Loyd Van Horn
When one is born on the banks of the Mississippi River, it is pretty much a foregone conclusion that music will echo through their entire life. So it should be no surprise that Loyd Van Horn not only gravitated towards music, like a river, it flowed through every thing he touched. Some of his earliest memories, are associated with music.
An album purchase here, a song on the radio there. It all became an ingredient in the soup. Over the years, Loyd accumulated an almost encyclopedic knowledge of rock and roll. He even spent time as an on-air personality in the radio industry, introducing others to the songs that meant so much to him. Bands such as Oasis, Radiohead, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Smiths, and Coheed and Cambria all have played major roles in the shaping of Loyd’s musical style. He has even branched out over the years into as varied a spectrum as classic country music, 80s/90s hip-hop, funk, progressive rock, heavy metal, New Orleans brass and zydeco, and even classical music. “Outside of polka, there isn’t much music he won’t listen to and finds some common thread that connects with the music in his head. Through his more than 20 years of playing and writing music, Loyd has been in a number of ‘cover’ bands, but never put much energy behind his own material. Loyd has been in a Southern Rock cover band, a blues trio cover band, bands where other people wrote the songs and he was just the guitarist…but Loyd is just at a point in his life where he simply doesn’t want to play other people’s music anymore.
So, after releasing his debut album, Daydreams From a Modern Life in December 2015, he decided it was time to start performing his songs live. After spending some time working on the arrangements to fit an acoustic performance, he set out in 2016 to make a name for himself and his songs amongst the very talented Charleston music scene. A second album, Suddenly, was released in October of 2016, containing stripped down acoustic arrangements of more than 20 songs. Many of these were the songs he was performing around town. Some of these songs were written 20 years ago, dating back to when that cheap department store guitar changed his life. Now, Loyd 
is preparing to release his next full studio release, Escape, which will be available June 15, 2018 “Everything is in there, one can hear the classic rock influences, the soul, the blues, the rock…pretty much his entire musical catalog makes an appearance on this album.” So, if one finds themselves listening to Loyd’s music, close your eyes, and let the music take you on a journey. A journey through decades of rock and roll history, a journey through the sweaty clubs and dive bars that echo each night with the sounds of songwriters honing their craft. If one listens closely enough, they may even find themselves sitting on the banks of the Mississippi River with a cooling breeze parting their hair, as the sounds of generations of musical craftsmen that came before ring into the sweltering Southern air. In the studio, Loyd performs with Epiphone and Fender guitars, GHS strings and records with Logic Pro X through Focusrite interfaces. He uses Shure and Audio-Technica microphones Live, Loyd uses Epiphone and Takamine acoustics, Bose PA systems, Elixir strings, Shure microphones and Boss effects pedals. In addition to local guitar/music stores, Loyd trusts the folks at Sweetwater for all of his gear needs.
