Fauquier Times | www.fauquier.com | May 26, 2021 NEWS 7 Singer/songwriter releases new album produced during pandemic Tanner Carlton grows his style, talents, and is ready for live performances By Liam Bowman PIEDMONT JOURNALISM FOUNDATION Unlike many small-town musi- cians who fantasize about finding fame in big cities like Nashville or Los Angeles, Tanner Carlton is con- tent with rural life. Born and raised in Fauquier County, he has little de- sire to give up the peaceful isolation of his Remington farmhouse -- nor his dream of making music. Even a decade ago, the prospect of combining rural living and being a singer-songwriter with the hope of reaching a wide audience would have been impossible. But now, with the independence afforded by tech- nology and online streaming plat- forms, he can have both. Earlier this month, the 29-year- PHOTO BY LIAM BOWMAN Remington singer/songwriter Tanner Carlton old Warrenton native released his third solo album, “Middle of No- Carlton settled into a soft folk sound where.” Built around Carlton’s soft in his solo work. vocals and acoustic strumming, the “I think Tanner really learned Tanner Carlton and six-track indie rock album has a from those [experiences],” said Ma- Maddison Hicks make up the acoustic duo warm, tranquil sound that Carlton son Carlton, Tanner’s younger broth- said reflects his ties to the area. “I Wine Thief. They er, a musician and former band mem- performed May 7 at feel more connected to the sounds of ber who runs the Culpeper-based the area than ever,” he said. “When Jackleg Sandwich record label, Rixey Records, that the Company in Culpeper. I look at the landscape around the brothers co-founded after college. farm that I live on, I’m like: this is “Middle of Nowhere is something COURTESY PHOTO what [the land] sounds like to me.” he’s been working toward for years Confined to his instrument-clut- … and the record is a testament to tered farmhouse during the pandem- the type of musician he actually is.” ic, Carlton recorded the entire album As with his previous albums, in his living room, using a laptop “Back of a Bottle Shop” (2015) and and an inexpensive microphone. “Front of a Magazine” (2016), Carl- “This record is the first time I’ve ton released “Middle of Nowhere” been completely self-reliant in a solo through Rixey Records. project,” said Carlton, who played On the evening of May 7, Carlton almost every instrument himself, and Hicks, performing as the acous- “and I think I’m probably a stronger songwriter than ever.” tic duo Wine Thief, gave the inau- The isolation allowed Carlton, a gural live performance of “Middle normally collaboration-oriented mu- of Nowhere” at Jackleg Sandwich sician, to experiment freely with his Company in Culpeper. The small sound and be uncompromising in audience, mostly close friends, let how he put the album together. out sporadic cheers of encourage- “He gave himself the power to ment during the new songs. “It’s make what he wanted to make … been really cool to watch the songs how he wanted to make it,” said grow before the final versions,” said Maddison Hicks, Carlton’s girl- Gina Catalano, co-owner of Jackleg friend and fellow singer-songwriter, Sandwich and a close friend of the who contributed two guitar solos couple. “They’re just incredible.” to the album. “You can really hear With Wine Thief and his other [Tanner’s] personality and expertise band, A.P Project, Carlton has been in his music.” able to maintain a steady flow of Raised in a music-loving fami- socially distanced gigs during the ly, Carlton started playing guitar in pandemic. He still holds on to his middle school and immediately felt day job, however, coaching gym and drawn to making his own music. soccer at Grymes Memorial School “[There] was just this longing for in Orange. “I was doing music full- creating something of my own,” he time when I first moved down to said. And from an early stage, this Remington,” he said, “and [that] life- longing drove Carlton to explore style was hard… I’m doing it for the a wide range of musical styles. In love of it at this point.” high school, he formed a pop punk Carlton, who recorded the Jack- band, From Coast to Skyline, that leg performance, has since floated performed regularly around Warren- the idea of releasing a live version ton. While attending the University of his album. “I’m just in this cre- of Mary Washington, he fronted the ative space right now,” he said. “I alternative hip-hop group Goody; just want to keep playing awesome he graduated in 2014 with a degree gigs… and releasing more and more in American studies. After college, music.” .