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Luke Winslow-King is a charismatic and engaging Americana guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer, hailing from Cadillac, Michigan, and currently residing in Spain. His ninth album, <\/span>Coast of Light<\/span><\/i>, a musically expansive and brilliant collection of songs for him that should broaden his audience, will be released on March 27th. Recently, Luke spoke with us about his musical background, influences, new album, and future plans. The resultant conversation, edited for length and clarity, is below.<\/span><\/p>\n Americana Highways: Who do you consider to be your biggest musical influences and why?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Luke Winslow-King: Well, you know, I would go back to my father just being the biggest influence in my childhood by giving me an example of how therapeutic and enjoyable music can be. That was my first inspiration because when my dad got to unwind, he chose music as his vehicle to take him there, you know, so that was like my first influence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As far as an individual musician or songwriter, I would say I\u2019ve been really inspired by Bob Dylan\u2019s work throughout my life.\u00a0<\/span>Through his different phases and different albums, he\u2019s just always kind of circled back and found new ways to inspire me. Outside of that, instrumentally speaking, I would say I\u2019ve been really inspired by the work of Ry Cooder as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n AH<\/strong>: Can you recall a particular moment when you wanted to be a songwriter, or you wanted to spend your life making music?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n LWK: I started playing in bands as a young kid, just kind of like kids in the band room after school, getting together and jamming. I think I was probably 12 years old when I put my first band together, and I just wanted to play electric guitar. And there just came a moment where nobody knew the lyrics, and I had kind of a knack for memorizing lyrics. I listened to a lot of music, trying to learn guitar parts by listening to the records over and over again. So, I just kind of got myself into a position where I was the guy who knew the words, and I could at least carry a tune. That kind of put me in a spot where, in the band, I was singing three or four songs a night. And then I turned 15 and started another band, and everyone just kind of looked at me like I could lead the band. As I got older, I got more and more comfortable in that position. As a band, we wanted to record ourselves playing, so we realized we needed to get some songs together. I went home and started writing lyrics to the music I was playing on my electric guitar. I always just wanted to play guitar for a living. I\u2019ve had to learn to do a lot of things to support my guitar habit, and singing and writing are two of them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n AH: How would you currently describe your songwriting and\/or creative process? How do songs come to you?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n LWK: Well, I made a decision a long time ago not to force the songs. I try to create an environment where they can come naturally, and I just build a life around being a writer rather than someone who tries to force themselves to write. I would never go on a writing retreat because my whole life is a writing retreat; I don\u2019t need to retreat from life to write. Just turn your life into a writing retreat, and then you\u2019ll always be ready to write.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n AH: How did a young singer-songwriter from Cadillac, Michigan, eventually end up living in Spain? And how would you relate that to your musical journey? Or do you consider that just a natural part of your musical journey?<\/strong><\/p>\n LWK: My life is a musical journey. I\u2019ve been chasing the songs and chasing the music opportunities to be on stage my whole life. I left home at 17 to study jazz and then decided it wasn\u2019t for me. I dropped out of school and hit the road with a bunch of folk musicians playing Woody Guthrie songs, and I eventually found myself in New Orleans.<\/span><\/p>\n I started studying classical music because I wanted to hang around in that bustling city, and I also learned a bunch of ragtime and traditional jazz, as well as digging deeper into the Delta blues. While all this was going on, I also started playing on the street in all the clubs in New Orleans. It got pretty damn hot in the summertime there, so I decided to go over to Europe to play on their streets during the summer.<\/span><\/p>\n Eventually, I started making it over to Europe every summer because that\u2019s where the best busking spots were \u2013 in Amsterdam, in Paris, and in Rome, especially. That\u2019s basically how I first started coming over here to Europe. I started playing a few better gigs and getting agents to represent my band and me. Over time, I started bringing bands from the US to tour with me here. And then of course, I met my wife at a festival in 2016, and we\u2019ve been married for going on three years now.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n AH: What is your favorite thing about playing in front of a live audience?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n LWK: I guess I\u2019m really not into the element of being in the spotlight or being a cheerleader. But I really do like that feeling of everyone kind of agreeing or everyone kind of revolving around one thought or song at the same time. It\u2019s kind of like you become one organism as you sing in tune together. Everyone\u2019s on the same page for a precious few moments.<\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s what my songwriting has really always been about. It\u2019s like trying to find something universal that people can relate to, and that seems to ring truest when it\u2019s in front of an audience, when everyone\u2019s into it. My favorite moment on stage is when you kind of feel yourself disappear as an artist and do everything effortlessly. The band is running on just oxygen or fumes or whatever it is, and no one\u2019s thinking, and it\u2019s just like the music in the moment is just happening to you. It\u2019s almost like you\u2019re watching a movie or you\u2019re in a dream. It just takes over, and that to me is a blissful place that I\u2019ve been chasing for a long time.<\/span><\/p>\n AH: What was the inspiration for your new album coming out on March 27th, titled Coast of Light<\/i>t?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n LWK: I kind of look at the new album as a collection of souvenirs. They\u2019re all like little time capsules, a representation of a time and place. The main song, \u201d Coast of Light,\u201d which is also the title track of the album, I came up with on a trip to a place called the Costa de la Luz, which translates literally as \u201cthe coast of light.\u201d It is in Andalusia near the town of Cadiz. My wife and I went to visit there, and we just became completely enamored with it. It is just an incredible and beautiful place.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It reminded me a lot of the vibes I really loved about New Orleans when I first discovered it. There are palm trees in front of a cathedral in this, like, fortress town that\u2019s kind of like floating out in the water. And then, right there, are these beautiful beaches along the coast, with ancient ruins rising from the sand. It\u2019s really kind of almost like a psychedelic place, really. My wife and I just had a ball down there, and then the song kind of came to me on the way home, or when I got home, as I was thinking about the trip. So the song \u201cCoast of Light\u201d is like unpacking the trip. It\u2019s like remembering the trip I had and how my wife and I had such a good time. It was sweeter than the chamomile wine we were drinking<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m always trying to make records, and I\u2019m always trying to write songs. So I kind of took that spirit from that song and made it the main centerpiece of a collection of souvenirs, and I placed the other souvenirs or songs around it. That\u2019s kind of how I tried to treat each song on the record and the album as a whole. And I\u2019ve also been inspired by Spanish art, culture, and the Spanish way of life.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m starting to dig into Picasso and Dal\u00ed, and just kind of like why they created the art they did. I\u2019m looking at what inspired their creations and what it really means. I\u2019m especially starting to see Dali\u2019s art in this manner. I\u2019m like, okay, there\u2019s this collection of seven different things with this background in this painting, and none of it makes any sense, but it\u2019s about something, in the sense that it means something. It takes you to a place, to a feeling, and makes you look within yourself. It helps you understand why it makes you feel the way you do.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So I guess with all of my songs. including the ones on the new album, I\u2019m always kind of chasing that more transcendental, ethereal ghost that inspires, and I try to put it out there for my listeners to explore within themselves.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Luke](\"https:\/\/americanahighways.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Luke-Winslow-King-300x300.jpg?crop=1\")
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