Named after an alternative country artist and raised in a rural corner of New Hampshire, Lyle Hutchins always knew he wanted to be a musician. His songs, inspired by artists like Bon Iver, Ruston Kelly and Snail Mail, offer a unique blend of cathartic Alternative Rock, Americana, and Folktronica that simultaneously tugs on your heartstrings and forces you to crack a wry smile.

But the young musician wasn’t always sure he could answer his calling: it was only when he wrote and recorded his first song for an eighth grade project that he suddenly realized that not only was it possible, but possibly the most fun he’d ever had. Throughout his high school years, Hutchins struggled within a high pressure environment, resulting in recurring migraines and intense anxiety, as well as the isolation typical of the winter months in a small New England town. Faced with a barrage of personal tragedy during the onset of the pandemic, Hutchins leaned on music to keep himself sane, helping him become the powerfully empathetic singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist he is today.

Over the years, Lyle has gone on to study Popular and Commercial Music at Loyola University New Orleans, playing all over the city in clubs and bars including Tipitinas, Carrollton Station, and French Quarter Festival. He travelled to Nashville where he was sponsored to attend Americana Fest 2023 (during which Hutchins got the chance to meet his namesake, Lyle Lovett.) More recently, he has performed with Noah Kahan’s bassist and virtuoso session musician Alex Bachari, spent his time networking with everyone from managers to sound engineers, and put as much of his remaining energy into perfecting his craft as possible.

With the end of his time at college in New Orleans, Lyle released his debut album Flatlander, a fourteen-song narrative which explores the beauty and danger of nostalgia, homesickness and heartbreak, underscored by the trials and tribulations of pursuing an often misunderstood career in music. The title, being a reference to the derogatory New England phrase referring to those from less mountainous locales, roots the album in the 21-year-old’s childhood experience in the region. Though its songs range in tempos, styles and moods, one theme glues the record together: that sometimes, despite all our suffering, we find our strongest light in the deepest darkness.