Lessons Learned & Endless Options: Cameron Whitcomb Bares His Scars On His Debut Album, The Hard Way

"A lot of things in my life I had to learn the hard way and I'm still learning the hard way, but that's how you learn," Cameron Whitcomb shares with Holler. "Life is just learning. I don't have it figured out."

Sat in his newly bought house, enjoying a rare 10-day stretch away from the road, the Canadian native sat on the precipice of a one-two punch that would see him release his debut record, The Hard Way, as well as the kick off to his biggest headlining tour to date, his I've Got Options Tour 2025, on Friday, September 26.

It's been a long time coming for Whitcomb to arrive at this moment with more than his fair share of tough lessons learned along the way.

At only 22-years-old, he's spent the last three years sober after battling addictions to drugs and alcohol that began at the ripe age of 12.

"I started playing drums when I was probably 10, and thought I was gonna be a drummer but then I started doing drugs and kind of gave up," he reminisces with a laugh.

Now, a decade gone by, Whitcomb's story looks unlike anything he could've ever imagined, and his story is one that's connected with millions of people all over the world. Never shying away from the heavy, messy and difficult parts of both his life and the human condition at large, his growing catalogue has been distilled with poignant, soul-baring confessionals like 'Shoot Me Dead,' 'Quitter,' 'Options' and his viral breakthrough 'Medusa,' among others, all working together to piece together his story and offer solace to listeners far and wide.

That same sentiment rings true through the entirety of Whitcomb's debut project as he chronicles where he's been, where he is now and where he hopes to be, owning up to his missteps and taking stock of how far he's come, both in terms of his recovery and his personal journey.

"Vulnerability and honesty is so important, especially for someone trying to get clean or better themselves. If you can't take accountability, how are you supposed to learn and grow as a human being? If you just think you're right all the time, and nothing's wrong, and other people are the problem, how are you supposed to look inwards and work on yourself and have empathy? I'm not who I was three years ago, and that's okay," he shares proudly.

"To me, this album is showing people that you're allowed to fuck up. You're allowed to own things and grow," Whitcomb adds. "I write these songs for me, but at the same time, these songs are for everybody. It's for whoever needs it and whoever understands it.

"I hope that, no matter what, people can listen to the record and take what they need from it," he offers. "We're all human beings... we're all the same in one way or another."

Additionally, Cameron Whitcomb talks about his unique album artwork for The Hard Way, genre lines, viral hair-dos, his 2025 touring plans and more.

"It's by a tattoo artist that I'd been working with since I was 18. He did my whole back and my arms, and we've done a lot of work together. He's one of the most incredible artists that I've ever met. I'm a huge fan of his work and he understands me.

When I call and tell him about a song, I honestly don't give him any input of what I want to see or what I wanted for the record. I just told him to listen to it and do his thing. His brain works really, really well. He listened to the album four or five times, picked up on certain words, feelings and emotions, and just ran with it.

The title isn't even on the record; the art just kind of speaks for itself."

"I remember the lowest parts of my life. I was thinking about who you call on in the lowest parts of your life, when people don't want anything to do with you.

Now people want to hang out with. Now people are interested and text me all the time, but back then, I only had a few people that I could call on. My mom's the main one in mind, but it could be my dad, my brother, my best friend or whoever.

That song is for, when nobody else will pick up, who you know is going to pick up no matter what."

"Honestly, I get that question all the time and I’m still trying to figure out how to answer it. I don't want to pigeonhole myself, I just want to make good tunes. Wherever anyone wants to put me, I will show up and I'll be there. If you want to put me on a country festival, a rock festival or a pop festival, wherever people want me, I'm just gonna come play my tunes and not be so precious about it.

I just like noodling with stuff and writing cool lyrics. If people like it, that's great, and if they don't, that’s okay. Hopefully I just make good tunes, that's all I want to make.

I think if [a certain genre] is your identity and you want to really dig into that, that's great. The guys that are really, really country, love country music, respect the history and that's what they want to do, that's great. I applaud them for that, because sometimes I wish I was a little bit more concrete in ‘this is the kind of music I make, this is where I am and these are my fans.’ Honestly, it's just not that important to me to hold on to a genre.

I respect the country scene immensely, and the history and music that comes from it is really great. The same goes for the rock world, but I just want to make music that I like and hopefully people can resonate with it."

"I'm definitely looking forward to hitting more of the West Coast, Texas and some of these places that I haven't actually played shows in yet.

We have a lot of really cool production on this tour, too, which I'm really excited about. After watching Bailey Zimmerman, I had to step my game up. I watched his show, and I was like ‘All I do is run around. This guy runs around and he has fucking fireworks. What the hell?’

It's crazy… I can't afford fireworks."

"I think I'm gonna let the hair grow out, I probably just won't perm it this time.

Hair is so weird to me because I grow it out, and then I get all pissed off and I can't figure out what to do with it. Then I shave my head, perm it or do something dumb with it. One thing I'll probably avoid is dying my hair. I don't think I'd rock that well, but who knows?

Maybe I'll just tattoo my face… Nah, my mom would beat this shit out of me. She’d be pissed."

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