Gonyea has been a staple of the Tupper Lake music scene for years, playing venues all over town. After a cover song he did went viral in 2017, his audience grew. Last Friday, his album “Where My Heart Is” was released on all streaming platforms.

In December 2019 he went down to Nashville and played six songs for Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta. It went well, and he got signed in June 2020.

Big Machine has some powerful names in country music signed to it — Rascal Flatts, Sheryl Crow and Tim McGraw — as well as up-and-coming artists.

He shares a manager, Danny Nozell, with Dolly Parton.

Brock Gonyea sings the single “All Night Long” from his debut album “Where My Heart Is” in Ohana’s 1950s Diner, owned by his sister Amanda. The records hung on the wall behind him were given to Amanda by family members years ago, but before she hung them up, he got to comb through them and pick out ones by Elvis Presley. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

–

A country home

–

Gonyea, 25, grew up around country music. All the men in his family played guitar — his father, his grandfather, his great-grandfather and his uncle Rick.

“I don’t remember a time before singing,” Gonyea said.

He does remember his uncle and his father arguing, as brothers do, over who was better — Waylon Jennings or Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard or Charley Pride.

The best gift he got as a child was a karaoke machine with tapes he could record himself on. He’d go into his room and sing at the top of his lungs.

When he was 10, he started writing songs. He wrote about love and heartbreak, things he didn’t really know about yet, emulating the songs he liked.

When he learned to play guitar, he started with three-chord country songs, playing alongside his father Bruce.

At 18 years old, Bruce had lost four of his fingers in a wood veneer peeling machine accident. Bruce’s brother wanted to buy the new guitar he had just bought, but Bruce restrung it, put a thumb pick on his left hand and relearned how to fret chords with his right.

“He wasn’t going to let anything stop him,” Brock said. “If I have that blood running through me, I can do anything.”

When Brock started playing in bands with friends, everyone wanted to play rock music. He said he was teased in school for liking country.

Until recently he hadn’t realized there was an audience for the old style of country. It was just what he played at home by himself. Now he has an outlet for the music he loves.

Brock said the modern form of popular country is not his style. It’s a bit “over the top,” and he could do without electronic drum kits and auto-tuned singing.

“My style of country music is a far cry from what’s going on in the pop country world,” he said.

Still, he says, “There’s beauty in all forms of music.”

–

“Hello Walls,” hello world

–

Brock’s big break came out of a breakup.

He recorded a cover of the song “Hello Walls,” written by Willie Nelson and popularized by Faron Young, and uploaded it to Facebook.

“I was a little upset. A little intoxicated as well,” Brock said. “I basically made this video for her. One person. It was meant for one person.”

Now the video has been seen by millions. One of these was musician and artist manager Brynn Arens. This led to the record deal.

Arens’ first message to Brock was not returned. He was involved with other management at the time. Persistent, Arens called Brock’s sister Amanda, who owns Ohana’s 1950s Diner in Tupper Lake. He thought she was Brock’s manager because of the videos of him playing she posted on Facebook. He told her he had showed Brock’s videos to record labels and they wanted to see him.

Brock said he was hesitant at first. He’d had labels pressure him to sign the dotted line and said previous management had taken him “for a ride.” They wanted him to find his sound.

“The problem is, I know my sound,” Gonyea said with a laugh.

“It’s just such a scary business to get into,” he added. “You’ve got people that you can almost sense they may be trying to take advantage of you. They only see the dollar signs, and they don’t see the creativity.”

But he feels Big Machine has been transparent with him and treated his sound with respect.

Brock said everyone goes to Nashville with a dream of becoming a star. While he’s very excited to play larger shows, he’s most happy that he can now make a career of doing what he loves.

“I’m really hoping to take this thing as far as I can,” he said. “Regardless of if I was the gravedigger, I’d still be going home every night and playing my guitar and enjoying it probably just as much as I do now.”

He was never one to advertise himself. He was just playing shows at venues around the North Country, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, working at the Wawbeek Quick Stop gas station in Tupper Lake until an opportunity presented itself.

He thought he’d have to pay more dues, he said, and he still does.

“We’re not starting at the top here,” Brock said.

But he feels very fortunate for this platform.

“I keep having ‘pinch-me’ moments,” Brock said.

He said Nozell showed Dolly Parton his music and said she loved it. Last Friday, the music video for “All Night Long” played on Country Music Television. But he said some of the highest praise he’s received came from the sound board technician when he was recording the album, who told him his vocals were on point each time.

Tupper Lakers are excited to see a kid from their town get national recognition, but they also want him to stay true to who he is. Last week, in the parking lot outside his sister’s diner, a car peeled into the lot and screeched to a stop. A woman popped out, a regular customer at the Quick Stop who knows Brock. She told him how happy she was and how she knows he’ll make it big.

But she had one piece of advice for him: “Don’t let them make you cut your hair.”

–

Writing and recording

–

In October, Brock went down to Nashville to record the five songs on the album, with a session band live in the studio. But when the mixes came back, what he heard was too tight, too clean and too “perfect.” He wasn’t feeling it.

Borchetta stood up for him and his sound, and told them to “pull all that stuff off there.” This restored the human, imperfect timing Brock likes.

Brock said he mostly writes about his life, wondering if that is self-centered or just being honest.

The title track “Where My Heart Is” is a personal tale about what he enjoyed about growing up in Tupper Lake. “It’s chainsaws runnin’, it’s guitars strummin’,” he sings, a nod to both his work on the woodpile and his off-time playing music with friends at parties in fields.

While most songs on this album are faster, “Pretending It’s Me” is a soft, morose ballad.

“I’ve always been a ballad guy,” Brock said. “I always love to sing the pretty stuff and slow it down and drag it out to see how long I can hold those notes for.”

The single off the record, “All Night Long,” he said “fell from the country heavens.” The label gave them files of old unreleased songs. Among them was this song, written by legendary country singers Mel Tillis and Webb Pierce. Pierce was Brock’s grandfather’s favorite artist. He thought it was a good way to pay homage is grandfather and the greats.

Days before going into the studio, inspiration struck, and Brock wrote “My World Turns to Silver.”

He also wrote the second verse on “Lovin’ You.”

–

Going down

–

Brock was supposed to drive down to his new home in Nashville last week, but because of COVID-19 things are slow down there right now. His departure has been postponed a few weeks, and he’s anxious to get started. His nerves are building as he waits and stews, thinking about what his life will be.

Brock had two send-off parties earlier this month — one with his great aunt Beluah Gonyea where he and his father sang together, and another at his sister’s diner. His family is ecstatic over his rising music career.

“I’m so excited and I’m so sad at the same time because he’s going,” his sister Amy said.

It will be hard on their father, she said. The two are best of friends.

“I don’t know if I can do another goodbye,” Brock said.

Soon, he’ll take the 16-hour drive down to Nashville with his friend and coworker Adam Geary.

On their way they’ll listen to “all the Hanks” — Williams, Snow and Locklin.

If all goes well, he’ll start playing live venues in August. Mark Pratico, a friend and bandmate from Tupper Lake currently living in California, will audition to play in the band. It’s been hard not performing and seeing crowds dancing this year, Brock said, but his record label signing came at the right time because he’s had time to sit back and write.

He hopes to bring some recognition to the North Country. After all, it’s where his heart is.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)

• Daily Newsletter
• Breaking News
• Obituaries

Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

• Yes
• No