Taking his music to the people, guitar and customized van are hitting the road

Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do and Huck Pias of Hessmer is doing just that. He has a dream, a belief in his musical talents and a plan. Is that not a formula for success?

His dream is to be free, “as free as I can be and music allows me to be as close as I can while also doing something I absolutely love and have loved for most of my life.”

The main character in this scenario, besides Huck, of course, is the van he’s working on to take his dream on the road. According to Huck, the van is currently “under construction and once that’s fixed I’ll install running water and electricity. Basically it’s a house.”

Huck saw someone on YouTube who lives in a camper van. “At first I thought it was crazy but the more I watched it the more I liked the idea.”

He realizes the lifestyle will take some sacrifices but on the other hand it will give him more freedom and right now he doesn’t have the constraints of a family.

Huck has all the confidence he needs to get the white van in shape. “Dad was a farmer and I grew up working on things, I’ll do what I can do and get others to help.”

He has given this house on wheels a lot of thought and said “there will be a sink but it won’t take a big water reserve.”

With his transportation and living quarters squared away, Huck has all the musical talent to cover that part of the goal.

“I grew up in a musical family,” he remarked, “my father is a worship leader in church, my grandmother was singing at a young age and I got hooked on the guitar when I was 11.”

Huck took his deep interest in guitar, the basics his father showed him, added online lessons, his own self taught ability, things he learned from friends and his refined ear for pitch and crafted his talent and style.

“I didn’t play any sports until high school so for three years I spent a lot of time playing guitar. I came home from school, played until supper, then played after supper until bedtime.”

Part of that equation was strong encouragement from his parents.

Huck has an innate ability to succeed and his sports experience at Bunkie High is a very good example.

“I was playing football and coach wanted us to also play a spring sport to keep in shape. I chose track and decided I’d throw something.”

That ‘something’ was the javelin. “As a freshman it was okay, as a sophomore I was beginning to like it and when I was a senior I won the state javelin championship.” Simple as that.

The third part of Huck’s dream involves his plan.

He figures the van will be ready by the end of the year but added, “winter months are slow for music.”

That gives him time to set in motion a part of his plan that involves setting up a You Tube channel for references.

Once Huck is on the road, he plans on heading to the East Coast. “I have family in North Carolina and want to travel up and down that area.

“I will also go farther north to tourist places who need musicians.”

Huck believes success also lies in “building relationships once my foot is in the door,”

He describes himself as a rock musician and says that’s his style. Huck also writes a lot of his own music but realizes it’s important to have a repertoire of well-known music that people recognize.

His confidence comes from years of playing with a band at church because “when someone messes up you have to cover it. For me it was skill building.”

Although he never played in a regular rock band, he performed at birthday parties and such with a friend of his.

He plays regularly in New Orleans and at Bailey’s in Marksville

When Huck packs his van, he will need to make room for all the experience coming along with him.

Then he’ll need space for his plan. Lastly a big area for his dream.