Allen Stone: Music Isn't Clever Anymore

Although it's pretty hyperbolic to suggest any help from upstairs, even as the son of a preacher man, it's impossible to deny that Allen Stone's voice is anything but a gift. His tone is powerful yet tender, sexy but sincere; it's the type of vocal that could make you smile while you cry. But since shaping his chops in his father's church and at school talent shows, Stone has simply been chasing the joy he gets from standing in front of a crowd, rather than looking to change the world with his words.

“I'm the kind of person that I really don't like hearing my own voice recorded, I just love the therapeutic emotion of singing,” he says in his calming drawl. “In that being said, I think that's what really brought me into singing – I'm kind of an attention whore and I really just love performing, I love being in front of people, I love dictating and creating energy. But as far as the tone of my voice I really don't like it very much, I think I sing too high. So it's been a growing of sorts, to where I love the feeling of singing and the therapy to me emotionally when I sing, but it's been tough being in the studio for a month-and-a-half having to listen to my own voice.”

Since those early days, however, Stone has been acutely aware that his blonde hair and white skin have made his rich, soulful voice even more of a talking point, even going as far as to suggest this genetic sidenote is why he's been able to make a living as a musician.

“I think nowadays we live in a culture where it's just shock value,” he says. “In the States all our humour is just, 'Let's see how dirty and how gross we can be.' It's not clever humour anymore, and I think it's the same with music. Typically the videos and singles that succeed are based upon shock value and, 'What can I say that nobody else has said that will just make people shake their head?' And that element that I'm a backcountry, woodsy country kid and I sing R&B music is what caught people's attention. I've luckily been able to convince people to stick around and I hopefully put on a compelling enough show that it will last.

“But I guess I don't know – if you listen to anybody, if you listen to Neil Young there's just something special about it, there's an X-factor that you don't really know what it is in my opinion. Obviously beautiful songs, but if I saw Neil Young when he was 17 singing in a coffee shop I'd probably pick up the paper,” he laughs.

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