ACN Friday Find: Leon Majcen Finds Inspiration From Classic Country Icons

One quick listen to Florida native Leon Majcen and you know he is an old soul. His haunting storytelling and smokey vocals are helping to usher in the new class of country singers in Nashville. Close your eyes, you may think its even a modern day Townes Van Zandt.

Majcen's impeccable range is also not to be ignored. His 2020 album "Back 'till I'm Gone" proves that his musical insight is wise beyond his years!

"I grew up on Florida’s gulf coast, and growing up in Florida certainly left me with lots of stories and fuel for songs. My dad introduced me to Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash as a young kid, and from there I kind of just took that and ran with it. I’ve been writing songs since I was a young kid, but it wasn’t until I stumbled upon songwriters like Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark and John Prine that I really felt a strong urge to pursue this as a career. I always got inspired by artists who could tell a story and make you feel like you were there when that story happened, or didn’t happen," Leon told ACN.

That is an obvious strength of Leon's, this humble ability to take a simple song, and make it a tad more complex. The cadence of his storytelling almost resembles the turning of a page in a good book, craving to know what comes next

The NYU grad found the big city has less to be desired. Plus "it is hard to find a fishing hole in New York," he joked. But maybe those big city lights and buildings blocked all those creative juices!

"I made my way back to Florida in March of 2020 and ended up releasing my most recent full-length record, ‘Back ‘till I’m Gone’ while I was working at a dock filleting fish during the pandemic back home. My time in NYC was the fuel for the songs on that record. I was in Florida until 6 months ago when I decided to make the move to Nashville and I’ve been enjoying the move since. I’ve got a new project in the works and I’m looking forward to having something new to share in 2023. I’ve been sitting on a lot of these songs for a while now so it definitely feels good to be getting them recorded and seeing them come together."

Leon is one of those artists than makes the art of country music seem easy. With his powerful storytelling, smokey vocals and undeniable charm, Leon Majcen has a long successful road ahead of him!