Stone Harvest is an original rock band based in Tennessee that seamlessly blends both the classic and contemporary in their music. Comprised of vocalist Levi Kelley, guitarist Matt Sullivan, drummer Blake Jenkins, and bassist Nathan Slater, the band released their self-titled debut EP in 2021. They have since been working on new music and have plans for a big 2023.
I had the opportunity to chat with the band and learn a bit more about both their history and what’s in store for the future.
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First and foremost, what made you want to pursue a career in music?
Levi: My grandmother was and is a huge influence on me. She was a in a band where they performed on the Ernest Tubb show on Wednesday nights. I remember playing hooky from school so I could sit with her all day and sing the oldest songs you’ve never heard. After getting hitched to my grandpa who was a preacher, unfortunately she didn’t play as much as she once did. It has always been very important to me to carry on the legacy and never give up!
Matt: It’s just one of those things that made sense to me. I’ve always loved music more than anything and I’ve always been drawn to the guitar. And making music was just the obvious choice for what I need to do with my life. Even in high school, I was much more focused on my band and learning Nirvana covers than I was doing my Spanish homework or studying for my history exams. I went to college for a few years but my heart wasn’t in it. A music career was the obvious choice and it kept calling at me until I moved out to Alabama and luckily I met some guys in Tennessee who are as passionate about it as I am.
Nathan: I’ve always played music, even as a young kid. About 8 or 10 I got a guitar and played piano a lot, but when I was around 14 I started getting serious about it and decided I wanted to play bass and a couple of friends started a band in eighth grade and been playing ever since.
Levi, aside from your grandmother, who are your vocal influences?
Levi: Most definitely Travis Tritt! He is as talented as they get, if you ask me! I learned if you don’t have the full attention of the audience, that’s when you start running across tables. That’s some straight Travis Tritt advice there, that I take with me to every show!
Who are the biggest influences for the band as a whole? Do you guys share a lot of similar music tastes, or do y’all come at it from different angles?
Matt: I would say that we all share influences (the band) from contemporary artists such as Magnolia Bayou, Dirty Honey, and Bishop Gunn, as well as older influences of Skynyrd, Brother Cane and Aerosmith.
How was Stone Harvest formed, and where did the name come from?
Levi: I wanted to start a band where there was no real “band leader.” Anything and everything we do is always a vote from everyone. On the name I had the word “harvest” that I was stuck on as I watched a combine harvest grain, then I honestly just started plugging in a combination of words until Stone Harvest came out and I really wasn’t that stuck on it. That same day I searched on social media for some like-minded dudes, and in the post I remember putting something along the lines of “Looking for a full band to play original music with the influences of Bishop Gunn (RIP) and Dirty Honey”. We jammed that night, but Stone Harvest was still missing something. That’s when the 4 original band members of Stone Harvest quit practically the same day, then along came Blake, then Matt, then Nathan, and Stone Harvest was complete.
What is the writing and recording process like for y’all?
Matt: The writing process is mostly jam-based. So that’s just us sitting around playing with a riff or a chord progression and then we all kind of go from there. We sometimes will sit down together and come up with lyrics, but mostly it’s Levi who writes the lyrics and he will come up with a cool idea or phrase and then we kind of build on it from there. It’s usually all written on the spot; music, melodies, lyrics and solos. There are a few times when I’ll bring a riff in to rehearsal and we use it but usually we just start playing and feeding off of the energy of the rest of the band and next thing you know, we have a new single written.
For our recording process we like to do it all at once, a live recording to use as a scratch track and get it as close to perfect as we can and then individually we come in with overdubs and fills and things like that.
And where do y’all draw your inspiration from?
Matt: It’s hard to say in an umbrella answer “this is where we get our inspiration” because we try to get so much of it from random places. It could be a phrase one of us says. Or it could be something as simple as the weather outside. We have a new single we are going to release soon and it’s all about driving on a sunny day. So we try to draw from a lot of places because we don’t want our material or subject matter to get stale.
I’m glad you mentioned new music because I wanted to ask the story behind your latest single, “All The Lies”?
Levi: I remember listening to the bass line in the song “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People and thinking, “damn, we need some thump groovin’ like that in a song”. Took that idea straight to band rehearsal, and all the lies was born that night. At least I think that’s how it went, ha ha.
So what’s the follow-up for 2023? A new album, or…?
Levi: Definitely new music. We are toying with a few new ideas of how to go about releasing it, but I absolutely foresee a new single coming out in the next couple of months.
Just for fun, who would y’all most like to collaborate with?
Matt: I personally would love to work with Damon Johnson from Brother Cane. He’s been a huge influence on me and I think he would be fun to work with. Not to mention that he’s one of the coolest guys you’re ever gonna meet.
Is there any message you would like to share with your fans?
Matt: We definitely want our fans to know how much we love them and how greatly we appreciate their support over the years, we look forward to many more years ahead.
And for any of my readers who aren’t already following Stone Harvest, where can they find your music?
Matt: Your readers can find us anywhere they stream music! We are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, all that good stuff.
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Make sure to check out Stone Harvest’s latest single, “All The Lies,” on your favorite streaming service (and/or below)! You can also keep up with what the band is up to via all their socials.
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