Fayetteville singer/songwriter set to release first new material in 2 years
Story By Rachel “Riot” Schaaf Photos By Raul Rubiera Jr.
Ethan Hanson has never had a job. Instead, the Fayetteville native has done what few artists are able to, and cite ‘musician’ as his only occupation — ever.
Hanson, 22, was raised on music. His mother, Kerstin Hanson, is a folk singer and songwriter. Growing up, music was a way of life around the Hanson household, with Kerstin regularly having band mates and musicians over. Before he was even ten, Hanson already had a healthy interest in the blues, and his musical tastes have expanded as he has grown.
His current style, which he describes as “singer/songwriter pop” is heavily influenced by Dave Matthews, Jack Johnson, John Mayer and Jason Mraz. Hanson has been performing in public since he was little, but his “break”, at least in Fayetteville, came when he was 17 and opened for Jojo in front of 7,000 people at the Dogwood Festival.
Hanson has been a staple in the Fayetteville music scene for years, playing regular shows at restaurants and bars all over town and making home recordings for his work. Listeners haven’t heard anything new in the past few years, but all of that will change on January 3, 2012 when he releases his self-titled, full-length album on his own label, Hanson and Webster Entertainment Group. So where has Hanson been the past few years?
“I spent a lot of time creatively figuring out what I wanted to do for a bigger release, trying to get that whole image right. I was still really involved and playing shows a lot and traveling a lot,” Hanson says. “The new album is really versatile. There’s going to be a lot of different styles. Each song is pretty much its own entity. There’s a song that’s very reggae and one that leans more towards bluegrass and country and straight up rock. There are some laid-back ballads; it’s all over the board.”
Ethan has spent four days a week for months at K House Recording, a studio in Raleigh owned by Mark McKee. All of the songs on the new album were co-written with McKee, and Hanson says when he first went to the studio last December, the main focus was on his song-writing.
“We spent probably our first 10 days just writing, we wrote about 20 songs, just trying to think of the next words, throwing things out there like paint on the wall, it’s like a push and pull,” he says. “Learning how to write really catchy hooks is something I’ve been working on while writing this album.”
A large portion of his new material are songs such as “Say What You Say” and “Play for Keeps,” which are written about his girlfriend, Kelly Floyd. Hanson met Floyd at a show he was playing several years ago in Lumberton. When Hanson talks about her, his face lights up. She is a front-row staple at all of his shows.
Floyd isn’t the only one cheering him on. Erik Smallwood, a friend of Hanson’s and fellow singer/songwriter from Fayetteville is looking forward to Hanson’s upcoming album release.
“Ethan is a solid musician with soulful vocals and stellar guitar work. His music keeps you feeling good and keeps you moving,” Smallwood says. “He’s just a great guy. I’m so excited about this album.”
Hanson, like his music, is easy-going, with a peaceful, slightly hippie-vibe. When not playing music, he collects crystals, hangs out with his close-knit group of friends, plays hackey-sack and reads books about past lives and consciousness. He says the things most important to him are his family and self-improvement.
“I work on not being too caught up in what other people think, which can be hard when you’re onstage. I’m just doing my thing and knowing that I’m doing the best I can,” Hanson says. “In America especially, we get so wrapped up in our to-do lists and all the relationships we have that we sometimes forget about our own well-being and the person we are without all that other stuff.”
After the album release in January, Hanson will embark on a 25-city East Coast tour, playing clubs and visiting radio stations for interviews and to hopefully get some play from DJ’s he meets.
“We want to build a grassroots type of following all along the east coast. Hopefully I’ll be doing some bigger shows,” he says.
