**Spencer Hatcher performs with brother Connor, left, and drummer Austin Taylor. Photos submitted**

By Tom Victoria

Spencer Hatcher is a country boy living his dream, playing to packed houses.

The country music artist performs throughout the week.

“This year alone, we’ll do 150 shows,” the Virginian said. “This summer’s been pretty rigorous as far as actual show count per week. The most we’ve done so far, we did nine shows over eight days.”

Spencer, 26, and his band draw crowds to every venue regionally and beyond.

“What we’re seeing this year, especially this summer, has been kicked up a notch as far as audience attendance in the local Shenandoah Valley area,” he said. “We’ve been breaking records at almost all the venues we play.”

Spencer traveled as far as Maine to perform. He explained the New England state, which borders Canada, was the site of a bluegrass festival.

“It was right on the line,” he said about the location.

Spencers’ fans includes a Nova Scotia Facebook group.

He attributed his popularity to his sound.

“You’ll hear a lot of older country,” he said. “You’ll hear a lot of traditional country. On TikTok, you’ll hear bluegrass as well. That’s what I started off with. I started playing mandolin when I was 8 years old and the banjo when I was 12. Then, I picked up the guitar and country music in my senior year of high school.”

A video of Spencer’s cover of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” went viral in 2020.

“I did that one on July 14 and by July 15, the video has surpassed 1.5 million views in about 24 hours,” he said. “I didn’t have to call people anymore. They started calling me. That was a game-changer.”

That first call put Spencer under the gun to prepare for a show.

“I had three weeks to prepare for the show,” he said. “The guy was like will you play for three hours. I said I don’t know if I can play for two hours.”

The man told Spencer it didn’t matter, just try to get as close to two hours as possible.

“I was learning like five songs a week,” he said. “I wrapped up maybe 20 songs over the course of three weeks. I was doing every song I could possibly think of just to hit the two-hour mark. We were doing bluegrass.”

Spencer threw in some Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Randy Travis, Hank Williams Jr. and George Jones.

“I even sang songs I wrote up to that point and did hit that mark,” he said.

Spencer did roughly 20 shows for the remainder of that year.

“The following year, 2021, we did 70,” he said. “Last year, we did 140.”

During the summer, Spencer performed between 4 to 6 times a week.

“We did 21 shows in July,” he said. “We haven’t had any issues booking.”

Spencer plans to build on that success.

“Now my main focus is more toward types of shows we’ll play,” he said. “Just always be on an incline doing bigger and better shows, playing before larger audiences.”

Spencer has performed as long as five hours.

“The most we’re booked is for four-hour shows,” he said. “I don’t know how many times I’ve been told you guys can’t quit now, you’ve got to go another hour.”

Spencer will agree to do so if the venue pays for the extra time, but it takes its toll.

“That’s pretty grueling,” he said. “A four-hour performance is already very tiring. But to go five hours, it’s like whew. You’re done after that.”

Fortunately for Spencer, he has good backup in the form of brother Connor.

“He’s building quite the reputation here in the Shenandoah Valley,” Spencer said. “He’s becoming known as the greatest bass player to come out of Virginia. He’s phenomenal.”

When older brother needs a respite, Connor takes over.

“I’ll have him sing some songs,” Spencer said.

The band also works in scheduled breaks throughout the longer shows. But Spencer isn’t idle during those times. He’s interacting with fans at the merch table.

Spencer stressed the importance of fan interaction.

“All of my shows are high energy,” he said. “That’s something I pride myself in. I want to be an entertainer on top of just a performer. I do a lot of speaking and some storytelling and stuff just to tie to a song. That’s something that sets me apart from other acts as well as engaging with the audience.”

Spencer eats 90 minutes before a show to infuse some energy and keeps an ample supply of water on stage.

“It’s important to have water to not only keep your voice saturated, that’s going to help you sing better anyways,” he said.

Spencer said some venues are tougher on a singer’s voice.

“All venues are different of course,” he said. “And some indoor venues, I’ll notice my voice dries out a little quicker than in outdoor venues. Room humidity I guess is to blame for that. There’s really no way of knowing beforehand though. You just gotta go out and do the best you can. And always have water with you.”

Spencer eventually became used to the strain on his vocal chords.

“I used to come off stage and my voice would be pretty close to shot,” he said.

Through time and employing more effective techniques, Spencer’s voice held out longer following a show. The busier schedule of nine shows in eight days put his voice to the test, though.

“By the last show, my voice was really feelin’ it and actually the next day, my voice was hurting,” he said. “It’s really important to let your voice rest, learn proper techniques and not stress your voice.”

Spencer said a singer can’t be raising his or her voice outside of performing.

“If you’re home, you shouldn’t be yelling, screaming and hollering in your house,” he said. “You want to let your voice rest as much as you can to avoid straining it.”

That limitation also covers cheering on favorite sports teams.

“I do not limit my sports viewing, but vocal rest is very necessary if you overuse your voice,” Spencer said. “Sports can get very loud. And if I were to have just performed and went to a big game somewhere knowing that I had a show the next day, I would definitely watch how much my voice was used to yell or cheer at the sports game.”

Musicians also must become accustomed to playing instruments for lengthy stretches. Spencer has calluses on on his fingers as a result.

“A lot of times, I’ll look at my fingers after a show and they’re white with just this hardened skin,” he said. “Every person playing string instruments will have stiff fingers. I remember when I started playing the banjo, I thought the strings were going to cut through my fingers because I would have blisters. They would feel like razor blades.”

Spencer said such sensations go away with time.

“After you get used to that, your fingers can last a while,” he said.

Spencer said music provides a unique outlet.

“Music is 100 percent a way to express yourself where at times, words cannot,” he said.

Spencer’s passions impact his songwriting.

“When I become passionate about a certain topic, that is when I am most inspired to write,” he said. “When I become inspired, I can crank out songs like no other, too. I have written songs in six hours when I am really inspired. The best time to write for me is when I’ve got a lot to say about something I feel very strongly about.”

Spencer’s favorite country music artist is Keith Whitley, but his main inspiration is arguably the most famous performer in history.

“My all-time favorite artist is Elvis Presley,” he said. “A lot of the energy I want to bring on stage, I’ve learned just by watching Elvis. I’m not doing Elvis’ moves. I don’t try to be anybody but myself. I don’t try to sing like Elvis.”

Spencer attributes his appeal, including the viral video, due to performing traditional country music. For playing Cash songs, Spencer emulated the legend’s guitarist Luther Perkins.

“He gave the freight-train, tick-tock sound,” Spencer said. “I can play most of his stuff.”

However, Spencer appreciates contemporary artists.

“I’m a big fan of Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, Joe Purdy,” he said. “But it’s still a different feel of country music that’s coming out now.”

Spencer didn’t even hear modern country until high school was behind him.

“I didn’t know any new country music,” he said. “I just knew the old greats. It’s what I grew up on. It’s what I learned to sing and that’s what I gravitated toward. I just make my own music and I create my own sound and song with it.”

Spencer also appreciates some of the other music genres.

“Frank Sinatra is one of my favorites,” he said.

Spencer also likes the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Just don’t expect him to start listening to heavy metal or rap.

Attending college in Tennessee, Spencer’s studies included music. He emphasized the importance of not being ignorant of the history in one’s field.

“You’d be missing a portion of the puzzle,” Spencer said.

Spencer said another asset to his career is his personal life.

“I live the lifestyle,” he said. “I know what it’s like to have lived in the country. I grew up in a farm in the Shenandoah Valley.”

For Spencer, cities are a nice place to visit. He’s already performed in 10 states, including Texas, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

“There’s no place remotely close to home as what the mountains are to me,” he said.

Music has always been part of Spencer’s family. His grandmother took the children to sing Christmas carols at a nursing home.

“That’s a really fond memory I have,” Spencer said. “We always loved it.”

Spencer’s father plays the banjo and guitar as well sang in a choir.

“He even went to Europe to sing,” Spencer said. “I just developed a huge desire to learn to play music, to learn how to sing probably to be just like my dad. That desire really took a hold of me. I never stopped. I kept learning more instruments.”

Spencer was in band during middle school years and choir in high school.

“I was in four bands during my time in college, one of which was a professional bluegrass band that had a recording deal in Nashville,” he said. “That’s where I learned a lot about the industry.”

Spencer relies on the stage to stay motivated.

“With the schedule I got, you really don’t have time to sleep,” Spencer said. “You get home 2 in the morning, in bed by 3, up by 9 and you’re doing it again that day and the next day. You can get really wore down pretty quick. Motivation comes because it’s what I love to do. I’ll always do my best. I can be just as tired as ever all day long, but as soon as I strum the first chord on stage, I’m doing what I love and it’s like tired Spencer is gone and I’m going to give it as much as I can for the entire show.”

Spencer explained the distinction between country music and bluegrass.

“Country music is a little more progressive,” he said. “You’ve got a little more aggressiveness in music whereas bluegrass is very old-fashioned. The roots of the music derived from the Appalachian Mountains and came overseas with a lot of settlers (from England, Scotland and Ireland). Once all the different ethnic groups conjoined music, you wound up getting this mountain music with banjos, mandolins, sometimes washtub bass.”

Traditional country music had different roots.

“Country music came along in the 1920s, during the Bristol sessions saw people like Jimmie Rodgers who was singing this old folksy music and then eventually Hank Williams Sr. came along and changed the game with modern country sound,” Spencer said.

He said bluegrass isn’t as appreciated as much.

“They would say it’s backwoods music,” Spencer said. “Some of the greatest musicians in the world are in the bluegrass scene.”

He said the classic 1972 film “Deliverance,” which depicts four men from the city encountering life-threatening situations in a remote rural spot in Georgia, gave the south a bad rap.

“That’s definitely not an accurate representation of what the south really is,” Spencer said.

The movie’s famous “Dueling Banjos” scene occurs when one of the protagonists, portrayed by Ronny Cox, plays a guitar in contrast to a youth’s banjo in a display of bluegrass.

“As famous as that song is, there’s not a tremendous amount of playing that’s going on in jam sessions because you need either two banjos or banjo and guitar and the entire group would have to cater to that,” Spencer said. “I do know it. I know how to play it.”

Spencer majored in business with a concentration in management.

“I always enjoyed business and actually come from a line of businessmen, so I figured I’d go to college and study that while I figured out exactly what I wanted to do,” he said. “Music just so happened to happen during Covid after a series of viral videos.”

Although Spencer obtained a degree, he doesn’t plan on leaving music.

“For me, there’s no plan B, even though I went to college and set myself up with one,” he said. “If you go into it with that mentality: I can always do this later, I think you’ll eventually fall back into that. There’s nothing else I want to do. That’s a fact. I’m going to make this as big as I possibly can. I’m hoping within two years, I can be selling out stadiums. That’s the goal, the dream. But I’m already living my dream. I’m already doing things I never thought I’d get to do — being able to perform for a living. It’s now just how high can I push it. There’s no limit for me. I’m taking it as far as it can go.”

Spencer said aspiring performers must put in the effort to be successful.

“You got to work for sure,” he said. “It comes down to who’s willing to do work and who’s not. Are you going to be in a garage band or going to be a pro? Are you going to do a show one day a month or go every single weekend? It all comes down to how much you spend to master your craft. It’s all I want to do and there’s nobody going to work harder than me to do it and that’s why I’ve got 150 shows and we’re breaking records.”

Spencer cited the necessity of performers to employ social media.

“I have had viral videos on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube,” he said. “Social media in today’s society is 100 percent necessary and will help greatly in comparison to those who are trying to do it without social media. The global reach is far easier with social media than by the news or the paper or magazines.”

Spencer maintains a positive attitude.

“I have always tried to be as positive as possible,” he said. “I would say that I am a very positive person and generally always am. There have been some highs and lows in my life no doubt and I learned that during the lows, I’d rather smile and be positive than spend my days down and negative.”

Spencer said country music singers need to recognize it’s a personable genre.

“You just got to be a real person,” he said. “Nobody wants anyone who is conceited in any genre, but especially in country music.“

Spencer recalled some artists who didn’t follow that axiom.

“Their careers didn’t last too long,” he said.

Spencer advised performers always take time for fans.

He said some people don’t have the time or drive to pursue a career, but nothing will block his path.

“I know this what I was meant to do. This is all I want to do.”

Spencer’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@spencerhatcher

Spencer’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spencerhatcherofficial/