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Young Hines, 34, has toured the U.S. and world with various bands, including Beatles tribute bands The Roaches and American English, and local bands Bailey Jester and Deadwood. Though he now resides in Nashville, Tenn., he says he’s never quit calling Griffin “home.” During his most recent trip home, he performed “Happy Christmas (War is Over)” in the Fifth Annual Community Christmas Concert at the Griffin Auditorium.
The Griffin Auditorium is a special place for Hines, as it was the location where he had his first guitar performance at age 12. His friend was participating in a band recital, and asked Young to play the guitar. They played the Top Gun anthem.
Soon after that performance, Hines began recording his own music at Reel to Reel, a Stockbridge recording studio. Still in middle school, Hines released a three-song tape, which was sold in a former Griffin record store called Turtles. “It sold out – all 50 of them,” said Hines. “All the kids from the middle school bought them. I got made fun of a lot; the songs were bad rip offs of Chris Isaak songs. Some people were really supportive, though. Griffin was really supportive of everything I did coming up as a kid.”
Hines said the soundtrack of David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, which included two Chris Isaak songs, Wicked Game and Blue Spanish Sky, fueled his love of music.
From there, Hines started a high school band called Deadwood with other Griffinites, including Mike Fulop and Shane Boyd, who they called “the rooster” because of his big mohawk and country style. Deadwood performed mostly around the Griffin area.
Hines also had a band his brother, Matt Jordan. “My first memory is Matt playing the guitar on his bed. He always had all these great songs,” Hines said. “I went to Matt and said ‘I want to do an acoustic folk bluegrass with you.’” So they did. Young and Matt released two records and toured the nation, never turning down a gig. “We did 240 gigs straight for three years in a row,” said Hines.
Hines’ next musical inspiration came from a Beatles tribute show at the Fox Theatre. Hines decided to start a local Beatles tribute band with former band member Mike Fulop and Griffinites Mike Williamson and Jerry Walker. They called themselves The Roaches. “If you would have asked me in 10th or 11th grade if I would be playing Beatles music I would have thought that was the lamest thing you could do,” said Hines. The Roaches taught Hines a lot about performing. “We didn’t really know how to work a crowd or honestly play our instruments really well so playing the Beatles catalog made us learn all that really well.”
Hines said he landed in Nashville in 1999, and “got good and broke.” He began looking for a way to make a little cash when his friend asked him to do a John Lennon show in Nashville, knowing he performed the part of Lennon in The Roaches. “I went and did it, and didn’t think too much about it.” That gig led to Hines getting a job in Chicago with American English, another Beatles tribute band. “I stepped right in doing all their John Lennon shows. It was probably the first time I ever made any money in life.”
He spent six years with American English, performing in Liverpool, Amsterdam, Guam, Maui.
Hines describes that time in his life: “During that period, I was kind of afforded the right to buy some cool recording machines. I believe tape is a real medium – a digital hard drive is fragile medium. I made a tape while in Chicago. I would get home from gigs and start recording. I got to a place where I got confident about writing. Somewhere along the way, I met a guy named Brendan Benson, one of the Raconteurs, who told me he covered a song from my record. It was very inspiring.”
Hines said he saw Benson again last year, and Benson asked him what he was doing. Hines told him that he was working for American English. “He looked me in the eye and said you could do better,” Hines remembers. As they continued their conversation about musicians balancing their own creativity with “pay the bills” jobs, they wound up writing a song together. “I went to visit him at his house and he met me at his car with his guitar, and said, ‘I got this chord and I think it should go like this.’ Three hours later we finished the song and by that night he had released it.”
At that time, Hines began formulating a plan to leave Chicago. “For the first time in my life, I said I’m going to play my own music. Sink or swim.” He describes his sound as indie rock, inspired by crooners, 60s rock bands, and some of the “new stuff.” “Contrary to Quentin Tarantino’s saying, I believe that I am both an Elvis guy and a Beatles guy. I love Elvis P as much as I love the Beatles, so it’s all in there,” he said.
Hines is now living in Nashville with another Griffinite, Wesley Flowers, and is so broke, they don’t have any heat. Nashville is a tough town because it’s flooded with wanna-be musicians, but Hines and Wesley have booked 16 shows in a month. “One night we made $5, another we made $26. We’re going in the right direction!” Hines says with a laugh. “Out of the 16 shows, the first show was probably to five people, the last show was to 300.”
Hines was named the “Best New Discovery” for the last half of 2010 by The 5 Spot in Nashville.
“By no means do I feel like anything is over, it’s just beginning,” said Hines.
The GRIP 
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