By Richard Provost
The age of the internet is an interesting one indeed. Your roommate could be running a successful online store from your dorm room; a classmate could be a prolific blogger, read by millions; and there could be a singer-songwriter in your city whose music has been streamed half a million times and you could never even know. Such is the case with Spanish Fork country musician Whitney Lusk.
Lusk recently graduated from Spanish Fork High School. Almost 19 years old, she’s been posting an assortment of covers and original music to YouTube for the last five years. Her channel is sitting at almost 600,000 views. This girl has, on average, accumulated 120,000 views a year for her music. Quite an accomplishment for someone her age.
While some of her music videos and graphic design definitely betray her youth, Lusk has real talent. Her voice shows an incredible amount of power, depth, and control. Vocally, she’s every bit as good as Taylor Swift was when she was Lusk’s age (for comparison, see “Teardrops On My Guitar” and “Tim McGraw”). She’s also got a great musical team behind her. Songs like “Dark Side,” “Be Mine,” and “Picasso” were all recorded at Rigby Road Studios in Salt Lake City with producer Joel Pack. Her recordings are punchy, full, and very well arranged.
Lusk is every bit as good live. Her vocal runs are on point, she’s expressive, and she looks very comfortable on stage. Last March, Lusk made it into the Top 5 for Gezzo Hall’s Utah Valley Acoustic Competition. Now that she’s out of high school, it will be very interesting to watch her as she continues to grow as a musician. Here’s to hoping more people take notice – there’s a growing star in our midst.
Make sure to like Whitney Lusk on Facebook, and check out the music video for her song “Dark Side” below. Her debut EP is available on Spotify here.
Provo Music Magazine 