Photographs courtesy Luke Borchelt
We had the opportunity to sit down with Luke Borchelt, Maryland-born and Annapolis area-local, who is quickly making a name for himself in the country music scene. After the release of his debut album, Water Town, we talked about the journey of creating the record, what it’s like to pursue a rising career while staying rooted in his hometown, and how the Annapolis community has helped shape both the artist and the person he is today.
Luke, you just released Water Town. Tell us about your influences growing up in the area near the water and how that developed into ideas and songs for this album. I think growing up on the water is everything. Most of these songs are honestly about missing Maryland. I lived in New York for six years, and I felt like I tried to run away from where I grew up. When I picked up the guitar, I ended up writing all these songs that were really about missing growing up on the water—missing crabbing and the culture. That led me to the decision to come back home and be based here.
Photographs courtesy Luke Borchelt
Can you share more about this album and what it means to you to see it come together? Who joins you/performs on the album and where was it recorded? This is my first major-label album, which is really cool for someone who just talks about Maryland, to be signed to Atlantic Records and with MDDN. Obviously, Benji and Joel Madden (Founders of MDDN and members of the Good Charlotte rock band) are from Maryland, so being signed to them is cool. I work with all people from Maryland. It’s produced by Warren Russell, who’s an Anne Arundel County native. We recorded at GDA Productions in Millersville, and he mixed and mastered the record. If I write with anyone, it’s usually people from Maryland. That part feels cool, that we get a national stage for something that’s made locally.
Your star is rising and rising fast. Can you share how this past year has felt for you? I think I just get recognized at the gas station a little more. People ask me if I’m the Ocean City guy. But it just feels good. I played Merriweather [Post Pavilion], which is somewhere we all grew up going to see concerts. That’s where I saw my first concert. Playing Country Calling—obviously, it’s the biggest festival in Maryland…it’s just surreal.
You’ve begun to play shows and tour outside of the Annapolis area, beyond Maryland, and even the Mid-Atlantic. What has this experience been like for you; to play far away from home? I think it’s cool that people relate to my songs and want me to play Maryland songs across the country. If I play “Maryland Life” or “Ocean City” and there are people in Seattle singing along, it’s just cool to realize that growing up in a water town is an experience that relates to places all over. Whether it’s a lake or the Pacific Ocean, people get it.
Photographs courtesy Luke Borchelt
Photographs courtesy Luke Borchelt
Being a country artist, do you aspire and/or see yourself relocating to “Music City” Nashville? Or another major city to cut your teeth so to speak? Is that a goal or not and why? I’m in Maryland forever. Born here, live here, die here. I have no desire to leave. I think the beauty of the internet is that there are so many great artists; Good Charlotte, Brothers Osborne, and, even in the country space, Jackson Dean, who paved the way for me to be able to do what I do. Now, thanks to the internet and these other artists paving the way, I feel like I don’t have to move to Nashville. I can go there for work, but I want to stay around what inspires me, which is Maryland.
What does the Annapolis music community mean to you? How have you been received in home music circles? I could talk for a long time about this. When I first came back, I was asking if I could play anywhere. I had just learned how to play guitar. All I wanted was a place to play. I played at HERE…a pop-up shop. My first gigs were there and at 49 West Coffeehouse on West Street.
To be embraced by the Annapolis scene is everything to me for two reasons. One, my managers, Benji and Joel Madden, came through that same scene. Good Charlotte came up in Annapolis, and it feels cool that they care and reach back, pick people up from our area, and bring them forward.
The other reason is that my uncle [Jim Borchelt] started Eastport a Rockin’, funny enough. My uncle had a coffee shop called Cafe Gurus in Eastport, and he started and founded the first Eastport a Rockin’. Good Charlotte played it. I feel like it’s also full circle that my uncle and my family were involved in the Annapolis music scene, and now I’ve gotten to be a next wave of it.
Learn more about Luke Borchelt, his music, and tour dates at lukeborchelt.com.
