Tyler Hilton

Tyler Hilton

Tyler Hilton is an American singer-songwriter and musician from Palm Springs, California, born in 1983. He grows up in a musically inclined family and begins playing guitar and singing at a young age. His early influences include Elvis Presley, Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, and he spends several years performing at open mic nights and clubs, as well as playing blues and jazz covers for tips in coffeehouses and restaurants.

Career

Hilton moves to Los Angeles to pursue music and first issues a self-titled independent CD. He then signs to Maverick Records, a Warner Bros. imprint, which releases his major-label debut The Tracks of Tyler Hilton. Around the same period, he begins acting, playing the musically gifted but arrogant Chris Keller in the second season of One Tree Hill.

His acting work continues with a portrayal of Elvis Presley in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, a role in the film Charlie Bartlett with Robert Downey Jr., and a return to One Tree Hill for its final season in 2012. His cover versions appear on the Grammy Award-winning Walk the Line soundtrack, while his Americana-leaning original songs feature on several One Tree Hill soundtracks.

Recording and writing

Hilton records an album titled The Storms We Share in 2010, but it is not issued after changes in Warner Bros. leadership. He later leaves the label, with the rights to that album remaining there, and releases Forget the Storm on his own label, Hooptie Tune Records. He describes that record as a fresh start after leaving the major-label system.

Writing for Forget the Storm grows out of live shows at the Hotel Café, where he performs with friends Dave Hodges and Steve Miller. The set includes covers and blues material, and the response from audiences leads him back to writing. Hodges, who has worked with Daughtry, Carrie Underwood and Christina Perri, and Miller both help him shape the songs on the album.

The record includes songs such as “Kicking My Heels,” “Prince of Nothing Charming,” “Jenny,” “Can’t Stop Now,” “I Belong,” “Loaded Gun” and “Ain’t No Foolin’ Me.” “Loaded Gun” is written with Deana Carter and brings a rockabilly-leaning sound. Hilton says the album is personal and focused on relationships, self-reflection and his feelings about the music industry.

Live work and collaborators

Hilton performs across the United States both as a headliner and alongside artists including Taylor Swift, Gavin DeGraw and Goo Goo Dolls. He also works musically with Kate Voegele, and the two are listed together as a duo.

Style

His work is associated with folk, indie rock, acoustic, rock and pop, and his own description of his live shows includes a mix of styles with blues, covers and rock and roll moments.