Quality Americana

The Cajun menu “jambalaya, crawfish pie and fillet gumbo” etched in time by Hank Williams in 1952 put boudin in every honkey tonk across the nation and sparked a new generation of country music fans with his southern charm. Every generation needs its historians and cultural icons to comb through the lost memories and traditions that intertwine with our lives, and hearing those bayou treats in an undeniably seductive southern draw must have spoken to Dillon Weldon in Southwest Louisiana.

“My third or fourth birthday I asked for a Sony Walkman and a Johnny Paycheck Greatest Hits cassette tape and wore that thing out,” Weldon said. “As far as I can remember I’ve been a country music fan.”

Weldon started writing songs in his teenage years after memorable days spent listening to records with the family and watching his father pick the guitar in the evening. Although the words poured out, he never formed a desire to be in the spotlight.

“I don’t do any kind of live performances really,” Weldon said with a laugh. “That’s been a common misconception actually. I get offers all the time, people messaging me asking me to come play a show, different places in Texas… I had a guy in Ohio the other day wanting me to go on tour with him. I was like ‘I write songs but I’m not really a performer, I enjoy the writing side of it.”

Weldon set out to share his songwriting online and connect with performers, and after watching a video by Grady Smith, a social media personality that gives his take on the Nashville industry and radio charts, Weldon decided to sign up for TikTok.

Breaking Through the Algorithm

“Most of the music that went viral on TikTok was from artists who were already popular,” A report from The Pudding said, “well before 2020, and even TikTok’s founding. To some people, this might seem like decent odds: of the hundreds of thousands of sounds on TikTok, 1,000 songs surpassed 100,000 posts, and 12.5% of those songs were from emerging artists.”

Up for the challenge, Weldon tried a few different ideas to break through the algorithm, but after the songs struggled to get past his followers’ reach, he transitioned into one of his passions: preserving the stories that shed a light into the personal lives of former stars.

“I’ve always enjoyed country music history,” Weldon said, “so I started telling a few of my favorite stories and it took off from there and evolved into what it is now.” 

Weldon put together some demos to try and find artists to perform his work, but was getting lost in the massive stack of songs that get sent to Nashville on a daily basis. 

“There’s so many good songwriters out there nowadays, so many guys writing songs and performing that are just so talented,” Weldon said. “It’s hard to get your songs out there and noticed, especially if you don’t have any kind of pull.”

Weldon would even take his demo to concerts and personally hand his work to artists. Regional acts like 26 West have put his work in their live shows and he continues to co-write with local artists. 

“A song is like your baby,” Weldon said. “You write it and it really comes from the heart. Just to go out to the bar and hear them play a song that I wrote, or that we co-wrote together, and just looking around and seeing how people react, it makes you feel good. It’s always great to see one of your songs get even just a little bit of success like that.”

As his historical preservation continues to grow steam online, Weldon hopes to get on the radar of more performers in the business.

Overcoming Failure to Find Success

Weldon applied for a position as a social media manager for a local electric company, knowing he had a track record of growing his brand. At this time his followers had grown to over twenty thousand, and he was gaining experience on the technical side of social media.

“It was probably the best interview of my life really,” Weldon said. “I went in there and killed it. They loved me and I just knew I had the job in the bag.”

As fate would have it, Weldon lost the race and the job landed in another’s hands. He relocated for an opportunity in project management in Montana, and floated through Austin and Houston on his way back home.

“Everything I was trying was failing and finally I just threw my hands up and I said ‘God, you know, it says in your book that the birds don’t worry about what they’re going to eat, so I’m going to hand it over to you and stop trying to go my way and go your way.”

Two weeks later, Weldon posted a story about Hank Williams Jr. getting injured in a fall and it went viral. 

“It was my first video to get a million views,” Weldon said, “and that same week TikTok announces that they are going to start paying their creators more. I made a pretty good little chunk of money off that video, so I fall into the next one and it goes viral.” 

Weldon made a pact with a friend that curates sports content to release videos consistently for one year, and it was a quick transition from stumbling through the corporate world into the financial freedom that gave him an opportunity to fully focus on preserving country music folklore. 

“TikTok was a blessing for me. I’m not going to lie,” Weldon said. “It’s a lot of young people, and they’re learning these stories that have been around for years, but they’ve never heard.”

A Natural Historian

Weldon has always had an interest in history, and continues to collect books and documentaries to grow his knowledge. A quick scroll through Weldon’s content shows why it’s had such a large impact on younger fans, who are often discovering the artists he discusses along with the stories. He’s expanding into podcasting and released his first interview with Honky Tonk star Dale Watson, and his work is giving a renaissance to the forgotten country gold from a bygone era.

Weldon is now being recognized as he shops and dines at the local Waffle House, and hearing support from fans for his mini-documentaries.

“It really is life changing,” Weldon said. “It was a turning point in my life. I’ll never forget it, I was standing on the porch over at our rent house north of Houston and I just threw my hands up. I was like ‘nothing I’m doing is working.’” 

Weldon often jokes about his success when asked by his fans. 

“Well I gave up,” Weldon said. “When you find where you’re supposed to be, you can’t help but be successful. That’s exactly how I felt and it’s been a blessing a hundred percent.”

Follow Dillon Weldon here for your country music history.

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