Hey Canaan, Thanks for taking the time to sit down with us to chat about your music career, and recent tours and CMA Fest. How has life been treating you?
Life is good! Hard at work here in Music City. As an independent artists, it is a constant grind, but I love it. No one will work as hard for you as you do, so always at it! Getting into the full swing of summer, showcase here in Nashville May 23rd, then bring on festivals!
You just recently ended a Wisconsin tour run, what was that experience like and what was a big highlight of the tour for you?
It’s so rewarding to see hard work pay off. I did that same run a few months back and some gigs were misses – not a lot of people and what not. But then you come back, work your tail off, get your name out there, and then coming back and seeing the places packed out for you and requesting your songs, is pretty dang sweet!
How are you able to manage doing everything with your career pretty much yourself, between booking shows, managing yourself, etc?
Discipline and not waiting around for anyone. Straight up discipline. In this day and era, you can do a heck of a lot with social media if you have good content and know how to construct a well written email. I approach my career as if I were my own label, manager, and booking agent. Every week I am working on certain parts of my year, locations for bookings, and planning ahead. For instance, it’s just May but mind is in September.
Would you say it is much more beneficial to handle all aspects of your career yourself, rather than hiring people and having a label tell you what to do? As it then is more fulfilling when you achieve the success that you have been trying to earn?
I love the process. I thrive off succeeding independently. They say Nashville is a ten year town… and I simply want to prove that wrong. And for now, Im well on my way at making it happen myself. I don’t mean that vainly, but I feel a lot of people come into it thinking, “Im talented, someone will do this for me”… then you sign your life away. I’d rather bust ass, they come to me, and the ball is in my court. So stay tuned 😉
What artists influence your music across any genre?
Michael Jackson. At the end of the day, he was an entertainer and that’s what I strive for up there on stage. To entertain. I come from a large family and can probably date that desire to way back when, being the center of attention, entertaining them. It’s one of my favorite things to hear from fans at my shows – “you just have so much energy up there” or that “I don’t even like country music, but I like you”. I. Love. That! I want to entertain you. To let you escape whatever you’re going through 3 minutes at a time.
Can you tell us about your latest single “Coming Back” and what inspired the track?
What do you think.. A girl. Haha kidding, kind of. Little bit of that and one of my favorite TV Shows, “How I Met Your Mother”. Ended up coming of with the melody on an airplane messing around with loops on Garageband. I quickly hummed out a verse and it just clicked,”I keep coming back”. I was in a relationship where we kept coming back even though it had never worked before, but it wasn’t a bad/toxic situation. Sometimes timing just gets in the way and there’s no other reason than “this isn’t right for us right now”. If you watch the show HIMYM, there is a continuous love triangle back and forth with Barney, Ted, and Robin and so there are some little lines here and there that reference the show.
You recently released a music video for “Coming Back,” Could you tell us about the filming experience and anything notable to mention that happened that did not make the video?
I love the cinematic universe! Going to the movies is my escape! SO when it comes to music videos, I try to have as much of my hands in every aspect. From picking the characters, the story, location, all of it! The song is about coming back to that relationship, but instead of focusing on the negative connotations that usually arise with a break up, I wanted to focus on the WHY we keep coming back. That first kiss, the way we looked at each other on the tailgate that night. So simply wanted to capture that “Honeymoon” phase in the video.
“Coming Back” is actually a single off your Self-Titled EP, which you released earlier this year actually. Could you tell us what made you choose to Self-Titled this EP?
There wasn’t any real deciding factor that made me say “it is going to be self titled”. But it was my first ‘Official’ EP release and I think it was just a nice way of being like “This is Canaan Cox, here are 4 songs that sum me and my music up.”
What was the writing and recording process like on your Self-Titled EP? Were songs specifically written for this EP or were they songs you wrote and just finally decided to put together on an EP?
Umm, so I actually released a full length album back in 2016 before I moved to Nashville that fall. Getting here and working hard, got me some exposure and on some folks radars. After a few meetings with certain people, I decided to somewhat “professionally rebrand” myself. We took everything offline, youtube videos, old music, singles, the works. It gave us a clean slate to really push the Canaan Cox brand. Instead of writing new material, I simply choose the best 4 to 5 songs off of the old album and got into the studio to throw that Nashville Swag on them. It was worth it.
Upon following you on social media, it appears you live a very fit, healthy lifestyle with a lot of exercise being incorporated into your everyday routine. How do you manage to stay fit and eat healthy while working within the ever so demanding music industry?
Back to answer #3 – Discipline. I went through a HUGE fitness transformation losing about 70 lbs. Went through some stuff a while back and said enough is enough. Once I got to where I had always wanted to be, physically, it just stuck. The characteristics and attributes of my health and fitness directly correlate into my music career. Making goals, focusing on one path, achieving said goal and making new ones. The way I push myself in the gym and in the kitchen are the exact ways I push myself in this town. If you want a chiseled chest, you do the push ups. If you want to be the most famous person on earth?.. You work really really hard.
If you had to give 3 fitness tips to your fans or people who want to get fit and eat healthy, what would they be?
a.) Not eating is NOT the key. If anything, eating more is!
b.) Cardio and Abs EVERYDAY
c.) A little bit of Hot Sauce goes a long way!
CMA Fest is coming up in Nashville from June 7-10th, which is one of the biggest country festivals in the world. What do you most enjoy about CMA Festival, and can fans expect any performances from you during the festival?
I think it’s just such a fantastic way to see how much people really love these artists and genre. People come from all over to check this out. Luckily, I’ll be playing at George Jones Rooftop Bar that overlooks the river that weekend June 9th (6-10pm) to be apart of it.
If you could pick any three artists to release one collaboration with in any genre of music, releasing a different song with each artist, who would you choose and what do you think the songs would be called?
Justin Timberlake- “Something About That Girl”
Ed Sheeran- “Who Do You Think You Are”
Stevie Wonder- “I Just Wanna Dance”
What else is coming up for Canaan Cox in the near future and where can fans find you online?
Be prepared for new music, probably a single in June, with an EP/Album not far behind that!
I’m mostly on instagram @CanaanCox and Facebook @CanaanMusic. You can always stay up to date with news, music, tours, and more at my website www.CanaanCox.com. Thank you Music Mayhem Mag for the time!
