Breakout country star Kashus Culpepper makes a lasting impression on Elton John

After being declared one of Grammy.com's 25 Artists to Watch, crooner ready to make a lasting musical impression beyond Nashville

Published Jun 27, 2026  •  Last updated 5 minutes ago  •  4 minute read

Southern crooner Kashus Culpepper has released his first full-length project 'Act I.' Photo by Cedrick Jones Photography

See more Toronto Sun on Google — save as a Preferred Source

Article content

In 2020, with the world shutting down as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Kashus Culpepper spent lockdown teaching himself to play a guitar.

Article content

Article content

Based in Spain and serving in the U.S. Navy, Culpepper, 28, taught himself to play the songs he had loved growing up. Far away from his family and friends back home in his native Alabama, Culpepper then started to play bonfire parties for his fellow servicemen and women.

Article content

After his deployment ended, Culpepper, who was named one of GRAMMY.com’s 25 Artists to Watch in 2025 and is a member of the Opry’s NextStage class, returned to the U.S. and hit the road, playing cover songs in clubs and bars ringing Mississippi’s Gulf Coast.

“By 2023, I felt like I had played every casino from New Orleans to Mobile and I was making pretty decent money,” Culpepper says in an interview.

As he honed his sound, Culpepper would play Ray LaMontagne, the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Otis Redding and Amy Winehouse, among others. “We were all over the place,” he chuckles. But he started to ask himself if he could find his own sound.

Article content

Article content

“I wondered if that was my ceiling, and if that was it. Is this all I’m going to do with my musical career?” he says. So in between his gigs working as a fireman and EMT in Alabama and playing to bar crowds, he cautiously took a stab at writing his own material.

Soulful sound came naturally

Having grown up singing in church and steeped in music from a diverse roster of artists from a young age, Culpepper knew what he liked.

“So I tried to replicate that in my writing,” he says. “I wanted to see if I could write a song that could make me feel like an old Otis Redding song. Or a Willie Nelson song I liked. Could I replicate that? That’s all I did when I started posting my songs on social media and other people started liking it.”

It was a cover of Tyler Childers’ Messed Up Kid posted to social media that caught the attention of Nashville label Big Loud Records (home to Morgan Wallen, HARDY, Stephen Wilson Jr. and Lauren Alaina), who inked him to a record deal.

His first full-length project Act I was released earlier this year. A followup — Act I: Summer Nights — hit streaming services this month. After a slot opening for Eric Church in February, Culpepper is hitting the road in support of Jelly Roll and Thomas Rhett this summer.

Kashus Culpepper’s ‘Act I’ album cover.

“All those artists have different fan bases. Thomas’ is different from Jelly Roll’s and that’s different from Eric Church,” he says. “It’s cool that my music can sit in their worlds as well.”

Recorded in Muscle Shoals, Ala., famed for being the breeding ground for legendary works sang by some of his idols, including the Allman Brothers, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and the Rolling Stones, Act 1 blends a range of styles and influences, veering from groovy blues rock (on the opening number Southern Man) to rootsy country (on Broken Wing Bird with Sierra Ferrell) to mining syrupy soulful hooks (on That’s the Feeling).

Summer Nights features Culpepper’s silky vocals taking on Glen Campbell’s Southern Nights. Elsewhere, ‘70s-infused yacht rock finds its way onto songs like Let Me Show You Love.

Article content

Music makes a lasting impression

With the new LP now on rotation, Culpepper has earned raves from Elton John, John Mayer, Samuel L. Jackson and more. John described his sound as “if Bill Withers made country music.”

“It’s surreal,” Culpepper says of the kudos he’s received for Act I. “I never thought I’d be on a phone call with Elton or get that kind of praise from John Mayer.”

As he put together his debut, Culpepper says he wanted to craft a soundscape that was “like a cinematic experience.”

“These are songs that best represent me as an artist. They’re all different sonically,” he says. “I like all types of musical flavours.”

Culpepper doesn’t like to dwell on John’s headline-making endorsement. “I don’t think about it too much because I don’t want to get too big-headed,” he says. “But it’s cool to get those endorsements from people that you truly love and admire. It makes you think you’re doing the right thing.”

Kashus Culpepper performs at The Basement East on March 5, 2026 in Nashville. Photo by Getty Images

Having recently booked his first nomination for the Americana Honours & Awards Emerging Act of the Year, Culpepper still has a child-like wonderment at how seamlessly he went from playing bonfires to sold-out crowds.

Article content

“I’m not trying to put myself in a box. I just love good music and timeless music. That’s all I’m trying to create. I literally just call my music Southern music,” he says. “Music’s supposed to be a community thing. I don’t know if you remember, but back in the day, Aaron Neville did a song with Gregg Allman. Tom Jones collaborated with Janis Joplin. Bobby Womack was good friends with Frank Sinatra.”

And Culpepper is still playing for his buddies from the Navy that cheered him on when he first picked up that guitar in Roda, Spain, a little more than six years ago.

“They still come to my shows and they still freak out,” he says, beginning to smile. “But they gave me all the confidence when I was starting out.”

Act I and Act I: Summer Nights are both now available on all streaming platforms.

[email protected]

Read More

1. 

   Lainey Wilson gets candid about her life in 'Keepin' Country Cool' doc

2. 

   Country hitmaker Hardy used a note from a hater to refuse to 'Quit!!'

Article content