Subscribe

Will Levith

Brooklyn, New York
32 Years Old
Singer-Songwriter
writer profile >
"Guitar callous whirlwind belief gets made"
BIOGRAPHY
This story begins and ends with music. When Will Levith was growing up in Saratoga Springs, NY, there was always music on in the house—classical music. His dad was an amateur violinist, so those were the records he’d hear and the concerts he’d see early on. You could say Will’s earliest influences were artists like Beethoven and Mozart. After taking six years of piano lessons, Will picked up the cello, which he would go on to have an 11-year love-hate relationship with (practicing was never Will’s cup of tea). Will’s cello teacher used to say that he played the LOUDS really well—but never had an ear for the softs. This is how Will came to discover punk music, and in high school, he delved deep into the world of the Misfits (Earth A.D.) and Face to Face (Don’t Turn Away). Around the same time, Levith bought his first electric guitar, a red Fender Stratocaster Squire—along with a 10-watt Marshall practice amp that he had to hide in the basement under a sheet. From that point forward, Will started writing scads of songs, mostly about being lonely and the girls that he liked at school. Fast-forward 17 years, and Will Levith is still writing the same types of songs and playing the guitar, but he favors the acoustic over the electric. Most of his stuff is still rooted in the aggressiveness and rebelliousness of punk—but gets a softer, woodier edge, without all that distortion (see? Will’s learned his SOFTs after all). Will Levith currently makes his home in Brooklyn, NY, and shares his apartment with a giant record and CD collection (he has way too many influences to list here). Will’s love of music is insatiable, and he’s always looking for his next favorite sound.
GENRES
Folk, Alternative Country, Indie Rock
Contact
Administrative: William J. Levith
INSTRUMENTS
bass / cello / acoustic guitar / electric guitar / keyboard / piano
INFLUENCES
Jay Farrar, Son Volt, John Martyn, Nick Drake, Face to Face, The Kinks, The Beatles, Flying Burrito Bros., The Byrds ...
DAY JOB
Web Editor, Mediaweek.com
I AM INTERESTED IN
in co writing online
in co writing in person
in networking with songwriters
in pitching songs to artist
in pitching songs to tv
in getting a record deal
in getting a publishing deal
I WRITE:
It's my second job

I Also Write:
by myself
with others
for myself
for others

I Prefer To Write:
lyrics
melody
music
getflash
my network >
     
   

>>

Q&A: Bright Eyes

After a brief stint as a solo artist, Conor Oberst has revived Bright Eyes to release The People’s Key, an album that deals with the nature of time, spirituality, and human existence. Also, it’s Rastafarian friendly.

>>

Jessica Lea Mayfield: Look At Miss Ohio

“Things are starting to get weird.”

Jessica Lea Mayfield, whose Nonesuch Records debut Tell Me is in stores now, is on the phone from her home in Ohio and we’re having a good laugh over her recent success. It’s beer o’clock on both ends of the phone, the last interview in a long week of talking to complete strangers for the two of us.

>>

Cadillac Sky

Cadillac Sky should be a lot more tired. It’s early Saturday afternoon at MerleFest and the band–Bryan Simpson, Matt Menefree, Andrew Moritz, Ross Holmes and newest addition David Mayfield–has already logged two performances on the day....

>>

Sessions: David Bazan

It was pretty slow. I mean, I played [the songs] on acoustic guitar for a long time, but I didn’t know how to transfer them to the other format. I didn’t want it to be a solo acoustic record. I wanted there to be bells and whistles and full band arrangements even if I didn’t want it necessarily to be electric guitar rock....

writer's block >