He's 24, lives on Franklin County land his family has held since the 1750s, and went four rounds with his record label over one song. Meet Colby T. Helms.
Colby T. Helms. Press photo.
Welcome to the Six-String Spotlight, a monthly series where I talk with artists I think you should know, about their songs, their guitars, and the road they're on.
Colby T. Helms fronts the Virginia Creepers out of Boones Mill, Virginia, and writes for the people the wider world tends to drive past. His new album, One For The Losers, is out October 23 on Photo Finish Records, produced by David "Ferg" Ferguson, the man behind the board for Johnny Cash's American Recordings and Tyler Childers' Purgatory. Colby calls it an album about empathy. I talked with him for half an hour, and the stories just poured out of him.
Ed's take. This was my first live interview, and I could not have drawn a better one. Colby knows more bluegrass history at 24 than most folks learn in a lifetime, and he wears it easy. Nothing about him is an act. The man lost his dad at 12, heard a bluegrass band at the funeral, and never looked back. Spend ten minutes with his music and you'll hear all of that in it.
One For The Losers, out October 23 on Photo Finish Records.
Your fans waited about three years for "Clouds," and it took four versions of the song to get it onto the record. What happened?
It was a struggle, man. I wrote the song with a certain vision in mind. The first version was very produced, like a funky version. We had keyboards on it, drums, electric bass. It was straight up funky, but it wasn't necessarily my vision for the song. So I go back again, they bring in different studio musicians, and it sounds like a grunge version. That's what they took when I said stripped back. They weren't thinking of it in a bluegrass way. So I said, let me go back with my band. I go back with the Virginia Creepers, and we cut it perfect. It was exactly how I wanted it. The record label said, we don't like it now. They wanted me to cut it just how I did it on my TikTok video that blew up, which was acoustic, just me and the guitar. But I'm not really disappointed, because they worded it in a nice way. They said, you're talented enough to where just you by yourself, you and the guitar, carries so much weight. You don't need to let all these other instruments take distraction away from you. And you know what, I wasn't thinking about it like that. I'm happy with the song, and the fans loved it. So what more can I ask for?
When you were sixteen, people compared you to Tyler Childers. The man who produced Purgatory just produced your record. Did that feel like a full circle?
It is like a full circle moment, man. When I started doing my own thing in high school, people just compared me with what was popular. I'm born in the Blue Ridge Mountains, raised around bluegrass, and have my own sound. But people were like, you're like the new Childers. Then when Billy Strings came out, everybody said I'm copying Billy Strings. Then I released my first album in 2023, and since I have songs of me just and my guitar, now I sound like Zach Bryan. My whole pre-career up till around now, I've just been compared to whatever was popular. Regardless of what they're doing, I have my own thing, and I've been doing it in Virginia since I was 16. And the true fans I've caught along the way can't get enough of it. So I have to remember that whenever I get down on myself.
Ronny Bowman sings on this record, and we lost him this year. What should people know about him?
When I finally got the chance to meet Ronny Bowman, I told him about how the people that worship him didn't like my music, and he said, look, I love your music, when Ferg showed it to me. It's old and traditional, but it's got a fresh new flavor to it. He was saying, technically, I'm kind of doing what they were doing. I'm taking something from my roots and making it my own thing. And I had no idea at that time he was going to pass away. So I think back on that all the time, and it kind of tears me up to think about it, because how did I get to literally live a part of music history right there? I got to record with one of my heroes. So we dedicated One for the Losers, the title track, to him on this record. I'll never forget those times getting to record with him.
People who've seen you keep saying the live show is the real thing. What do you bring to the stage that a studio can't catch?
You got to come see the live show, because you get to really feel my culture. When I play a show with my band, you're feeling that Franklin County culture, and you're feeling how we take music and put our soul into it. We take from both sides. I want you to feel like you're having this traditional experience, like you're hearing something from the hollers of Virginia. But every set we play is different. We switch up the set list, and no song is played exactly note for note the same. And every time I've recorded so far, it's been under the control of the record label. I don't feel like you're going to get that in a recording session. I don't think any of my recordings are bad. But do I think they're the same as me playing them live? They're absolutely not the same, just because you're not going to get those dynamics.
The First Guitar Question (our signature closer): What was your first guitar, and what do you play now?
I started learning when I was 12. My dad passed away from cancer, and a bluegrass band came to his funeral. When I heard them play, that's when I knew that's what I wanted to do. I just felt it in my soul. I was taking music lessons in Roanoke, and this guy had a 1957 J-50 come in. He said, about five old retired men want to buy it, but you can have it for $2,000 if you can scrape up the money. I asked my mom. She could pay a thousand, and I could pay a thousand. We got this guitar, and I played it till I was about 20. I played the hell out of it. The old finish completely started melting off, and the fretboard's completely worn out from me picking so much.
What I play at my shows now is a Martin HD-28 Vintage Series, a 2012. It's got the herringbone binding and this thick V neck, which I like, because a lot of these Martin necks are just too thin for me. And man, this thing sounds good. It's got a huge sound to it. It's been played quite a bit, so it's already broke in pretty good, but it's got just an exquisite sound.
Follow Colby: colbyhelms.com · Instagram · Facebook
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