Dustin Welch

Austin-based singer/songwriter Dustin Welch was raised in Nashville, Tennessee in a community made up of people involved with various aspects of the music business. Welch was playing music and writing songs from an early age, starting bands as a youth with other children of musicians, including Steve Earle's kid and talented young vocalist Cary Ann Hearst. Inspired by listening to Béla Fleck, he taught himself banjo and worked on his own experimental approaches to the instrument, and at the same young age began writing his own songs in droves. In 2006 Welch joined on as a touring member of the Celtic-fused rock group the Scotch Greens, playing shows across the U.S. and Europe and even embarking on a leg of the Warped Tour. Following his time in Scotch Greens he relocated to Austin, Texas and began work on what would be his debut solo album, 2009's Whisky Priest. The album was an amalgam of musical and literary influences, with Welch drawing on the influence of both his large musical background and the writings of authors like John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, and Cormac McCarthy for his sometimes dark, storytelling songs. He followed up in 2012 with sophomore album Tijuana Bible. Apart from his solo career, Welch worked actively as a session musician in the Austin scene and also volunteered his time at Soldier Songs & Voices, a weekly songwriting and guitar workshop for veterans of the Armed Forces.