned into a studio.” At just 20 years old at the time, Manley says that “it was definitely an exploratory experience, my sound was kind of maturing and you can hear that in the album, sonically there is some stuff over here and some over there.”
Moving forward to his newest project, he is “really excited because I think in every way we kind of stepped it up, this newest project we recorded in Nashville at my producer’s studio, so it is not really about where we record but it is about the process.” He continued,”I think on this album I have kind of honed in a little bit more on what I want to sound like and what I want to write about, all of these things together represent the sheer amount of progress we have made and I am proud.”
“Denver Girl”
Prior to the release of his sophomore album, Manley released the single “Denver Girl.” The fast-paced song features an infectious tempo and laments a fateful encounter with a beautiful woman in Denver, CO. Manley says that he got the inspiration to write the song when his producer Jake Puliti had returned from traveling out west. They travelled to Wyoming during the year they wrote the song. He recalled, “We were both like ‘holy hell man the west is where it is at.”
With a clear vision in mind, Manley and Puliti got to work crafting the contagious melody. “We were both on the same wavelength,” Manley stated. “We said ‘lets write something really Bluegrass-rootsy’ so we had this progression and we just started story writing.”
Manley shared that although the creative team did venture west, the girl is a different story. “It’s not real,” Manley chuckled. “I wish it was real man, unfortunately there is no brown eyed girl that I had a love affair with in Denver, that would be fantastic, but I think we were just trying to hone in on a sound, a sentiment, a feeling, with ‘Denver Girl.'”
Otherside of 21
With the success of “Denver Girl,” Manley’s sophomore album, Otherside of 21, is surely something special. “We put our hearts and souls into this album and a lot of late, late nights,” Manley remarked. “Lots of arguing about small things, and really great moments where we were excited and just crazy, there is a lot of emotion and passion put into it and I want, if nothing else at the bare minimum, for that to be expressed in a relatable way.”
When it comes to this project and Westward Expansion, Manley says that he has a specific way of doing things, “whenever I decide that I want to do a project I usually like to have a theme,” Manley mentioned. “This one is a little more centered around my personal life and just growing up into young adulthood.”
Connor Manley’s Coming of Age Story
Now 22-years-old, Manley reflected on where he was when he wrote his new album mentally. “As a 20-21 year old I was graduating college and moving out of my hometown, getting a job…. I thought ‘holy crap I am on my own and I have to make this work.'” In addition to “Denver Girl,” Manley is hopeful that this album could help him further redefine his sound, “there are a couple songs on this upcoming album where I think I really hit the nail on the head sonically with what I want to sound like and what fits with my voice and writing style.”
With time has come perspective which Manley is bringing to bear on his new body of work. “Like I said before, the theme of the album is growing up and the uncertainty of the future and coming to terms with the fact that you can’t always control what happens,” Manley explained. “That is a scary concept for a lot of people in general not just young adults.”
Creating During Lockdown
An uncertain future has become familiar to us all in our daily lives, but during the pandemic we all had to cope with losing control and we did so in a variety of ways. “I don’t know if I would be here if I hadn’t,” Manley said when asked about creating new music during the lockdown. “I think a lot of people can relate to the fact I was going stir crazy and I was like ‘I have to do something.'”
Born out of pure restlessness, Manley taught himself how to play the guitar, sing, and record. “Thankfully I have always been the kind of person to want to do it myself, so I have the production background because of that,” Manley explained. “You can only watch so many movies, I re-watched the entire Marvel cinematic universe which is fantastic, but I needed to apply myself here.”
The Creative Process
When it comes to applying himself creatively, Manley stressed that although the process may change from song to song he is always the mastermind. “Every song is different but every single song I have a hand in, and not a hand like I changed ‘tree’ to ‘pine tree’ but all of them stemmed from me, or started with me, or had an addition by me.” Although still wet behind the ears, Manley is passionate about his originality, “I know it is common and really, I have nothing against it at all, but I have absolutely no interest in releasing something if it doesn’t mean something to me.” Manley explained that he is at heart a “singer and songwriter and I think that I am more of a song writer than an artist if I had to choose.”
Collaborations
Although Manley is committed to releasing work that he believes reflects him as an artist he is still open to collaboration. “We worked with two external musicians on the project who recorded their pieces remotely,” said Manley. “We worked with a guy named Bruce Hoffman and a guy named Andy Elliott. Bruce was on fiddle and Andy played pedal steel guitar and honestly those are the two instruments that me and my producer cannot play.”
In addition to leaning on fellow artists to lend their niche instruments to his tracks Manley also relies upon his friends. “Writing credit wise listeners can expect me and my producer Jake Puliti on the album as well as one external writing credit which is one of my best friends in the world,” stated Manley. “We were sitting down in the basement writing a song and he is not even a songwriter so that one is kind of off the wall.”
What’s next for Connor Manley?
Although Manley just released an album he is already thinking about future music. “I am excited to see where we go with the next project because I am thinking about it already,” he said. Brainstorming aside, Manley has a formula and he is sticking to it. “I won’t put another album out until I have another idea of some sort of crisis that is going on in my life that I think people can pull something from,” he explained. “If people can get something out of it that is all I can ask.”
Until his next crisis, Manley says he will continue doing what he loves, “I play solo, I play in a band, it’s kind of my stress reliever, my outlet, I love it and it’s where I am at right now.” “I am always booking,” he affirmed, “whether it is me or me and my band, I am always performing.” To learn more about Connor Manley, visit his Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter pages.
