Zay Grastley combines his love of country living with hip-hop on his new single and music video “Southern Charm”

No matter where he is, singer/songwriter Zay Grastley has always been a country boy. Even when he raps he’s got that southern twang. This is on full display with his new track “Southern Charm”, where he blends hip-hop with country rock that has been included in a music video showing snippets of his livelihood.

“I wrote ‘Southern Charm’ just kind of thinking of a way to express where I grew up,” Grastley said. “I was trying to think of a way to show people me. How could I put me in a song, like painting a picture of me.”

The video shows Grastley hanging out on the farm, putting back a few cold ones with his friends…which really shows what he enjoys in life. He said when he’s not working he loves to be with his animals, working on the farm, and playing music with buddies around bonfires.

The video starts with his crew goofing around on the back of a pickup to the sound of a banjo, and pans to Grastley with his horses.

He sings,

“It’s in my walking

There’s something about it in my talking

They don’t know it by they like it

It’s that southern boy charm, with that country boy twang”

The song tells the story of how that southern feeling is in everything he does, what he wears, how he talks, how he works and how he parties.

Then it drops into a heartfelt rap, saying:

“I’m a country boy, I came here for some fighting

My grandpa taught me wrong from right, that’s how I live my live and

I’m a jack of all trades, but the master of none

I’ll be in before the chickens cockadoo before the sun.”

The video shows him doing chores on the farm, interacting with his animals, and he sings about the places he’s been and how he was raised. He speaks of his love for his mom and going to church, but also how he is there to chase his dreams.

“I grew up all over the place, bounced around a lot, but mainly in Gastonia, North Carolina,” Grastley said. “I’m a gypsy. I kind of have a gypsy background. I never really lived in one particular area. I just moved back out to the east coast from Arizona. I lived off the grid in like a hippy community. A gypsy community is what it was.”

Grastley is also a tattoo artist which has allowed him to bounce around from spot to spot. He loves seeing the country and meeting all the people that come with it. This has been inspirational to his music, as well.

“Different people, different places, different settings,” he said. “It aways gives me a different mood. I’m a wanderer.”

He has hard some hardships, as he as in prison for 14 years. Once Grastley was released he said there was no need for him to sit still. He wanted to see the world.

“I wanted to go see things,” Grastley said. “There’s more to life than Gastonia. I pretty much had given up on music when I went to prison. I didn’t write music or anything. So getting out and bouncing around, it was like everyone I was made contact with dug music. I let people hear my music and they were like ‘why aren’t you making music? You have to get back to making music.’”

Grastley said he mulled it over and realized it was a talent he couldn’t just walk away from. It was what he wanted to do, so he set his mind to it and is pushing forward at his dream.

“I’m trying to find my sound,” Grastley. “I think I’ve known my sound but it is about trying to get people to hear it.”

Grastley explained that he writes his lyrics to the music, saying that he used to write songs without music but he could never find a way for music to fit with how he wrote it. Now when he writes a song, he has a topic but the instrumental gives him the words.

“The words just pop up, I put them together, and go with it,” Grastley said.

Grastley works with a drummer and videographer named Jeremy Davis, and a DJ named Terence Austin, which he said creates an all original sound. While he does know how to play several instruments, song writing is his forte. Grastley started off writing poetry as a kid, but he stumbled across the ability to sing.

Even when he was laying down raps, his friends would say something sounded different. Grastley couldn’t pinpoint it at first, but then it dawned on him.

“It was because of my accent,” said Grastley. “It made everything sound real country.”

With that, he felt like he could combine his love for country with his rap style. He said suddenly there was harmonizing, rocking and rapping all in one, with Grastley pointing out that it “just kind of created itself.”

Grastley is heavily inspired by Bob Marley, John Mayer and Andre 3000, showing off his wide range of musical influences. He listens to a lot of different bands, and the inspiration shows through his music, but he has also created something brand new and original.

Grastley is gearing up to hit the road with Badd Wolf, who is known for music on the show Yellowstone. This will take him to 27 different cities across the country between January and March. He also just got off a tour where he was on the road for several months, as well. Grastley has a single titled “Bird on the Barn” with C’ing Jerome coming out on December 31.

Be sure to check out Zay Grastley’s music on all major platforms:
YouTube
Apple Music
Spotify
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