COVER STORY

'DON'T FORGET YOUR NAME'

Q&A: JIMMIE ALLEN The CMA New Artist of the Year opens up about past housing insecurity

BY HANNAH HERNER

Jimmie Allen was nominated for a Grammy in the Best New Artist category this year, but he’s really not new. He moved to Nashville from his home of Delaware in 2007 for the express purpose of pursuing a career in music. Lately, Allen has had a lot of irons in the fire. In 2021 alone, he released an album, won CMA new artist of the year, competed on Dancing with The Stars, wrote a children’s book, debuted as the executive music producer for Netflix show Titletown High, had a track featured on Elton John’s new album, hosted a radio show, sang in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and toured with Brad Paisley. Next, he’ll kick off his first headlining tour.

The path to recognition hasn’t been smooth for Allen, however. He sat down with The Contributor to talk about the music world, his struggle with homelessness and how he likes to give back.

You moved to Nashville to pursue music in 2007, and I know it wasn’t an easy road once you moved here. Can you tell me about some of your experiences without stable housing?

When I first moved here I lived in his trailer with no electric for a while. I lived in my car for a little bit. All to just try to do what I could to just stay in Nashville until things got going. Because I realized this is where I need to be.

What were some of the artists that you heard growing up that stuck with you as you moved into your own music career?

You had everybody from Brooks & Dunn, to Matchbox Twenty, to U2 to Prince. My dad was a huge Aaron Tippin fan, I fell in love with his music. Alan Jackson, Boyz II Men, this gospel singer named Andraé Crouch. I grew up with some music that really stuck with me musically, and kind of helped form the blend of my sound.

You've had a lot of collaborations and awards in the music world. Is there something that you're still trying to achieve in music?

Of course — that's why you see artists that never really walk away from it. You see guys like Willie Nelson or guys like Charlie Pride who play shows and tour until they die. With musicians, in order to become successful in this business, you have to have a hustle, always on the go, grind it out mentality. And once you develop that mentality, it's impossible to turn it off. It's impossible. That's why we see so many athletes do the same thing where they stay in the NBA or play football long after they should retire — after their skills, you know, they're a little older, so they're not on the same level as everybody else. But it's like, that's your life.

I believe out of all the careers, being in entertainment takes the most sacrifice, like the most hardships on your relationships, your friendships, your marriages. When you develop that hunger and that drive and start setting goals, it's kind of hard to turn it off. For me, there's always gonna be something I'm going to want to achieve. That’s another reason why a lot of musicians don't do New Year's resolutions because every day of the year, there's something we're trying to improve.

Are there more things outside of the music world that you want to do?

My dream as a kid was to be an entertainer, not just a musician. Whether it's acting side, whether it's film, television, scripted, unscripted, hosting. I had a radio show last year, and earlier this year. I want to do musical theater, have a book. I want to work to get some sort of shoe collaboration, have my own sneaker, my own boot. There's a long list of things I want to do.

I know you got to tour with Brad Paisley and he's really involved with the organization he started in Nashville, The Store. How do you like to give back to the community?

My own community, in Delaware, I go home every Christmas and I play a free show — we sell tickets, but I don't get paid, and we take all the money and give it to a local school. And that's how I give back in Delaware.

In Nashville, I see a lot of people selling The Contributor on the street so what I typically do is, I've bought it from them, overpaid, give them like $10 or $20. I appreciate the people I've seen selling these papers because you know, people might look down on them. But that's a job. They're out there selling papers on the side of the road. First of all, it takes someone who's willing to humble themselves. A lot of people are too prideful to do that. So I respect the hell out of them. There's this one guy, we don't know each other's names, but we call each other king. He's a Black guy, he's right there on the corner of 16th, on Music Row.

I bet that’s Shawn!

Yeah, I've been seeing him every day for like a year, two years. I stop by and say what's up to him, or even if I can't stop I'll honk and he'll yell out, "king!" That's my guy right there. I respect the hell out of him.

What would you say to a person who is in the same situation that you once were in, where you didn't have a stable place to stay?

I would say keep going. And remember that forever isn't right now. It's just a moment. And with each moment in life, we all can be learning. The best thing to do is no matter how hard the situation is, try to find time in those moments where you can learn from it. What helped when I was in my car and I didn't have money for food or nothing, this guy gave me a dollar and when he gave me a dollar he asked for my name. The crazy thing is people forget there's power in your name. He said, "What's your name?" "Jimmie," "What's your last name?" "Allen," "Say it again." "Jimmie Allen." It made me remember that family history that I'm proud of and that restored some sense of pride and confidence in myself just from someone having me say my name. So I tell people all the time, say your name to yourself.

Sounds like people interacting and just talking to you at that time helped. But was there something else, another organization or something you got plugged into that helped you be able to climb out of where you were?

I used to go on Monday nights, they used to do it under this bridge, it's called People Loving Nashville. I'd do that a lot. That's an organization that helped me. They do it out of Brentwood Baptist but it's called Kairos, on Tuesday nights. When I was in my 20s I would go there.

Just finding some sense of community, that's the biggest thing. Having some sense of community and realizing you're not on your own, man, that can do a lot. Because once your mindset is right about, this is where I'm at, this is where I want to go. Once you get your mind locked in, everything else kind of just falls in place where you're going to do whatever it takes to get to where you want to be.

Is there anything else you want to add?

Just tell everyone love yourself, love everybody around you, and don’t forget your name.