Interview: Willfully Blind With Max McNown

Interview by Lindsey V. Britt

Max McNown is a rising Oregon-bred Nashville-based musician. He has opened for artists such as The 502s, Blake Rose, and Wynnona Judd, just to name a few. 2024 has been his breakout year, not only releasing his album Wandering back in April but also his new EP Willfully Blind, which comes out September 20th.

I really liked your song “Running On Empty”, what’s the story behind the song?

The story behind the song “Running Of Empty” is I wrote that song at the end of a 35-day hotel stay in Nashville. I was writing almost every day and I was just feeling really burnt out, I remember just one day the night before I wrote that song I was laying in my hotel bed, in the empty room, just staring at the ceiling fan, and I just didn’t even feel like I was motivated to do anything and it was just a hard time for me and I was kind of making sacrifices in that sense and paying my dues. So that whole first line, “Turns out staring at a ceiling fan for hours and hours and days on end, laying here in this old motel bed can make you start to lose your head.” I just felt I was kind of losing my mind a little bit, I needed a break.

I saw that you leave it up to the fans to decide where the songs fit genre-wise, which I love that concept, how did you decide not to genre label the EP?

I’ve been influenced by a lot of different genres in my life, so I don’t feel as though I necessarily belong to a single one, I just try to write music that means something to me and the melodies that pop into my head kind of differ from song to song and the instruments that I want to use differ from song to song. I’m an Oregon suburban kid that was raised by a country upbringing father, and so I have kind of some country roots in me, but I’m also Oregon folk, and I grew up on pop and christen music as well. It’s a big mix of a lot of different genres that manifest themselves into something that I feel is a little more unique.

You just released your album Wandering in April, what made you want to release this EP so quickly after?

We have a lot of music on the way. I was going to do a talent competition, and in preparation for the eyes that were going to be on me if I continued to do it, we decided to get me writing a lot of songs. Like “Running On Empty” was written during the time I was writing all those songs. And when I ended up dropping out of the competition, we had all these songs that I felt as though I grew as a writer with every song I wrote. It’s kind of like a muscle, as you write more and more you improve, and it’s like training. So, I have all these songs that I feel personally, not necessarily get better and better because I love all the songs that I put out, but I feel as though I found a sound that’s more me, and I’m trying to release that side of my music to the fans as soon as possible.

You’re playing AmericanaFest soon, how excited are you for it?

I am very excited! It’s going to be one of the only shows I’ve ever played in Nashville, considering I’m living there now I’m super excited to have a show at home. Writing was always my favorite part of the career until I started preforming, the feeling is incredible. I was telling my brother after a show that I had in St. Augustine, FL opening for Billy Currington, I told my brother that it’s like I don’t even recognize who I am on stage, because it’s an adrenaline level unlike anything I have ever experienced. I’m sure AmericanaFest is going to be an absolute blast as well.

Currently, you’re opening for artists this fall such as The 502s, Wyatt Flores, and Corey Kent, how are you liking tour life?

It can get a little bit taxing, especially missing my girlfriend over in Kentucky. There’s pros and cons to everything right, and with road life you kind of lose track of days, you’re just doing what you love and playing shows every night. I feel very blessed to be on the road. It also helps when get placed with such incredible bands and people. The 502s have been incredibly kind and they’ve been so fun to just hang out with, and I feel like I’ve formed some lifelong friends with the people I’ve toured with.

Since you’ve toured a lot, what are some fun things you’ve done at different tour stops?

We stopped in Scottsbluff, NE at a big farm campsite, and we stayed there for two days. We did some hiking and we played a little acoustic show for some of the neighbors of the farm, it was really, really fun, so that’s probably my favorite days off that we’ve had. We’ve had a pretty packed schedule so if there are days off typically we’re driving upwards of eight plus hours so there’s not too much to do especially when we’re not on a tour bus yet, cause you don’t wake up in the city, you have to make it there.

Is there a venue you dream of performing at one day?

One of dreams is to perform at Red Rocks in Colorado, but probably more so the Columbia River Gorge. Because in high school I used to drive to Hood River and the Columbia River Gorge at least once a week, it was like one of my favorite things to do, and I would find different hikes and viewpoints, so to play a show at that beautiful venue would be pretty amazing.

Who would you like to open for you when you do your own headline tour?

I pride myself on loyalty, so the people that have been so gracious at taking me out on the road with them, I would want to pay it back to one of them. If God willing I end up performing at big headlining shows and I can play a role in helping them I would love to return the favor, so probably Briscoe, The 502s, Blake Rose, or anybody that has been kind enough to let me open for them

You’ve had a lot happen over the past couple of years, what do you have on your career goals list that you want to achieve next?

Definitely just playing a show under my name. Opening every night you have to win over a crowd that doesn’t know you for the most part and that can be really difficult, and it can be really rewarding when you have a lot of people talk to you about it, but definitely one of my number one goals is just to headline a show and have the people there be there for me, I think would be a pretty surreal experience.

Final question, do you have a recommendation? This can be anything from a movie to a place to visit.

I have to recommend watching my favorite movie of all time Hacksaw Ridge.

You can pre-save Willfully Blind now and stream it on September 20th, and you can catch Max at AmericanaFest this weekend and on tour with Corey Kent this fall.

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