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Here is with the Murfreesboro-based, hard-hitting rock band, Revelry, with bandmates Zack Montgomery, Dane Lovvorn, and Cruze Blanke, where on November 17, they opened for Yelawolf and Shooter Jennings at the Ryman Auditorium. Here is playing from Detroit to South Georgia, Kansas City to Myrtle Beach, and places in between. Here is in the recording studio three and four nights a week, after playing on the road another three nights. Here is right smack down in the middle of their dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dreams often take a back seat, especially when life presses in. And pursuing your dream isn\u2019t always comfortable; things sometimes get tight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been lots of ups and downs, and there continues to be; I reckon there always will be. I\u2019ve had times where I sort of lost direction, personally, but I\u2019ll stay the course because what gets you through, always, is the music. It\u2019s the greatest therapy there ever was,\u201d said Howell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the outside, things look much easier than they really are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Howell said, \u201cPeople see the highlights of a lifestyle like this. There\u2019s a lot of in-between and hardship in this kind of thing. There\u2019s a lot of missed meals, late rents, and personal things you miss because you\u2019re so busy all the time. But when you get a phone call from one of your idols asking you to play with him at the Ryman, or when you\u2019re standing in one of the nicest studios in Nashville working on your music with your band, it makes all that worth it. We have a lot of good things going on now and coming up. We could have easily given up thousands of times, but I\u2019m glad we didn\u2019t.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Howell can appreciate the practical side of life, but he encourages dreamers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf anyone living in a small town feels they have half a chance to follow their dreams, please do yourself a favor and see it through to the best of your ability. You can go get that shift job and make a lot of money; there\u2019s nothing wrong with that. Some of the best people I know spent their whole life working in a factory. But the world needs you to follow your dream more than it needs you to work at that job. If we can inspire some kid from Fayetteville to go out and do their thing, that\u2019s a pretty solid legacy. Nothing\u2019s impossible if you want to go for it; it\u2019s as simple as that,\u201d said Howell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite moments when they couldn\u2019t sense progress, hindsight offers a clearer view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Things that seemed big at one time are now seen as the smaller steps that have propelled them further along the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Howell recalled, \u201cOur first out-of-town gig in Birmingham, I thought we\u2019d made it. It was the first time we had to get a hotel room for the show. That was a milestone. Now it\u2019s nothing for us to drive 8 to 10 hours away for a gig, but that was a big deal at the time. The first time you get in the studio is a big deal. The first time you see your name on the marquee or a flyer is a big deal. Then you turn around, and what you thought might be the biggest thing is now so far in the past. Now you have goals that get bigger and bigger. You always have that big goal, but there are goals in between that just keep getting bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meeting those goals was possible thanks to the support of family, friends, and people they\u2019ve come in contact with along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey gave us an edge and a sense of survival to help us make it in an environment like this,\u201d said Whorley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s what got us here,\u201d Howell agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah. Small-town dreams really do come true. GN<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" DREAMS CAN be hard things to follow. As you chase them, having a friend alongside you strengthens you for the journey. A group of like-minded friends becomes a brotherhood of believers, and the sky\u2019s the limit. Andrew (Redd) Howell and Jordan (J) Whorley were elementary school friends before discovering music. With Howell first learning banjo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":12455,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Andrew-Howell-683x1024.jpg\")