Back home in Otsego, the heartland rocker puts Music City’s ‘weird’ vibe behind him to create new music, with an upcoming show at Flint’s Machine Shop. Plus, we debut fresh tracks from other Michigan artists.
Glad to Be Back Home in Michigan: Myron Elkins (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
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Landing a record deal, recording with a Grammy Award-winning producer and moving to Nashville as a young, emerging artist isn’t necessarily all it’s cracked up to be.
For Otsego native Myron Elkins, the highs of buzzworthy notoriety that led to an Elektra Records imprint release of “Factories, Farms & Amphetamines” in 2023 was quickly followed by a “wild ride” of uncertainty, getting dropped by the label and having no one returning his calls anymore.
“Everything just happened so fast,” he told Local Spins, noting that things fell apart personally and professionally starting in 2024. “That whole thing just jarred me so badly.”
So, he moved back home to Allegan County where his songwriting has always thrived amid more comfortable surroundings.
Reconnecting With Michigan’s Music Scene: Elkins on stage in Grand Rapids. (Photo/Benjamin Howell)
“Everything got a lot brighter for me as soon as I left (Nashville). I guess the reason why I left was just there was nothing there for me anymore,” Elkins said. “I just didn’t really see a reason to be down there. At that time, we weren’t playing a ton of shows and I think everything kind of dissipated.”
Elkins, who first broke onto the scene in Michigan as a teenage country singer with a vintage vibe and was named Local Spins’ 2023 Emerging Artist of the Year, said he also didn’t fit in with Nashville’s inclination toward co-writing with other musicians.
“I never co-write and that’s why a lot of people moved there,” the Americana and heartland rock-leaning artist said. “That stuff is cool and I respect it. It’s just … I’m a stylist when it comes to writing, so that stuff never appealed to me.
“It’s a lot easier to write up here (in Michigan). I was down there and I just felt like every time I turned around, I’d get mad at something. Everybody down there is just living in this weird world. And when you come back up here, I see my old friends who have started families now and have these common-man mentalities. It’s so refreshing to be back around that.
“It’s a lot easier to write up here for me because it’s more common-man stuff. It’s just people are aware of what it’s like to live a little more realistically.”
And realistically, Elkins is back to where he started — but with lots of life lessons under his belt, a savvier hard-knocks knowledge of the music industry’s foibles and a newfound appreciation of Michigan musicians who are “doing it for the right reasons.”
CEMENTING CONNECTIONS WITH OTHER MICHIGAN MUSICIANS
Some of those musicians include members of Flint’s Southern rock and country outfit Billy Gunther & The Midwest Riders, with a couple of the Midwest Riders (Gunther on guitar and Rick Ford on bass) now performing in Elkins’ band along with his original bandmates, drummer Ricky LaDuke and guitarist Avry Whitaker.
The two bands – along with the Bleu Otis Band – have teamed up for a special show at The Machine Shop in Flint on Dec. 20. Tickets for the 18-and-older show are $15 in advance and available online here.
“We’re just trying to really get it promoted, get some people to come out, appreciate some good Michigan music, and it’s going to hit all sorts of genres,” Elkins reasoned. “I think that’s going to be fun, too.”
The Independently Released Album: ‘Nostalgia for Sale’
The singer-songwriter’s tumultuous experience in Nashville – and disenchantment with the politics involved in the music business – led him to Memphis where he recorded and independently released the soulfully drenched 2025 studio album, “Nostalgia for Sale,” without fanfare and without the benefit of a publicity machine.
He said he’d long been obsessed with music emanating from Memphis and was encouraged by Lucero keyboardist Rick Steff to record the album there.
“By that time, a lot of things had fallen apart just personally and professionally, and I was in the perfect mindset to make a record, I guess,” Elkins recalled. “I got that thing done and instantly wanted to show my baby off to people and found out really quickly, nobody cared at all. So instantly I went into independent mode and just released it.
“So that was my first real independent thing I’m super proud of and I got to do it in Memphis, Tenn., which to me, just means a lot.”
Now, Elkins is concentrating on a new batch of music with hopes for releasing it next year and continuing to re-establish his presence in his home state.
“We’re just rooting on a song. I’ve really put my head down,” he said, adding that some of his inspiration has come from artists such as Tom Petty. “We’ve lost a lot of connections here (in Michigan) just from being gone. I was riding some sort of weird house-of-cards wave for so long, by the time I got back, everybody’s like, ‘What are you doing back here?’”
For this week’s edition of the Local Spins Michigan Music Showcase, Elkins spotlighted the tracks “Red Ball” and “Good News” from the independently released, “Nostalgia for Sale.”
The show also features new music from August, Sunny Bleu & The Moons, the aforementioned Billy Gunther & The Midwest Riders, N8ure, The Accidentals, Von Kaiser, Low Phase and Quinlan Mauer.
The Michigan Music Showcase airs at 11 a.m. Fridays and 5 p.m. Sundays on WYCE (88.1 FM) and online at wyce.org, and on Interlochen Public Radio at 7 p.m. Saturdays.
PODCAST: Local Spins Michigan Music Showcase (12/5/25)
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