Concert Diaries ~ Chapter 17: Tyler Hilton

I've written in the past how finding one musician you like can lead to finding another one and then another.  Sometimes your favorite musician tells you who he's listening to and you check out that artist (how I heard Hiliary Williams) and sometimes someone you've met because of the music shares his or her favorites with you (how I first heard Tyler Hilton--thanks JM!)

Tyler Hilton in the role of Chris Keller, One Tree Hill

Do you know Tyler Hilton?  Maybe you were a fan of One Tree Hill, the television show, and enjoyed his performances in the role of Chris Keller.  Or maybe you're a Johnny Cash fan so you saw his portrayal of Elvis Presley in the biopic, Walk the Line.  He played Murphy Bivens in Charlie Bartlett.  He's an actor.  And a singer.  And a songwriter.

One of the things that these singer/songwriters who capture my attention have in common is that they're all generous and have espoused certain causes and/or charities.  Gavin DeGraw does a lot of outreach in the Veteran community and has championed the reduction of malaria in sub-Sahara Africa (a favorite cause of mine from 'way back).  Michael Franti started the Do It For the Love Foundation which brings the joy of live music to terminally ill patients.  Tyler Hilton has taken on the cause of literacy in areas that lack for funding.  He visited a school in New York this year that had been hard hit by Hurricane Sandy and brought books that had been donated through his foundation.  This attribute of generosity and the propensity for giving back and involving fans in these worthy causes make these folks even more attractive to me.

This was my second Tyler Hilton show.  I'd seen him back on a cold and windy night in January at the Gramercy Park Theater.  He shared the bill with Teddy Geiger and Ryan Cabrera that night and Rebecca Perl opened (I hope to hear her again live some day).  Tyler's warmth and energy were impressive that night.  I'd already found his music and lyrics irristable and I came away from that night an even bigger fan.

This time around I signed on for a VIP meet and greet as well as the concert.  It's an opportunity to hear the music up close and personal and meet the artist.  I like having the opportunity to tell musicians who really mean a lot to me how much their music has enhanced my life.  Tyler Hilton falls into that category.  He, or more accurately, his music, accompanied me on a lot of my walks last year, helped me dance again in the living room and encouraged me to get my health back on track.

The concert was at a restaurant in Teaneck, Mexicali Live, and the meet and greet was to have been there as well.  But the day before the show, I received an email that the private preshow location had been changed and was being kept a secret until just before the performance.  I'd receive another email in the morning with instructions as to where to meet Tyler.  Strange.  I started feeling a little nervous about this concert adventure.

Sure enough, Sunday morning I received a second email instructing me to go to the Starbucks in Englewood.  Starbucks?  Just a regular old, one-on-every-corner Starbucks?  I assumed they'd rented the whole place out for us.  But no, when I finally arrived (after a tense 30 minutes of being lost because I failed to trust the GPS) I could see that it was like every other Starbucks you've ever been to with people attached to their laptops and iPads, couples and little groups scattered about.  Over in the corner was a group of young women--teenagers and 20-somethings.  One of them, an older one, was "taking attendance."  I gave her my name and stood apart from the little crowd, thinking I am so out of my demographic and wondering what in the world I had been thinking, wishing for the umteenth time that I had a concert buddy nearby.

Tyler called in.  Oddly enough, he and Dion Roy, were lost too.  In Newark.  His street team put him on speaker and we listened to him tell us to sit tight and he'd be there soon.  And he was.  He strode into the Starbucks with his guitar, Dion with him, unpacked quickly while chatting with about 15 or so young women and one middle-aged one (and one or two mom-drivers of the very young groups of girls).  

He could play at my Starbucks sometime ...

Tyler has a strong, beautiful voice and played a couple of new songs for us.  Lots of people don't like new music.  They want old, familiar tunes that they can sing along to.  I do too but I also love it when an artist shares new material.  I think it's a privilege to be among the first to hear a new creation.  These new songs were really beautiful--ballads, the type of thing I could listen to all night.  I hope he's working on a new album and that these songs will be on it.

The crowd that happened to be in Starbucks that night really got lucky.  Although curiously, some never even looked up and I wondered if recording artists dropping by and playing were a regular thing.  After all, a recording artist happens to be seen around my town quite a lot.  But he lives here.  And we try to give him his privacy when he's out.  (Like Monday afternoon, when I saw him emerge from Subway.)  But back to Sunday night...  Tyler chatted some more and then played a cover of a song from Keith Urban's new album.  Cop Car was written by a friend of his, Sam Hunt, and he performed it so well.  I think he wanted to play more but because of the late arrival, it was almost time to move to the next venue.  Tyler signed CD's (Live from Atlanta) for everyone, took his time chatting with each person and patiently posed for pictures.  Then it was off to the restaurant.

Just a short drive away, I found Mexicali Live with no problem.  It's a restaurant with a decent size stage.  There are tables upstairs and down and a small bar.  I took a table downstairs, feeling guilty for taking a 4-top but the 2-tops were all taken and, of course, experienced my usual "table-for-one" problems.  No, I'm not waiting for anyone.  Yes, I'm here by myself.  When the waitstaff finally realized I was there, though, they couldn't have been nicer.  Eventually, I ordered dinner (steak salad was really good) and a beer.  Looking around, I was relieved to see I wasn't the oldest one in the room anymore but the over 40's were still clearly the minority.  I didn't catch the name of the young woman singing on the stage--she'd already started when I came in.  She was okay and did a number of Ed Sheeran covers and some original songs.  Dion Roy came out and sang a few songs from his album including my favorite, Daughter--just a gorgeous piece of music and the lyric is what every parent wishes they'd written for his or her own child.  I wished his set had been longer.

My table for one.

Tyler's hour-long set included all my favorites, a couple of songs I didn't know, the Keith Urban cover again, his outstanding cover of Rihanna's Stay (which I swear he does better than she).  He gave us Kicking My Heels, Jenny--my very favorite, When the Stars Go Blue (from One Tree Hill) and California.  Someone asked him if the guitar he was playing was Hayley James (that's an inside One Tree Hill reference) and he replied with a funny story about that guitar.  He talked about writing in Nashville and how much he loved being there to write.  There's that Nashville thing again ... I will see (and hear) for myself in May ...

There was more singing, more of my favorites like Prince of Nothing Charming until he finally ended with Loaded Gun.  That's a loaded song.  It always makes me run a little faster when it shuffles its way into my workout.  It was the perfect ending for this intimate show.

Mingling with fans buying CD's, posters and more (yes, I have another new shirt), he was generous with autographs and kind, appreciative words for everyone.  It was such a fun night; both Tyler and Dion Roy are wonderful entertainers and I hope they get back this way again soon.  Watch for them both in your town and then go ... you won't be disappointed.

~~~

Favorite Tyler Hilton songs:

Jenny - from Scala in London (the second night at Scala, my brother had attended the performance the evening before)

Leave Him - live at the Rockwood in New York, small intimate and red (it's really red there, I always get distracted by that when I'm there)

Loaded Gun - This is taken from the finale of One Tree Hill.  Tyler's character on OTH was sort of obnoxious, nothing like him.  There was no crowd surfing Sunday night! And if you watch that last episode of OTH, you'll also see performances by Gavin DeGraw.

Stay - cover of Rihanna hit.  I like his interpretation so much better.

Tyler Hilton Books for Kids

Dion Roy's Daughter is such a beautiful, emotional song. I hope my own daughter will want it played at her wedding some day.