What I want: A conversation with Wyatt Espalin
Wyatt Espalin will play Hayesville March 28. Lisa Saines photo
As far back as he can remember, singer-songwriter Wyatt Espalin has been not only surrounded by music in the mountains of his native North Georgia, but also enamored with the sights and sounds of live performance.
“I started in music as a clogger/buck dancer when I was eight years old. I fell in love with the sound of the fiddle,” Espalin said. “So, my granddaddy got me a fiddle, but no lessons. I learned how to play by ear watching the old fiddlers at the Log Cabin and Hiawassee Opry.”
Immediately taking to the fiddle, Espalin eventually took up the clarinet and trumpet. As a college student, Espalin taught himself how to play guitar and began writing songs. From there, it’s been this ongoing journey of the troubadour for the rising musician.
“I love celebrating singer-songwriters because my passion is the original song,” Espalin said. “One can listen to covers anytime, anywhere. It's rare to discover a new artist with something new to say.”
Later this year, Espalin will be releasing a whole new batch of tunes, with an 11-song LP expected to be put out into the world.
“It's vulnerable putting something out there no one has heard and hoping the audience will like something you create,” Espalin said. “And I love performing so I would always prefer delivering them to an audience in a live setting.”
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To note, Wyatt Espalin & The Riverstones will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 28, at the Peacock Performing Arts Center in Hayesville.
“I love being onstage performing,” Espalin said. “The adrenaline, the exposure, the chance to move an audience and the exhilaration of messing up in front of hundreds, maybe thousands of folks watching.”
Espalin admits he was shy onstage as a kid. But, as he got older and more comfortable underneath the bright lights, to where now he’s completely immersed — more so, this deep sense of creative liberation — in the sacred two-way street of energy exchange between a performer and their audience.
“I'm pretty free onstage. What I can't control is what others onstage do when I'm up there with them. So, a lot of trust goes into the musicians and other artists I invite on stage with me,” Espalin said. “It can be a very intimate experience, especially when something works well and there's that moment of bliss knowing the audience is listening now and you've got them right where you want them.”
And as he has navigated his musical career, Espalin made the leap to Nashville, Tennessee. But, after a decade of wandering and playing around Music City and beyond, he yearned for Hiawassee, Georgia. Twelve years ago, he decided it was high time to come home.
“It's in my blood,” Espalin said. “I was raised here by eccentric grandparents who embraced the region.”
According to Espalin, his grandparents owned and operated a campground in North Georgia, one where his grandfather would often pick up Appalachian Trail hikers and, in the pure sense of “trail magic,” would offer the utmost southern hospitality to help those passing through the area from somewhere, anywhere.
“I grew up idolizing the region and always wishing I could live here again,” Espalin said. “I take advantage of the outdoor space. The rivers, mountains, lake, that big ole sky.”
For the last eight years, Espalin has been an instructor in the highly popular Junior Appalachian Musicians (JAM) program at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown. The program provides lessons and instruments to young kids around Western North Carolina in an effort to perpetuate Appalachian and old-time musical traditions.
“These students really love learning those old songs and I've incorporated the stylings of some of that old sound into my own original songs,” Espalin said.
In terms of his songwriting process, Espalin usually pulls his melodies from extended jam sessions. From there, the lyrics develop serendipitously from any sort of happenstances Espalin may find himself in — cruising in his car, that dreamlike state before bedtime.
“In my opinion, when one sets out to create something, there should be no rules,” Espalin said. “The artist must learn when and what to reign in, to set their own boundaries with their expressions and find their voice, so to speak. I believe it's the only way anyone will listen.”
While constructing a tune, Espalin also looks to offer a message.
“Sometimes the message is as simple as a little reminder to myself. Sometimes, I present the message as a public service announcement to my audience,” Espalin said. “I try not to be polarizing, though. I want to entertain more than anything. But, I always look for ways for the audience to do more than just hear it.”
And, for the last four years, Espalin has taught songwriting workshops in prisons where musical therapy is offered to inmates as a way to find solace and meaning in their existence.
“I have seen great healing in this work of creating art and it has instilled in me a new desire for my songs,” Espalin said.
And when posed the query about the role of the singer-songwriter in the 21st century, this digital age of white noise and distraction, Espalin looks at his position as one of connectivity and compassion.
“A song that has a true lyric and melody that one can resonate with has the power to change something,” Espalin said. “Songs can help one feel seen and heard and that's important for a population of hurting and broken people. Songs can be political and encourage thought and change. Songs can uplift and songs can bring on the melancholy. Songs can be designed for dancing, moving, shaking. Songs have the power to capture a memory that one has lost. Writing songs requires a journey into the human condition and spirit.”
Want to go?
Americana/indie-folk act Wyatt Espalin & The Riverstones will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 28, at the Peacock Performing Arts Center in Hayesville.
Tickets are $18.69 for adults, $17.50 for seniors (ages 65 and older)/students/military and $12.50 for children (ages eight and under).
For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on thepeacocknc.org or call 828.389.2787.
