The name of the game for artists in the area seems to be carving a space for yourself , which McCune has done with three self-released albums already in his discography , his most recent , Little Storms , released just last year in the midst of the pandemic .
Now , with two more albums on the way and no where to play , McCune has turned back to where it all began , with backyard concerts at his home surrounded by family and friends .
McCune first realized he wanted to be a musician at 16 years-old when his grandfather bought him a guitar , shaking up his trajectory to becoming a college football star .
“ Once the guitar was given to me , my whole life changed , I immediately took to it , learned it , it took about a year of just having the guitar around and learning a few simple chords ,” McCune said , remembering long nights spent playing Garth Brook cover songs with friends .
“ One day it just absolutely clicked , it was like , man , this is so easy , all you do is play G , C and D and maybe a minor chord , and you can play like 500 songs . It just took off and we just started playing everywhere ,” McCune added .
He and his friends started playing cover songs around campfires at house parties , which soon morphed into songwriting and the never-ending pursuit for a breakthrough hit .
MUSIC SCENE
“ It ’ s a grind being a songwriter and trying to play original music , it ’ s just waiting to write the one song to break through to the next level ,” McCune said . “ It takes over your entire life , once you ’ ve become an independent artist and you ’ re in the artist world , then you ’ re going to be there until you die and that ’ s what ’ s happened to me .”
After graduating from Sam Houston State University in 2010 with a bachelor ’ s degree in psychology and victimology , McCune took his post grad years to focus on his music and songwriting , while playing shows with his cousin . However , leaving to pursue his degree might have been the best and worst thing to happen to him .
“ It got to a point where I knew I needed to try to pursue my degree , basically to make my family happy and I thought maybe I could make myself happy as well , but it was not the case at all ,” McCune said .
McCune was a small town country boy that jumped head first into the psyche of convicted felons as he landed in Austin , working with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice as a case manager , facilitating the reintegration of parolees back into society . However , the profession became too emotionally intense with not enough pay to survive in the city .
“ I was in the music capital of Texas and I wasn ’ t able to play music ,” McCune said . “ You can maybe play a couple of open mics , but I was struggling to pay rent , more than anything .”
“ That really turned me off ,” McCune added . “ I love Austin still , there ’ s just some sort of weird learning curve there that I didn ’ t get past , I didn ’ t get to the next level , I wasn ’ t even able to play at all .”
The experience made him “ horribly depressed ,” but like many artists , it inspired his music in a positive way .
Under the impression of what felt like a message from the universe , McCune left his career to return to Huntsville in 2017 , bringing his focus back to his music in what felt like a safe place where he could start again .
His first EP , Pup , is a country , turned folk fusion album , that was released in 2018 as a homage to his roots growing up in small town America on a watermelon farm in Marquez , Texas , with hints of his struggles trying to make it in Austin intertwined .
“ I tried to capture what it ’ s like to grow up in a small town like that . My dad was a football coach , my mom was a coach and teacher , so it was just a really tight-knit and really good , solid , safe , productive , encouraging upbringing and it comes through ,” McCune said .
According to McCune , his passion and gift for music can be attributed to none other than the good genetics passed on by his parents .
14 | HUNTSVILLE LIVING | SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER , 2021