Music is my biggest inspiration. I've been a musician for most of my life and started with a steady diet of Hendrix and country blues like Robert Johnson and Son House. As I got older, my interest shifted to more modern music like Wilco, Ryan Adams, and several bands in that particular vein. I just love music and it frees my head and heart.
My native South is what shapes my writing and a lot of my thoughts and ideas come from my surroundings. It's a complicated but beautiful place that never leaves me and that I don't seem to be able to leave behind. The air in Savannah, Georgia inspires me. The smell of the ocean and the mysterious charge of history in Northeast Florida inspires me. The dirty rain and hedonistic spirit of New Orleans inspires me. The sandy roads and pastures of my childhood home in Southeastern Alabama is deeply inspirational. The experience of being here moves me like a living piece of art.
Why do I write? I'm not sure. I've done it since I was a child and I've always felt like there was something inside of me that had to get out every once in a while. I set it free through music and literature and art. I believe that pure honesty is the music of true expression.
My all time favorite book is The Sun Also Rises. I discovered it in my late teens, my very formative years, and it's simplicity has stuck with me ever since. Hemingway was my introduction into what I would call serious literature. Since then, I've gone through phases of everything from Joan Didion to Bob Dylan, just reading and listening and experiencing. I don't have favorite books as much as favorite periods where I get into a feeling and immerse myself in it.
No one has written on Jay Hutto's wall.
No one has written on Jay Hutto's wall.