We had the good fortune of connecting with Collin Keller and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Collin, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I was born and raised in the beautiful ski town of Vail, CO. I definitely took the views growing up in a place like that for granted. Being surrounded by so much natural beauty from season to season, it was natural that my town had fantastic programs and opportunities for skiing and other outdoor action sports, but it lacked any true music program.
The city, however, would bring class acts to our various venues year-round, which only fueled my inspiration to pursue the arts, but every school I attended had a lackluster, understaffed, and under-budgeted music program (which is unfortunately all too common in today’s world).
One year, in particular, we were between music directors for our concert band and choirs, and the substitutes provided were not trained in music education. So I lead the music department in its concert series.

Growing up in a space like this, I developed a mindset to make anything work, even if it’s on my own.

This is reflected in my decision to skip the labels and be a fully independent artist.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
In the past, I’ve been involved in several collaborative, original projects ranging from rock power trios, to fully developed pop acts. I have written for artists, independent and under major labels, but within all of that amazing music created (and lessons learned), there are a few songs that I couldn’t let go of, that I truly felt needed to come from me. My voice.
They are the personal stories of my life.
I decided to relaunch my solo artist project, a road I hadn’t taken since my high school days, with my new single “Stuck”
Please go stream it and blast it from your car windows on a hot summer night.

Within this internal isolation, I found a muse by fully producing my music.
Whenever I am working on a song, I completely engulf myself within it. Having the opportunity to express the story and feeling in every minor detail of the song makes me that much more connected to it; becoming an extension of the soul.

My goal is to truly encapsulate a feeling with all of its subtle complexities. Just like life, love, and the pursuit of true happiness.
My music is a ship in a bottle.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well first I’d have to convince myself to drive anywhere through the LA traffic… they better be a really great friend.

Jokes aside, I’d want to have breakfast and tea outside in my garden. That is my true happy place.
I would then show them my favorite hiking spot nearby (with a few secret trails I’d take them on).
That would for sure work up an appetite, so we would drive down to Santa Monica for Pono Burger. I would sell a kidney for their aioli.
My friend would be like “oh hey! let’s go to the beach, we are right here” in which case I’d say hell no and we’d make a trip south to La Jolla for some beach time.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Growing up, music was all I had, and I wouldn’t have been able to pursue that without the support and love of my parents. They both work in the medical field, so having a son who wanted to pursue the harsh, risky, and competitive nature of the arts must have been an adjustment. But I am so thankful to have them back up my decisions. So much so, that they wanted to be more involved and specialized in performing arts medicine to participate in my aspirations.
Love you Mom and Dad!

Website: https://www.thecollinkeller.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecollinkeller/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPe0zzBRsMUZTN6QzgLlX6Q

Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thecollinkeller

Image Credits
Elysabeth Cianci, Collin Idzikowski, Jay Hemphill, Riccardo Gresino

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