The Hollywood Independent Music Awards was founded by Brent Harvey, Executive Producer of the Hollywood Music In Media Awards — where you can find incredible recent winners such as Academy Award-winning musicians Danny Elfman and Diane Warren. HIMA has a smaller and more independent scope, honoring submission-based indie artists of a wide spectrum of genres and categories. Categories include Best Afrobeats/Afropop, Independent Record Label, EDM, Contemporary Classical, New Age/Ambient, Original Song — the list goes on. This year's event took place on Aug. 17, where an artist right in our backyard took home the winning award for Best Americana/Roots: Kolby Knickerbocker.
Out of five other contenders, Knickerbocker won the award for his new song, "Friend Like You" — a single he released on Spotify earlier this year. The singer-songwriter sees roughly 18K listens per month on the music platform in addition to 400K streams for a song released in 2021 titled, "Over and Over".
Knickerbocker shared, "For me, I write about my family. I have a five-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son. Being a new dad and navigating life with kids is really full of emotions. I write about my desires for them, about being a father, about being a husband. Life with kids has so many narratives to tap into as a songwriter. I'm on this kick now where I'm writing songs for my kids for when they're older; like when they first experience heartbreak, what song would they want to hear? That's kind of what I'm writing about now."
Knickerbocker and his family moved to Bend in 2017 after the birth of his first daughter, as his wife grew up vacationing here. They both fell in love with the outdoor/family-first culture and appreciation for local community. Knickerbocker grew up with a deep attachment to music — feeling and understanding music at an innate level at an early age — finding comfort in his dad's guitar. Now he can play just about any instrument he can get his hands on. "Through recording and producing my own music, I've had to learn a variety of instruments just out of necessity. If I wanted to record a specific sound in a song, I would have to learn how to create that sound, whether it's a piano, or harmonica or whatever. I tend to hire session musicians now, but previous iterations of my career forced me to learn a lot of instruments."
Whether it's been a release of an EP or a single, Knickerbocker has been busy producing his solo music career since 2017 (with his first single "Kindness and Courage"). "My sound really leans into intimate vocals and organic instrumentation. I like to have a lot of space between my lyrics and minimal production; I find that this style really lets the song shine through." With a wide swath of influences from Led Zeppelin to Nina Simone, Nat King Kole to Creedence Clearwater Revival, Knickerbocker has a rich foundation for his music and the fundamentals to his craft.
Even after Knickerbocker's Hollywood moment at HIMA, creating music and building a family here in Bend is the most important. "It's a great city to live as a musician. It's small enough where the music community is really tight and supportive and the small businesses really make an effort to support local musicians. I spent a good chunk of my time in Southern California pursuing music; headlining at midnight and playing every weekend to pay rent. The music business is a tough industry to make a living, and I think it's much more difficult in a big market like L.A. or Nashville. I really like my life in Bend, where I get to write what I want, sell my music to ads, TV and film, and spend time with my family. There would need to be a seriously good deal to get me to leave Bend."
Aside from working a 9-5 job in marketing, Knickerbocker has sold his music to TV shows such as "90210" — as well as ad campaign for Uber and VRBO. Every time he releases new music, he sends it out to award ceremonies. And when he's not rackin' up awards with the big dogs in Hollywood, you can sometimes find him playing local gigs around town at Thump Coffee, Bend Brewing Co. and Suttle Lake Lodge.
