2022 Mississippi Songwriter of the Year: Zechariah Lloyd
Born to a drummer and pianist in Vicksburg, MS, he woke up every morning to his mother playing on her baby grand. He began playing drums at age 11 on his father's drum set - cutting his teeth on Zeppelin & Skynyrd records he borrowed from his uncle and playing with the church band. \nAfter high school he ended up in Alaska for work, picking up the guitar, and crafting his songwriting skills. He showed back up in Mississippi a year later with long hair and a song to sing. \nin 2015, Zechariah Lloyd won the Vicksburg Blues Challenge and went on to represent the Vicksburg Blues Society in Memphis for the 2015 International Blues Challenge, where he made it as a finalist in the solo/duo division.\nDown to the River, his first single recorded with Plaid Dog Recordings (Boston, MA) was self-released in 2019 and was used to help crowdfund the full EP, titled \u201cHeart in a Notebook.\u201d in 2020, Down to the River won 1st place Blues for both the Unsigned Only Competition AND the International Songwriting Competition. It placed 2nd in Blues for the 2021 International Songwriting Competition. \nAfter delays attributed to the global pandemic, Zechariah & Plaid Dog Recordings were able to finish the EP in February of 2022. The EP, \u201cHeart in a Notebook\u201d, will release to all public platforms July 14th, 2022. The single, \u201cHeart in a Notebook\u201d releases July 1st. \nWhile promoting the release of his current EP, Zechariah Lloyd has been and continues to work on his full-length album with producer, Billy Smiley, at The Sound Kitchen studios in Franklin, TN. We expect to hear a single from this project sometime in the Fall of 2022.