By Kalena Reynolds | Staff Writer
Musician and Shady Dale, Ga., junior Ethan Lynch didn’t grow up in a musical family. Instead, he spent his childhood on his family’s multi-generational cattle farm, working alongside his two brothers from an early age.
In fourth grade, Lynch began taking guitar lessons but didn’t take them seriously until he started leading worship in high school. At the same time, Lynch picked up singing despite his brothers telling him he was pretty bad.
Aside from his brothers’ slack, Lynch continued developing his musicianship and was often inspired by the music played on the country radio station in Georgia.
“It kind of took a while for me to develop my own taste,” Lynch said. “But honestly, it was pretty much always country, except I had always loved the older stuff growing up — The Temptations and stuff like that — which was always fun, but I’d say mainly just the 2000s country.”
While Lynch experimented further with his music career as he got older, he played his first acoustic show in Athens, Ga., close to the University of Georgia, during his last semester of high school.
“I did two acoustic gigs, and then went from there,” Lynch said. “I’d do one occasionally for the rest of senior year, and then through that summer, I did a few. And then that was the start of it.”
Once at college, Lynch began playing shows and writing whenever his schedule allowed. In 2024, he released a self-titled EP on every major streaming platform that included three songs: “What I Would Have Said,” “Mr. Padrino” and “Mr. Guitar Man.”
“It’s kind of a weird process,” Lynch said. “I always kind of wanted to write music, and I saw some of my buddies do it [who] also played some shows and pursued music when I was starting out. And so it took me a while, but I started writing, probably in junior, senior [year] high school.”
Lynch wrote the last track on the EP, “Mr. Guitar Man,” after one of his live shows. He was inspired by the idea of meeting a romantic interest after a gig.
“I enjoy just trying to tell a story with it … I think as I’ve grown or gotten older, it’s kind of like practicing, so the more you do it, the better you become, the easier some songs come,” Lynch said. “A lot of times, for me, I’ll just have an idea, and I’ll write some stuff out, and then put music to it, and then sometimes it’ll come from the music or from the guitar.”
While Lynch has continued to write more in college and play shows, he recently performed at Flatbed Fest, a music festival hosted on his family’s farm. Beaumont junior Luke Garza, Lynch’s bassist, said that performing at the fest, which involves two flatbed trailers as the stage, was a highly unique experience.
“You’re just there playing with your band on top of these trailers, and then it’s just got a bunch of people out sitting like lawn chairs all around,” Lynch said.
Garza and Lynch met playing open mic nights at Common Grounds, and since then, the pair has played multiple shows together.
“I was like, ‘I play bass and guitar,'” Garza said. “He’s like, ‘Oh, we should totally jam sometime.’ And that was freshman year.”
During their time playing together, Garza and Luke said they have grown in their live performance capabilities and musicianship.
“Ethan is really awesome to work with — one of my favorite band leaders that I’ve played with, for sure,” Garza said. “He’s a super humble guy, so it’s been a ton of fun.”
Even though Lynch has a strong support system behind him, he said that releasing songs and playing shows while also being a student has been a learned skill that has forced him to hone his time management skills.
“It can create stress, obviously, but it’s always worth it,” Lynch said. “I think I’ve seen myself care about music a little more quite a few times, especially this semester, and then my grades show it … but it is a balance, and so it’s been a good learning thing.”
Lynch is continuing to work on new music and plans to release songs in the future. He will also resume live performances with his band once the Fall semester starts again.
“There’s a song I wrote this past semester,” Lynch said. “I guess I finished it over Christmas break, but it’s called ‘At All,’ and I would love to record it in the next few months and release it at some point.”
