Written by: Oliver Heffron
Nashville-based singer/songwriter Knox has a knack for crafting catchy, endearing pop songs. His debut EP, How to Lose a Girl in 7 Songs, showcases his ability to craft pop songs with vulnerable lyrics delivered through melodies that beg to stick around in the listener’s head. Balancing a sound that’s somewhere between his Ed Sheeran and Fall Out Boy influences, the EP delivers seven different, dynamic visions of a talented musician going through heartache.
While the Ohio native first made his name in Nashville through his songwriting credits and for a while was content with steady work writing songs for other artists, Knox soon found his own voice was yearning to get out and introduce itself to the world. How to Lose a Girl in 7 Songs shows his voice has the potential to stay in the ever-changing Nashville pop landscape.
Knox sat down with Nuance to talk about growing up in Ohio, establishing himself as a songwriter in Nashville, and becoming a solo artist.
Growing up in New Carlisle, OH, Knox remembers his early childhood as something straight out of classic Americana: “You know when you see The Sandlot, and the kids ride their bikes around town and you have your group of friends who all lived a block away. I very much grew up with that lifestyle.”
During his first year of high school, Knox had to leave his childhood friends after a change in his dad’s work and moved the family to an even smaller town north of Dayton called Arcanum, OH. As a teen living out in the country with nothing to do, Knox remembers this when he first turned to music: “I’m like living on this farm. And that was when I was like, dude, I have nothing to do out here: I’m gonna learn how to play guitar. So this was when I was 16 when I started… I was never really good in high school…never even thought it’d be a career or anything.”
Photo Credit: Acacia Evans
Knox didn’t take music seriously until college at Ohio University when his buddies forced him to perform at local open-mic nights. However, he soon realized he had found his calling: “I just fell in love with it.” By the end of his sophomore year, he wanted to seriously pursue a career in music, so he decided to drop out and move from Ohio to Nashville.
After years of working odd jobs–including at Ruby Sunshine, where he first met local customer and Nuance Founder Edwin Keeble (who conducted the interview)–Knox began gaining respect as a songwriter. It was through this process of writing for other artists and bands that Knox discovered the inspiration for his own sound:
“so when I moved here, when I moved to Nashville, that’s when I started listening to people like Lauv, The Band Camino, Nightly, and all those guys. I was like, ‘dude, if you could write songs in the way that a singer-songwriter would write songs, then put them over that production, I think that would be so sick. And so that was pretty much the goal when writing my own stuff…Write it like a singer-songwriter, then blow it up with the production.”
After signing a publishing deal and moving on from Ruby Sunshine, Knox had the seven songs written in his head but needed demos, so he went back to Ohio to record the tracks he originally intended to pitch. Knox remembers, “They were all supposed to be pitch songs. So me and my producer Cam Becker recorded them, and I was like, ‘There’s no way I could give these songs away…these are sick.’” Cam Becker, who Knox believes will soon be “one of the biggest, baddest producers” in the scene, produced each track right there in his parent’s basement, and the success of the EP sent him packing to move to Nashville himself.
This process played out on the Nashville-tinged track “I Don’t Wanna Know,” a song initially created as a pitch for The Band Camino before keeping the record for himself: “When I wrote that song, I was like, ‘if I got this into Camino’s hands...” While the song never made its way to the band, Knox found himself with an even better opportunity only a few weeks after his releasing breakout single “Sneakers,” when he was suddenly asked to hit the road and start opening for The Band Camino on tour, beginning the very next day:
“I had gone from like three weeks ago to just being a songwriter to then this song happening in the very next week was going on the road with Camno, it was so fast and I still don’t even feel like I fully took it in but the shows were amazing. The fans were amazing and like, the Camino guys couldn’t have been better… So I’m very grateful for that opportunity they gave me for sure.”
While Knox’s voice and Becker’s production make up most of the songs, How to Lose a Girl in 7 days is assisted by dynamic live drums played by Josh Manuel of the band Issues. With these seven tracks cemented and the visual aesthetic already set in his head, all the project needed was a title, which Knox remembers was discovered in a very natural way:
“The day I came back with the songs I think and I was sitting at the counter and one of my friend’s kitchen and we were all just coming up with random rom com names.Like what would be funny? So, we were kind of just telling jokes and my friend Leah came up with: How to Lose a Girl in 7 Days…And We all kind of stopped and we’re like, ‘wait a minute,’ because I had this concept with seven songs so was like, Okay, this makes sense. Because every song is like a different story of like all because I think the EP is just like a different every song is just another story of like a relationship going wrong in some way. Whether you’re the guy or whether they’re the bad guy.”
While How to Lose a Girl in 7 Days presents a dynamic introduction for a new artist, Knox believes it’s “just the tip of the iceberg,” and is excited to get to work on his debut album and share a proper, full-length introduction to who Knox is as an artist.