// ARTICLES
Tyler Hilton: this Hilton doesn't provide room service?just folk-pop ballads about rocky relationships
-Macleans
Roots-rocker Tyler Hilton isn't one of those Hiltons--no relation to Paris, Nicky, or any of the hotel-chain people. Instead, this 20-year-old singer-songwriter has a background in breezy, radio-ready melodies. "Whenever anyone in my family introduces themselves, they're asked if they're with the hotels," says the Palm Springs, California, native. "I haven't met any of the heirs yet, but it feels like it's going to happen. I don't know what I'm going to say, though."
Hilton's voice, a weathered rasp, is far more confident on his debut, The Tracks Of (Maverick). He powers through a collection of ebullient, contemplative blues-folk ballads like "When It Comes" and "Kiss On" with the joie de vivre of a future teen pinup--albeit a lovesick one who is obsessed with Mississippi John Hurt and Robert Johnson. "The women will wreck you every time," he says in the jaded tones of an experienced rake. "But writing songs about breakups is like eating ice cream in bed. It helps you get over them."
Hilton doesn't just take comfort in the security blanket of his oeuvre. Offering parenthood as an analogy for songwriting, he explains his urge to create: "I've got to get the songs down immediately or they'll break out of my head. It doesn't matter what time of day it is, or even if they're bad or half done--it's like, 'Whoa, that sucker is coming out.'"
In the grand tradition of itinerant songwriters like Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie, Hilton wrote much of The Tracks Of while backpacking through Europe the summer after he graduated from high school. Electing to pursue music full-time instead of attending college was a difficult decision--his mother is a teacher, and education was paramount growing up--but Hilton's family, many of them musicians themselves, encouraged his art. "When we get together, I always bring a guitar in case someone wants to jam," he says. Eventually, he'd like to attend school, but in the meantime he's concentrating on his career. "I'm going to brag a little bit right here," he says. "'When It Comes' plays before the movies in the Landmark Theatres, and that's cool. Now I'm going to go to the movies early every time, and if it plays, I swear to God I'll have a That Thing You Do! (1996) moment and tell everyone in the audience, 'This is my song--and I'm open for hugs.'"
