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Photo by Erin Nelson.
Trey Lewis, an up-and-coming country music artist and native of Vestavia Hills, performs at Iron City Birmingham on Dec. 18.
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Photo courtesy of Trey Bonner.
Trey Lewis performs at Iron City Birmingham on Dec. 18.
Before he headlined a concert in his hometown of Birmingham at Iron City, and before he shared a stage with the likes of Morgan Wallen and Jake Owen, Trey Lewis was sleeping on a mattress on the floor of a Nashville apartment, with a Rubbermaid container holding his clothes.
Lewis was trying to break through in country music where everyone goes to break through in country music. At 30 years old, he worried he was too old, as many of his friends were several years younger than him.
Still, Lewis wrote songs and worked hard and played about every gig he could find. He developed a small following and kept chasing his dream.
For Lewis, the grind and the struggle to break through was still a long way up from where he started.
‘I shot off like a rocket’
Lewis grew up in Vestavia Hills and would have graduated high school in 2006, but he dropped out as a result of a growing addiction to drugs and alcohol.
At 13 years old, Lewis began drinking alcohol and shortly thereafter began smoking marijuana. It was not long before those addictions led him to use harder drugs, and what he called a “progressive illness” led to him waking up at 19 years old with the shakes.
“I shot off like a rocket,” Lewis said of his drug use.
It wasn’t unusual to wake up in jail or in a hospital as a teenager, Lewis said.
On June 11, 2007, Lewis called his mom, asked for help and told her he was tired of being an addict. Fourteen years later, Lewis is 14 years sober.
After undergoing treatment, Lewis got a job at Tropical Smoothie in Hoover. One day, after saving up money, Lewis bought a guitar and taught himself to play. As he learned to play, he also sought to help others, including sponsoring a friend he met while working at Tropical Smoothie. That friend eventually took Lewis to Nashville and introduced him to one of his bandmates, who owned a studio in the city.
“Play me something, man,” the producer told him.
Lewis said he played one of his “terrible songs” he had written, and the producer was impressed with his voice. “Before I knew it, we became friends, and I was going up to Nashville and recording songs,” he said.
Offered a chance to record an album for free if he stayed in Nashville, Lewis headed north. While he got experience, he didn’t land a record deal, but he did meet his wife. However, when they came back to Birmingham, his wife relapsed. Lewis had to make the difficult decision to leave in order to protect his own sobriety.
“Sobriety always comes first, no matter what,” Lewis said. “I’m a lot of things today. I’m a musician; I’m a singer-songwriter; I’m a son that their parents are proud of. I’m a friend to people that need me to be a friend, but first and foremost, I’m a recovering alcoholic and addict, and without sobriety, I can’t be any of those things.”
It was a hard time in his life, but Lewis said it ended up being for the best. Shortly after that, he moved to Nashville for the second time.
Going viral
The year 2020 was supposed to be the best year yet for Lewis, he said. He had bookings and gigs and was hopeful it would be the
year he would finally break through in the music business.
Then COVID-19 happened. Thankfully, Lewis said he was able to get grants from music associations and was able to continue writing music.
But in 2020, Lewis did become somewhat of an overnight sensation, at least on social media, with the release of a raunchy, bar-room single about a woman being promiscuous in Dallas and other parts of the country.
One of the song’s writers, Matt McKinney, had heard Lewis sing a not-so-family-friendly version of Jason Aldean’s “Big Green Tractor” at Auburn’s SkyBar one night, and when he found him again in Nashville, he told him he and his buddies had been working on the “Dallas” song.
Lewis, who had been putting out music for eight years at that point, offered to record the song and put it out. It immediately went viral and reached the top spot on iTunes and Billboard Hot 100 charts.
While he may never have expected to go viral with a song whose lyrics might make many people blush, Lewis said it’s really meant to just be a “fun song,” and while he doesn’t shy away from it, there’s more to him than just one song.
“To be outlandish and crazy is definitely part of my personality, but it’s not all that’s there,” Lewis said.
Helping heal
During a recent trip to Nashville, Lewis took time to play some of his songs and share his story with those in addiction recovery, he said. Back at home, he’s played at “Tunes for Tripp,” a fundraiser held in memory of his high school friend, Tripp Norris, who died in 2012 following a drug overdose.
One of the songs Lewis wrote while sleeping on that mattress in Nashville was called, “Little Tired.” In it, he details his battle with mental health and dealing with the challenges of life. His testament to the importance of mental health, Lewis wanted to share it with his fans and wanted it to be well-received.
Lewis released the song in October 2021, and while he still receives some disapproving messages about the “Dallas” song, he receives an overwhelming amount of positive messages about his music, whether it’s
“Little Tired” helping people take a hold of their mental health, or another song helping a military member get through their deployment.
“It’s really cool that what I write and the things that I can say can affect people in a positive way,” Lewis said.
Knowing that some of his fans might be struggling with the same things he
did or fighting their own battles and drawing strength from his music is powerful, Lewis said.
“It means the world to me,” he said.
Music has always been part of the healing process for Lewis, too. While he still sees a therapist and participates in 12-step groups, there’s something special about writing and playing music.
“Music does something for me that I can’t get anywhere else, and I believe it does that for everyone,” Lewis said. “At six months sober, I bought a guitar. … When I figured out how to play a G chord, I was like, ‘Wow. This feels better than drugs.’”
When Lewis was 26 years old, his dad passed away. The night after his funeral, he played at Rogue Tavern for four hours.
“That was the best thing I could have done because I got on that stage, and I got to play my guitar and sing for four hours, and not cry, but release something from inside of me,” Lewis said.
Home sweet home
Growing up in Vestavia, Lewis said it seemed most kids had both parents, unlike Trey, who grew up with a single mom.
“I always felt like an underdog,” he said.
Lewis said although he’s gotten sober, some people refuse to accept that he’s really changed, but he’s OK with that.
“That’s just something that I’ve learned and I’ve had to come to accept, and I’ve come to complete peace with that,” Lewis said.
Growing up in Vestavia was difficult at times, Lewis said, but he added he couldn’t say enough about all of the teachers that tried to help him.
“I was hell on wheels,” Lewis said. “About three years sober, I went back to the high school and made amends to all my teachers.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Lewis said. “I’m proud of where I grew up.”
Despite hating Birmingham in his earlier years, Lewis has come around, even writing a song called “Hate this Town,” which asks how he could have ever hated his hometown. And while he’s played all over the country, there’s no place like home, he said.
“There was nothing better than coming to Zydeco right down here in Birmingham and playing for a sold-out crowd, and then playing at Avondale and seeing … friends and family in the crowd,” Lewis said.
Living the dream
Years after he was playing at every Mexican restaurant and Moe’s BBQ in the Birmingham area, Lewis is now being paid by Sony Music Publishing to write and publish songs. In addition to releasing “Little Tired” in October, Lewis has also published, among other songs, the singles “Single Again” and “Whole Lotta Nothin,” and the EP, “Shut the Door,” featuring five songs, released in 2021.
From December 2020 through December 2021, Lewis said he and his band have played 120 shows. They were probably one of the first bands to come back and tour after the COVID-19 pandemic began to lessen.
“It’s been crazy, man,” Lewis said. “There’s a demand for it.”
Now, instead of covering other country artists’ hits, Lewis has fans singing his songs back to him.
“For years and years and years of playing other people’s music for a living and then going to only playing for an hour and a half, and playing my original music and hearing people sing those songs back to me, it’s a dream come true,” Lewis said.
Fans will often ask why there aren’t “VIP” meet and greets with Lewis, he said. And the answer is simple: he does that for every fan at his show. After playing his set, Lewis will head out to the merchandise table and sign autographs and take pictures.
“If you spent your hard-earned money on a ticket to come see me play, then I can spend an extra hour and a half taking time to shake your hand,” Lewis said. “It’s been fun really getting to know my fans. It helps me with everything, with songwriting, what kind of people am I talking to? It’s been really awesome.”
Lewis began releasing one song a week beginning Jan. 14 and plans to continue putting out music and bringing in new fans.
“I’m living the dream,” Lewis said. “I’m getting to do what I feel like God put me on this earth to do.”
Fourteen years after beginning his journey to sobriety and then beginning his journey into country music, Lewis is now headlining concerts, as he did in Birmingham at Iron City on Dec. 18. It’s a far cry from the teenager who couldn’t even dream about his own future while struggling with a drug and alcohol addiction.
“I remember my sponsor asked me, ‘What are your hopes and dreams?’” Lewis said. “I was a 19-year-old kid that was addicted to drugs and alcohol; I didn’t know. He said, ‘That’s the problem; we’ve got to get you dreaming and hoping again. … Today, I have hope, and I get to share that with others.”
