★ HIGH HOPES
Kashus Culpepper
Meet the singer-songwriter who’s shot from small cog in the navy to a big wheel in Nashville.
“Growing up in a small town shaped my music, my lyrics and my storytelling.”
CEDRICK JONES/PRESS
Overnight success stories are rarely what they seem, but the rise of Kashus Culpepper has been extraordinary. Until five years ago he hadn’t even picked up a guitar, and had only sung in church in his small home town of Alexander City, Alabama. His enlistment in the US Navy set him on a path to his first album, critical acclaim from some of the world’s biggest stars, and a new life in Nashville as the leading voice of what he terms “Southern sounds” – a gorgeously gritty blend of country, soul, blues, jazz and southern rock.