Old Country & Southern Rock
Grayson Culpepper finds inspiration close to home
Story and photos by Glenda Sanders
With his love for classic country and Southern rock , teen Grayson Culpepper is making a name for himself in the Meridian music scene .
From playing large crowds at downtown festivals to smaller gigs at Aie ’ s Taste of Thai to the praise band at church , the 14-year-old is popping up all over town , sharing his love of music with anyone who wants to sit and listen .
“ With the Jimmie Rodgers Foundation and all of the local places supporting young artists and letting them play , this is the perfect place to get into music ,” Grayson said of Meridian ’ s connections to the music industry and the community ’ s encouraging support of local musicians .
Coming from a family with a strong musical background , Grayson naturally gravitated to music as a young boy , showing a deep love for different genres . From Alan Jackson and George Straight to the Allman Brothers and the Grateful Dead , he liked it all .
“ When he was probably 5 or 6 , he got his first guitar and he carried that thing everywhere . From that day forward , he would love when Van Halen would come on ,” said his dad , Phillip Culpepper , who played a few gigs in his day as a singer in an alternative rock band .
His dad wasn ’ t suprised when Grayson never developed an interest in sports but continued to show a deep love for music .
“ I always knew that he had an interest in a bunch of different kinds of music . It wasn ’ t a certain one . I could
www . meridianstar . com
Grayson Culpepper performs at the Threefoot Festival Photo by Mark Davis and courtesy of Casey Culpepper .
tell that love , for just music in general , was there whether it was gospel , whether it was old country , whether it was rock ,” Phillip said . “ I knew it was kind of blossoming into something , and he never really cared that much about sports , it was just this one thing .”
Grayson taught himself how to play the guitar . He also has dabbled with the drums , piano , ukulele and mandolin .
About three years ago , he began taking music lessons from Dan Confait at DC Guitar Studio in downtown Meridian around the time he started playing local gigs .
“ I got into singing about three years ago . I didn ’ t intentionally really want to sing ,” Grayson said . “ I wanted to be a lead guitar player just because I looked up to so many of them and that made me want to get really good at guitar .”
33 •