ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The High Plains Music Fest will be happening in just a few weeks, and the lineup is sure to help everyone who attends have a good time.
One of the artists on this year’s lineup is Grady Spencer and The Work, and as he tells it, his path to the music business was a rather interesting one.
“I started playing the guitar when I was about 16 and I'm almost 40 now, so it's been about 25 years. For a long time, I was a construction worker and doing music more on the side on the weekends and all of that, but I quit my construction job in 2020 to do music full time, and it's definitely been a wild few years,” Spencer said. “I'm lucky to have a great group of guys in my band, and we always have a great time. I grew up in the very small town of Paduca, Texas, which is up in the Texas Panhandle near Lubbock and that area. The town was so small, we only had one radio station, so I really only knew about the Top 40 Country stuff like Alan Jackson and Garth Brooks and those artists. When I was about 15 or 16, a friend of mine brought a Jack Johnson CD with him, and he's more along the surfer/acoustic genre, and it blew my mind because it was like nothing I'd heard on the country station I'd been listening to my whole life. That was a big step for me as far as learning about there being a whole other world of music out there, and it definitely inspired me to pick up the guitar and learn how to play and eventually start writing my own music.”
After a while, Spencer said, going professional in the music world was a bit of a leap of faith.
“I'd reached the point about eight years ago when I signed with a booking agent, and he was booking me shows along with my day job, and things progressed to the point where he was keeping us so busy and so many people were wanting us to come and play,” Spencer said. “I was working 40 to 60 hours a week at my day job AND traveling to gigs, and it reached the point where I realized there's only so much time in a day, and I was super exhausted from everything, so my wife and I looked at our finances and family situation and everything else, and we were able to figure out a way for me to do music full time. And I'm really glad we were able to, because there was no way I would have been able to keep up that schedule without completely burning myself out. So far, it's been a good choice.”
The opportunity to travel, Spencer added, is a huge benefit.
“One of the biggest things for me is how music has taken me to places I've never been before. We had the opportunity to go all the way from San Diego to New York to Kansas, and I never would have had that opportunity if not for being in the music business,” Spencer said. “Spotify has also had a big role in helping people discover our music and wanting to see us live. But the biggest reward has been getting the chance to travel and see so many different places I might not have ever seen otherwise. I also love being able to pay the bills by doing something I truly enjoy.”
It was earlier this year when Spencer and his band were contacted about performing at this year’s High Plains Music Fest, and he said he is excited for the opportunity.
“We've only played Kansas a couple times opening for other artists, but we've never had our own shows, so it was a big opportunity for the agency to put us out there. It was a few months ago when we got the offer, and as soon as we got it, I was really excited because again, we really haven't had too many opportunities to come up to Kansas and play, so we're excited,” Spencer said. “It's really exciting because since I've lived in Texas my whole life, any chance for us to get out and about and spread our music around to new audiences is fantastic. The majority of my career has been in Texas, with the occasional stop in Oklahoma and Kansas, so anytime we can get that far north is awesome, and we're all really excited.”
Spencer also offered encouragement for people to turn out to Hugoton that evening and take in the fun.
“It's going to be a fun, fantastic night. We're definitely going to bring a lot of energy, most of our songs are pretty positive and upbeat and get people on the dance floor, and we want to see people in the audience singing along and having a good time and enjoying themselves,” Spencer said. “We want everyone to come out and enjoy themselves, and I know we'll definitely be enjoying ourselves. We're going to be playing a lot of our music that's on Spotify, and we've got some new music we'll be playing that's been released throughout the past few months. It'll be a great show with a lot of energy, and I think everyone who comes will have a great time with our set.”
Spencer added people should also keep track of them in the future.
“We've traveled so much the past few years, so I would say the focus for us as a band would be on recording new music and getting more of it out there and seeing what people think of it. We also haven't really had too many opportunities yet as far as collaborating with other artists and songwriters, so we'd love to be able to do more of that as time goes on. It's been really fun,” Spencer said. “We've got some new music coming out, so people can check that out online, and we'll also be performing some of it at the music fest, so we're excited about that. And if people want to follow us on social media, our handle is @gsandthework, and people can also visit gradyspencer.com to see our show dates and merchandise and everything else.”
