ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Davis Loose is only 17 years old, but he sounds like he's been singing country music for decades.
He is wowing crowds locally and grabbing the attention of big names in the music industry. The St. Augustine High School senior picked up the guitar when he was 10 or 11 years old.
"I spent a lot of time with my grandpa," Loose said. "That's where my love of country music comes from."
Specifically, classic country music.
"He used to always have Merle Haggard or Waylon Jennings or Buck Owens on the record player," Loose said.
Loose got an introduction to live music at the St. Augustine Amphitheater. When he was around 11 or 12-years-old, some of the folks at the venue offered him the chance to volunteer.
"I'd run the blower, clean the bathrooms," Loose recalled, "and I'd help clean the dressing rooms and I'd stock the tour buses."
Because he was a cute little kid hanging around the place, and because big stars were close at hand, "I got to meet Willie Nelson, Justin Moore and the list goes on and on."
Four years ago, Loose formed a band called Davis and the Loose Cannons which performs locally. Big names have started to take notice of the teenage troubadour. Loose remembers while watching country music icon Marty Stuart during a meet and greet jam session, Stuart forgot the lines to a song, "and he took his guitar and pointed at me and said 'Stand up and sing it.' Luckily, I knew the words and sang it back to him. He was so impressed!"
That landed Loose a chance to play on stage with Stuart later that night. They correspond with letters now.
"It's kind of gotten real in the last year-and-a-half," Loose said, describing his music career.
He has performed in Nashville. His on stage presence is endearing. Loose is releasing his band's first album this week. He wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on it.
Davis Loose is an old soul.
He chuckled and said, "I've heard that once or twice. I hear that maybe once a day."
And classic country music is what he also hears in his heart.
When it comes to country music, Loose said, "There's a story, every song."