- 6 months ago
On the heels of releasing his debut studio album Man Of The North , Liam St. John is having a moment years in the making. The Spokane, Washington native--now based in Nashville--recently appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show and continues to build on a breakout year that included a headline tour across the UK and North America. With more than 90 million streams worldwide, St. John is stepping confidently into his next chapter. At its core, Man Of The North is a deeply personal project that took nearly four years to complete. He calls it 'a love letter to my roots,' inspired by his Pacific Northwest upbringing and shaped by seasons of growth and self-discovery. Recorded live with a full band to capture the energy of his shows, the album also reflects his candid journey through depression and addiction, with songwriting serving as both release and renewal. Before these milestones, St. John spent years grinding it out in dive bars and open mics. After seven years of auditioning, he earned a spot on The Voice with Team Gwen Stefani during a pandemic-era season--an experience that gave him national exposure and affirmed his artistic path. He also recently celebrated his debut on the Grand Ole Opry stage and scored a career highlight when his song 'Paul Revere' was featured on the NFL's Sunday Spotlight series. Adding to the momentum, St. John recently dropped a bluesy cover of Britney Spears' 'Toxic,' even recording a live performance at UMG Studios in London that showcases his gritty, genre-bending style. Looking ahead, he has plans for a new EP as well as a deluxe edition of Man Of The North featuring additional songs. He recently stopped by the LifeMinute studios to share more about the music, his journey, and what's next. This is a LifeMinute with Liam St. John.
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00:00Hi, it's Liam St. John, and you're watching Life Minute TV.
00:13Roots Rock Breakout, Liam St. John's debut album, Man of the North, is a personal project rooted in resilience.
00:20After years in dive bars, he broke through on The Voice under Team Stefani.
00:25Since then, he's appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show, made his grand old Opry debut, and landed his song Paul
00:31Revere on the NFL's Sunday Spotlight Series.
00:35We caught up with him to talk about the journey and what's next.
00:38This is a Life Minute with Liam St. John.
00:41Man of the North, took me about four years to write all the songs that are on there, but yeah,
00:46it's a love letter to my roots.
00:48I just started writing songs, like Dipped in Bleach was the oldest song that I wrote that's on the album.
00:59It was the first song that I really went there with, like, vulnerability of, like, my feelings and some tribulations
01:05I went through.
01:06And then I just started writing all these songs about where I come from, what I come from, and who
01:10I come from.
01:11And then I finally wrote Man of the North, and then it all kind of glued together from there.
01:18I really tried to make the album feel like a live show, so we actually cut everything live except for,
01:23like, overdubs.
01:24All the vocal takes and things and drums, bass, and guitar all live, so that people wouldn't be surprised when
01:31we played the live show.
01:32Yeah, I've got, like, an aux player on tour with me who plays banjo and stuff, so it's a little
01:36bit different, but just little tasteful things that I like.
01:39I was a little nervous because my first two albums were done independently, and they were just me and my
01:44guitar and, like, cut live.
01:46So most people knew me from that album and was nervous that they would, how they would receive the full
01:53band.
01:53But it's just been nothing but great, great reception and just amazing crowds.
01:58Like, honestly, some of the best shows I've ever played have been on this tour.
02:01We're touring this album, and we're doing all these, like, live sessions.
02:05We recorded five songs in a cave.
02:14It was dark and, like, moist, but it was really cool and made for one of the coolest videos I've
02:20ever done.
02:20And then we did the same thing on a castle in Scotland, and so, yeah, I'll start recording new music
02:27in quarter one and just keep it coming.
02:30I mean, that's all we can do is keep building and keep touring, and that's all I want to do,
02:34so.
02:35Great match of Super Bowl 59.
02:38Tough, pretty game.
02:44Bucket list, for sure, to be on the NFL, and what a cool song to do it for.
02:49I used to live in Los Angeles, and I wrote with my friend Dan a lot.
02:52Dan O'Melio goes by Robo Pop, but we just have this chemistry, walk into the studio, write a song in
02:58two hours,
02:59and I think that was the first one we wrote, actually, Paul Revere, and it kind of fell into our
03:04laps.
03:05Didn't have the idea of Paul Revere going into it, just had this riff in mind, and then we built
03:10on it, and, you know,
03:11how songwriting works, the muse shows up and places that cool hook in your lap and creates a really fun
03:18song, so.
03:23I consider myself like a blues artist at the core, and I've always said that the blues finds those who
03:29need it,
03:30and I needed that type of music to help me process, you know, being a human.
03:34To be honest, like, nothing else was really helping me, but I think at its core,
03:39it brings people together from all across the world, and that's why it's so important to speak truth into your
03:45lyrics,
03:45because you never know how it's going to reach somebody else going through a similar path,
03:52and that's been the coolest part of my career, is, like, putting out these songs and realizing that I'm not
03:57alone,
03:58and that there are other people going through things and who need to hear that they're not alone,
04:03and I think that's the whole point.
04:04The depression and substance abuse kind of went hand in hand, and the biggest reason for that for me
04:10was just not having the freedom to, like, speak my truth and live my truth, you know.
04:15I had a lot of resistance there for a long time, and it just led to a really bad relationship
04:19with myself
04:20and got really dark and, you know, walked away from, like, my faith, and so I didn't have this thing
04:27to lean on,
04:27and it was just me trying to carry the burden of all that pain, and, you know,
04:33I just finally started to lean on other things, and it was, you know, a slow burn until you realize
04:37you've developed a really bad habit, but then I started writing songs, and it really brought me out of that
04:43dark place,
04:44and I found my truth, and I've just been pursuing it, you know, full blast ever since,
04:49and it's really changed my life and definitely have a better relationship with myself because of it, so.
04:55Every song on the album, on all my albums, they're always me, like, literally getting this thing off my chest
05:01that's probably been there for, you know, five to ten years of just, like, holding it in,
05:07and so it's so important for me to speak from my truth because it usually is beneficial for me.
05:14It's all magic and mystery to me, songwriting.
05:17I mean, obviously I practice a lot and show up every day, but the good ones always come out of
05:22nowhere,
05:22and you're like, wow, that was a good line.
05:24Where did I come up with that?
05:25And then you write a song, and you're like, I don't think I'll ever write another one,
05:28so it always goes like that, but I'm just always trying to mine through my feelings and my truth,
05:36and that's my one rule is just trying to be as honest as possible
05:39and find the innocence in the lyric and try and bring it out.
05:48Well, I've always sang, mostly in my room, to Britney Spears or something.
05:53I was very shy as a kid, but then I started singing in the church.
05:57That's kind of how I got out of my shell.
05:59Yeah, I mean, I started writing songs when I was a teenager and had some bands in high school,
06:04but I was an athlete, and so I pursued that all the way through college.
06:08All the while, just, like, writing and singing, and then graduated, and I was like,
06:12I have these business degrees, and now I'm going to become a starving artist,
06:17and I haven't looked back.
06:27I love Britney, and it's been a lifelong love.
06:30I always say she's the first woman I ever fell in love with when I was, like, eight years old.
06:33That cover, I've played it for a long time, but it's just really, it lends itself to a blues song,
06:39and if you, like, swag it out and slow it down a little bit, it's a really fun song to
06:43play,
06:43and so we've just had it in our set for a long time,
06:46and we were in London, we played a show in Camden Town,
06:50and then the next day we recorded this song live at UMG Studios.
06:59Early on, I listened to a lot of soul music,
07:03and so I always say Ray Charles is probably my favorite artist vocally,
07:07and just the way he presented himself, just raw and unfiltered.
07:11Same with, like, Etta James, but yeah, I listened to a lot of, like, you know,
07:15my mom had a great taste and spun a lot of good records.
07:18Tracy Chapman's one of my favorite songwriters, huge fan of Lauryn Hill,
07:22I listened to her my whole life, and then lots of blues artists, like Stevie Ray Vaughan.
07:26I really love finding new artists these days.
07:28It's really cool to see that people are still being creative
07:31and coming up with new ways to write songs, so.
07:39The Voice.
07:40I think I started auditioning, like, right when I graduated,
07:43because I was like, I've got to make a career out of this,
07:46and so, yeah, I spent, like, seven years getting rejected,
07:49and I'm really grateful for that in retrospect,
07:52because I just wasn't ready, hadn't really found my voice, my truth yet,
07:57and so I just started building my career from the ground up,
07:59just doing dive bars, open mics, and then along that journey,
08:03I found my voice, and then one day I auditioned,
08:06and it was night and day.
08:07They cast me right away, and then the pandemic happened.
08:10Pushed the show for, like, four months,
08:12but, yeah, we got to film during the pandemic,
08:15so it was an interesting season to be on The Voice,
08:18but we were all really, you know, just grateful
08:21that we got to work and sing while everything was locked down, so.
08:30Gwen Stefani was my coach.
08:32Yeah, it was cool.
08:34Like, the pandemic made it a little different.
08:37You couldn't really interact,
08:38so most of the time was when we were on camera,
08:40but it was still a surreal moment,
08:44and one of those moments in my life that I'll never forget,
08:47especially turning the chairs.
08:48Like, you get 90 seconds to impress the coaches,
08:51and they took about 75 seconds to turn.
08:54I can imagine everything that was going through my head,
08:56but, yeah, like, my mom and sisters were zoomed in
08:59because of the pandemic, but, yeah, it was a really special moment,
09:02and hearing feedback from, like, John Legend
09:04and Kelly Clarkson was pretty cool.
09:06Well, I made it through the battle rounds,
09:08which is once you get to the blind audition,
09:10which isn't guaranteed once you get cast,
09:12then you get put on a team,
09:14and then you battle head-to-head against one of your teammates,
09:17and that's where I got knocked out,
09:19but that's the thing about The Voice.
09:21You go as far as you can,
09:22and then you take what you get from that show,
09:25and you try and build your career on top of it,
09:27and so that's what I've tried to do.
09:29You know, the life of an artist,
09:31we kind of just put our heads down
09:33and take it one step at a time,
09:35and, you know, 10 years goes by,
09:38but every once in a while,
09:40you get a moment to look up,
09:41and this is one of those moments.
09:46We were on tour, and my label called me,
09:48and we had gotten some good news that day
09:50with Kelly Clarkson's show,
09:52and they were like, did you hear the good news?
09:53I was like, yeah, Kelly Clarkson, let's go,
09:55and he's like, oh, yes,
09:56and you have an open invitation to the Opry,
09:59and I was like, I had no idea,
10:01so yeah, that was something that every Roots artist,
10:07it's the pinnacle for a lot of people,
10:09a lot of country artists and, like, a lot of my peers,
10:11and I've got to see my friends make their debuts,
10:14and I've just always been so proud of them
10:16and just kind of never thought it would happen for me,
10:19but it was one of the coolest moments I've ever had.
10:22Well, I ride a Harley's.
10:23That's my one way where people can't reach me
10:26because I can't get on my phone while I'm on the bike,
10:28and so I love that, and I mean, I grew up in the mountains,
10:31so this time of year is always fun
10:33because I get to go to the mountains and snowboard
10:36or if I have time,
10:37but I really love all those activities,
10:39and I run and exercise as much as I can
10:42or else I would lose my mind on the road.
10:46To hear more of this interview,
10:48visit our podcast, Life Minute TV on iTunes
10:50and all streaming podcast platforms.
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