COVERAGE

In Their OwnWords

Conversations with artists on the road, backstage, and between sets. From Texas dance halls to festival stages unfiltered and up close.

01 Tanner - Billy Bob's Texas

02 H&RRY - Electric Forest

Full Interview · 01

Tanner: From Skip Tracing to Selling Out Billy Bob's

A Birthday Bash conversation at the world's largest honky-tonk

Interview by Bryan Atkinson · Billy Bob's Texas, Fort Worth · Texas Country

Tanner has been a fixture on the Texas country circuit for years — the kind of artist whose energy in a small bar room is the same energy he brings to a stage like Billy Bob's. We caught up with him on his birthday, right before his Birthday Bash performance, for a conversation that covered everything from his days as a skip tracer tracking down delinquent car notes, to the mentor whose advice has shaped every song he's written since high school. Equal parts grounded and fired up, Tanner is an artist who knows exactly who he is and exactly where he's going.

"If you can't make 'em laugh, make 'em cry." — the line from his high school English teacher that has shaped every song he's written since.

KEY MOMENTS

Career before music
Skip tracer - tracking down delinquent car notes

Mentor's advice
"If you can't make 'em laugh, make 'em cry"

On the business side
"It's supposed to be fun - I'm gonna get back to that"

In the blind bag
Alani, chi worms, TKI Jerky

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Full Interview · 02

H&RRY: No Festival Quite Like Electric Forest

A conversation at the gates of Rothbury with Chicago producer Harry Morelli

Interview by Bryan Atkinson · Electric Forest, Rothbury MI · EDM / Electronic

Harry Morelli performs as H&RRY - a Chicago-born electronic producer whose sound sits at the intersection of deep house, groove, and that specific kind of energy that fills a festival stage at 2 in the afternoon when the crowd is already fully in it. We caught him at Electric Forest, his second time performing at the festival, right after what he described as his biggest festival show to date. The conversation covered tailored setlists, dream stage builds, the artists who shaped him in middle school when nobody else was listening, and why deep dish pizza is a non-negotiable.

"I was that weird kid in middle school who liked EDM when no one else did. Seeing them create stuff nobody else was listening to — that was groundbreaking for me."