By Stephen Baldwin, RealWV
January 31, 2023
Caden Glover is blazing his own trail on the music scene. Or as he puts it, “I’m just going where the music takes me.”
After graduating from James Monroe High School in 2022, Glover planned to move to Nashville. “That went in my favor when it ended up not working out,” he shares. “I’ve grown so much staying here in West Virginia with new opportunities that have come my way.”
Glover auditioned for American Idol last year. The show airs this February. Until then, he cannot discuss it further. But all of southern West Virginia will surely be watching Glover and local singers Andre Williams & Kamron Lawson (who also auditioned and will be profiled here soon) on the big stage!
In the meantime, Glover spends every waking minute playing music at local venues. “That’s my main source of income,” he explains. “I play all the time, and do a little bit of everything.”
“A little bit of everything” is putting it diplomatically. Glover is a quadruple-threat musically. He sings. He plays guitar and banjo. He writes his own songs. He records his own music. And he does it all with a pace and maturity beyond his years. He’s a young man with an old soul.
“It started with the banjo,” he says. “People told me I picked it up pretty fast, and I’ve just kept going.”
Good luck trying to categorize his music, though. His influences run the gamut from traditional bluegrass to southern rock.
“At first, I learned bluegrass, and I was knee deep in Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatts, the Osborne brothers, everything bluegrass. From there I morphed into some country like Keith Whitley. That’s when I started playing guitar. Then I got into flat-picking guitar like Doc Watson. Then I went into classic and southern rock. Lynyrd Skynyrd is my fav band. That’s my jam.”
Being hard to categorize is just the way Glover likes it. He says you’ve just got to listen to it and decide for yourself what it is. “Sometimes it sounds like folk or bluegrass or country. If you like music, check it out.”
If you listen to his EP entitled “The Cabin Session”, you’ll hear him sing about everything from ramps, to death, to being in love. And as you hear the crickets chirping in the background, you’ll be transported to a summer night in Monroe County, which is Glover’s idea of heaven.
“With me and music,” he says, “There will be a day I’ve got to leave (West Virginia). No matter where I go, though, I hope to end up living back in Union. That’s my home, and always will be.”
For more information, visit www.CadenGlover.com. His music is available on iTunes.
