Meet Michael Honeycutt | Vocalist and Guitarist for Honeycutt Southern

We had the good fortune of connecting with Michael Honeycutt and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Michael, what do you attribute your success to?
People want to make this complicated. It’s not. The most important factor behind whatever success we’ve had is that we stopped trying to sound like anyone else.

Southern rock right now is either nostalgia or it’s watered down for radio. We didn’t split the difference. We went loud, we went real, and we let the songs come from somewhere true instead of somewhere safe. Our cover of “Fly Me Courageous” landed on Spotify’s Discover Weekly, and a clip of us playing it live crossed a million views on Facebook. Rebel Run just dropped and it already has more pre-saves than anything we’ve ever released.

The factor isn’t talent. Plenty of talented bands go nowhere. It’s conviction. Knowing what you sound like and refusing to negotiate it down.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What sets us apart starts with one thing: we’re just us. We don’t try to be another band. Some of the best feedback I’ve ever gotten is that every song we put out sounds different from the last one. That’s not a flaw, that’s the journey. Yes, we’re southern rock, but we’re not cookie cutter about it. You’re going to get an experience with us, not a formula.

We’re also a three piece, and people are always surprised by how full we sound live. That’s the point. We’re doing more with less. No frills, no extra bodies on stage to pad it out. Just three guys getting it done and making it loud.

Carl auditioned for an open bassist spot and brought Andy along with him. That was it. No grand plan, just the right two guys showing up at the right time. I grew up in North Carolina with this music built into the walls of the house, moved to Houston, and that audition is where the band actually started.

Was it easy? No. I’m an outsider here. I came from NC, so there’s no built in clique in Houston following me around and showing up to every gig. I actually wrote a song called “Can’t Stop Me” about the gatekeepers and everybody who’s tried to push us down along the way. But we put Houston in our logo because this is home now. We love the people here, and we’re determined to make them, and everybody else listening, believers.

Four years in, we’ve got two EPs and a catalog of originals. Our new single Rebel Run just came out and it’s already picking up more pre-saves than anything we’ve released. Our cover of “Fly Me Courageous” landed on Spotify’s Discover Weekly off a live clip that crossed a million views on Facebook. Now we’re playing festivals with national acts, this September with Saving Abel, Rehab, and Them Dirty Roses, and November with Texas Hippie Coalition at Lone Star Rally.

What I want the world to know is simple. We’re three guys deadset on blazing our own path, making music that kicks you in the ass.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If my best friend came through Houston, I wouldn’t hand them a map. I’d hand them a tour of the parts of this city that don’t make the postcards.

We’d hit Scout Bar on the south side and BFE on the north side, same week if we could pull it off. Two completely different crowds, two different energies. Houston’s massive, so those rooms feel like they belong to different cities entirely. But the community behind it is tight enough that someone always knows someone. You’re never more than one connection away from anybody in it.

Food is a given. Houston’s food is the best in the world, and I’ve been enough places to say that with confidence. I wouldn’t even need to plan it. Just walk into anywhere and you’re eating well.

But honestly, it’s not about the places. It’s about the people. I know car guys, guitar guys, straight up music heads, foodies who’ll argue with you for an hour about a brisket joint. The range of people here, and the way they all connect to each other, is first class. That’s what makes Houston special. Not a list of spots. The web of people behind them.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Two people and one relationship come to mind before anything else.

My wife, Missy. She’s put up with the schedule, the gear taking over the dining room after a gig, the nights I’m gone playing instead of home. None of this happens without somebody willing to stand behind it. That’s her.

North Carolina raised me right and put me through some things too. The two aren’t separate. Everything I write about comes from growing up there, the good and the hard parts both. I wouldn’t trade either one. It’s the reason I have something true to say instead of something borrowed.

And little Mike. The kid who kept dreaming and kept enduring when there wasn’t a clear reason to believe any of this would happen. I think about him more than people would guess. Everything we’ve built is for him as much as anybody.

Above all of it, my relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s the foundation everything else stands on. Whatever I’ve endured, whatever’s come from it, I didn’t carry it alone.

Website: https://honeycuttsouthern.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Honeycuttsoutherntx/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HoneycuttSouthern

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC61MejgNDOeD-XGR4xRsHqQ

Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4nT0Q0LJZR3PZ85OXMikm4

Image Credits
Greg Holleman
Ernie Lopez
Stephanie Brinson