A little bit country
Last year was a big year for Justin Fabus. He’s hoping this year will be even bigger.
The country western artist who was raised in Dormont signed a three-year record deal with Mi5/Universal Music Group in September 2016. It’s been a hold on to your hat ride since.
He’s had a single on Digital Radio Tracker chart sandwiched between Taylor Swift and Dan & Shay, headlined his first mini tour, played at the CMA Fest in Nashville, became a CMA member and had an album debut at No. 3 on the iHOP iTunes new country releases chart.
He will bring his high-energy performance to the Hard Rock Café March 25 for the first time as the headliner. His smooth voice and sometimes soulful lyrics combined with driving guitars satisfies both country and rock lovers. Opening for him is Megan Straz, 17, an edgy R&B artist from Peters Township who is laying the groundwork for her own singing career.
It’s the stuff dreams are made of for a kid who taught himself the guitar as a teen and bypassed college to pursue his dream. “I actually got kicked out of chorus in middle school. I wasn’t the straightest arrow and I wasn’t that good at the time. It wasn’t that I couldn’t sing, I was just so shy I held back and didn’t apply myself,” says the 30-year-old Fabus, who now lives in Scott Township.
But he’s always had something to do with music. He was raised on a variety of music genres by his mother and grandparents, from classic country artists like Johnny Cash to pop rock from his idol Billy Joel. His first instrument was a banjo given to him by his grandfather. He took piano lessons and in middle school learned saxophone because Billy Joel had a saxophone player.
Mi5/Universal Music Group signed only Fabus to the three-year deal, but allowed him to continue to work with his band members: lead guitarist Miguel Garcia from Mt. Lebanon; drummer Neal Yakopin from Washington, Pa; bass guitarist Steve Mulkerrin from Crafton; keyboard player Rich Mannion from Industry, Pa.; steel guitarist Joe Minor from Clinton; and back-up vocalist Straz.
A family friend and musician, Garcia supported the young musician and joined him on stage for acoustic sets early in Fabus’s career. “I told Miguel someday he would be my guitarist,” Fabus recalls.
In 2009, after a year or so playing with a cover band, Fabus set out to perform his own material. “I thought country was the best genre for me because it’s true to who I am,” he explains. There’s a “realness” to country music he says he identifies with. His songs draw from his own experiences.
“My first couple of shows we were lucky to get a drink or two,” he remembers. “Most of the time we played for free and there was nobody there. Luckily, I have a big family and they wanted to see what I was doing,” he says. “I wouldn’t trade that because it taught me a lot. I’m proud to have worked my way up.”
Signing with a major record label he said has always been a goal. “It’s always been on my radar. I always believed that I could. I had the will and determination and the right people surrounding me, but nothing is guaranteed or promised. I knew it was a hard road,” Fabus says.
In 2014, he and the band were named a Touch Tunes Break Out Band and voted one of the best up-and-coming bands in the Pittsburgh area by KDKA.
He gives credit to his band and his manager, Tony Finkbeiner, as well as the label for where he is today. “Being with the label – there is so much more support than being an independent artist. I’m very fortunate.”
The label took Fabus’ first three-song EP and second six-song EP, repacked them on a self-titled album and released it under the label name. That album debuted at No. 3 out of 100 on the iHOP iTunes new country releases.
The label also took his song “Kiss of a Gypsy” and released it on national radio in early June 2016, where it charted for 12 weeks on the DRT and National Airplay top 200 charts. The song was number 189 between Taylor Swifts’s “Style” and Dan & Shay’s “From the Ground Up.”
His “Set Me Free” tour was based on his song “Set Me Free,” a deeply personal piece that references difficult times he’s been through. His father committed suicide when he was 3 and he and his brother were raised by his mother, Susan.
The lyrics “The bullet shot my daddy down …all he left me was this broken crown,” refer to his own struggle with depression. “I like to believe he was dealing with depression and that’s why he did it. It was a complete surprise. I deal with depression. I know what my triggers are and how to cope with it, but I had to become educated about it. Sometimes I have the opportunity for people to hear me or read what I say. Maybe if I express that I deal with this, it will help someone else,” he says.
“Justin is very down to earth, very humble,” says Tony Finkbeiner, who has managed him for the past five years. “When I get discouraged, I look at him. He and the band say thank you to everyone. They are all genuine guys.”
The band is like family. “That’s what makes the band so good. They care about each other, they care about the fans. It’s not smoke and mirrors. We care that you come out and spend your hard earned money to see us,” Fabus says.
One of the sweetest moments in his career happened on the tour date in Tacoma, Wash. Usually the band travels in their 12-passenger van, “Miss Loretta,” named after country great Loretta Lynn, but trip to Tacoma was the first time he arrived by plane.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Fabus says of the date in Tacoma. “You can show up and there’s nobody there because they don’t know who you are yet.” With the availability of music on the internet, there were fans waiting for him. “I’m singing these songs on the guitar my mom bought me when I was a kid, and to be in Tacoma and see people sing those songs I wrote while I’m singing them just blew me away. At one point I looked over at Miguel and he had this big grin on his face. We both stopped singing and looked at each other and just let the crowd sing.”
His new single, “I Hope You’ll Think of Me,” debuted on Facebook Live in February. Fabus and his band teamed up with TV host/producer Celina Pompeani, host of PensTV, to do something different. Against the advice of his manager, he chose to perform the new single on a Facebook Live after promoting the event on social media. After an interview by Pompeani, Fabus and the band performed.
“My manager and the label said, ‘are you sure you want to do this? You can’t take it back when it’s live.’ I didn’t think twice. Everything we’ve done has been so real – if we screw up, we screw up. With a studio and auto tune, anybody can sound good. It’s live, it’s not fake, it’s not auto tuned, it’s not tracked, it’s the raw real deal,” Fabus says.
Fabus brought Straz in for backup vocals on the Facebook Live session. “Her voice is unbelievable. To have her be part of the show and part of the band – I’m lucky. Her voice really compliments mine.”
“All the guys are so fun to work with,” Straz says. “They joke around with me and watch out for me. There’s a lot of positive energy.” She has nine original songs of her own.
Fabus is excited about the new single; it’s a departure from his other material, a “turn your radio up, wind your window down” song that he hopes will be a catchy summertime hit.
What’s his next goal? A hit on the Billboard charts.
For more information, visit www.justinfabus.com.