Music artist and podcaster, lover of cats.

memphis musical diary -- raw strawberry blonde jam, fruity

From the outside, Jeff Hulett might seem like a late-blooming guitarist and songwriter. But if you ask any of his fellow musicians they’ll tell you he was writing songs and playing music long before he put pen to paper or strummed a chord. 

In fact, his first love was not guitar, but drums. He bought his first kit, a used Maxx kit at a consignment store in ’96 after watching Fascist Frank & the German Brigade perform at the historic Antenna Club. A memorable Christmas indeed. 

His sick beats landed him in the band Snowglobe. Over his many years with this Memphis-based institution, Hulett regularly contributed melodies, lyrics and arrangements to many of the tunes in their prolific cannon. You can even hear a few of his originals in their discography.  

During his long tenure with Snowglobe, Hulett continued to hone his own voice and develop his own creative projects. He began playing guitar more, and writing his own lyrics. This dedication and passion led to his collaboration with Leah Keys in the band Me & Leah. They released an eponymous and beautiful CD in 2016 featuring nine original folk tunes. Then in 2019, Me & Leah added Jonathan Schallert to the mix to record and partially release a digital copy of their forthcoming 7 inch Most of Your Life. Both albums were engineered by accomplished mainstays Toby Vest and Pete Mathews of High/Low and Andrew McCalla, respectively. 

But it was when the pandemic struck that Hulett really hit his stride as a songwriter. All alone and with nowhere to go, using an old version of Garageband, he started creating original tracks and collaborating with more and more musicians, writers, and other creators. He was one of the first artists in Memphis--or even the world--to give a voice to our collective feelings when he released his album Safe @ Home w/ Jacob Church early in the pandemic. That record--a seven-song exploration of the new normal we were all just beginning to live--resonated around the globe. It even landed a spot on The English Show, a weekly podcast out of Basel, Switzerland.  

Then, after going on to release two solo albums on Small Batch Records, Hulett reconnected with old friends Melissa Goodwin and Adam Poor. They formed the band Restless Townies. Their first album, Miles Away, released in April 2021, and the trio has a new full length album on the way. In this outfit, all players write and contribute to each other’s songs. 

He’s also formed his own solo band with Jacob Church, Jonathan Schallert, Adam Poor and Lehman Sammons. They recorded a 45 at Sun Studios in June which will be out in early 2022. Both songs are further explorations into the storytelling style Hulett continues to live into. 

As you can see, Hulett has an endless well of positive energy and creative spirit. He continues to foster his many ongoing collaborations, but always seems to have more soul in the tank for new projects with new people. 

For more information, visit smallbatchrecords.bandcamps.com. You can also follow him at dad_onarrival on Instagram, JeffHulettMusic on Facebook and Jeff Hulett on Twitter. To hear more about his latest albums including some unreleased material, and previous releases, check him out on the Shangri-La Records Podcast here.

Her: Marxist mom, drinking through life exhaustion, formerly suffering dick addiction

Him: Gender identity of karaoke, lover of pancakes, communist, professional twitter jerk

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