Quality Americana

Asher Brinson’s debut album Midnight Hurricane is a standout in the bluegrass genre. What makes this album even more impressive is that it was written and performed by a teenager.

Newport

We caught up with the Newport, North Carolina based picker just a week before his seventeenth birthday.

“My Grandad played music and pursued it as a career for a while,” Brinson said. “They were almost on their way in the 70’s and then stuff happened. Now he just goes out and gigs locally. He was pretty cool.” 

His grandfather played in the Huckleberry Mudflap, a group of rock and rollers that released two singles in the early 1970s in North Carolina before disbanding.

“The band split up when their main songwriter and lead singer found Jesus and went off to sing in choirs,” Chris Bishop wrote for Garage Hangover. “They were together from 1969-1972. Most popular song was ‘Blue Surf.’”

Finding Bluegrass

Brinson was the first in his family to pursue bluegrass, after learning guitar from his father around the campfire. 

“My Dad played guitar, so it was kind of like forced on me a little bit when I was young,” Brinson said. “I didn’t like to play music then as much, but I went to a Billy Strings concert and that was what really lit a fire under me to start playing.”

His father introduced him to Doc Watson early on before taking him to see Strings back in 2023, and it made such an impression that Brinson started researching flatpicking and other bluegrass techniques. 

“I got myself self-taught to a certain extent and that was enough for people to notice me,” Brinson said.

Taking Lessons

Brinson soon started getting up at Floyd Country Store in Virginia with his luthier Wayne Henderson and through that received an opportunity to take lessons from Christopher Henry. 

“He’s a really big influence,” Brinson said about Henry, who sits in with Strings when he tours through town. “He’s well known among other artists. He’s kind of a Jack of all trades, good mandolinist and producer and can play just about anything.” 

Brinson also spoke about Hank Bowman, who influenced him in the small bluegrass scene they have in Newport and typically performs in his live band.

Songwriting

Brinson started songwriting after suggestions from his guitar teacher. Some of the material on the album are fictional tales, and others pull from people Bowman has known while growing up.

Brinson said his favorite track on the album is the instrumental “Queen Anne’s Waltz.”

“I’ve always been able to find a lot of emotion out of instrumental songs, and I feel like that one has a lot of it,” Brinson said. “It’s cool to be able to bring forth emotion without words.”

Lonesome Hobo Song

Our Song of the Day was one Brinson’s father helped to inspire. 

“I was literally sitting on the couch watching a documentary with my Dad. He just loves to watch documentaries, and we were watching a documentary about hobos,” Brinson said. “A few things that were said kind of started coming to me as lyrics. Train songs are a big thing in the bluegrass industry, so I was already thinking about trains and hobos kind of correlate the trains.”

Playing Live

Brinson doesn’t have much time for live performances while juggling his classwork in High School, but he’s planning for appearances at the OcraFolk Festival and the Travelin’ McCoury’s Young Guns Tour. He said his classmates have been very supportive and come to “every live show that they can.”

Noya Mountain Music

Brinson said that the recording process showed him how difficult being a musician truly is. 

“It was really, really tough,” Brinson said. “A lot of it, when it was recorded, I was sick for most of it.” 

It’s hard to notice that he wasn’t in his best form vocally while finishing the project at Noya Mountain Music.

“It was a lot of work, but super rewarding,” Brinson said.

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More information about Asher Brinson can be found here.

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