Wil Houchens

Multi Platinum Selling Keys

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85 Reviews (78 Verified)
Wil Houchens on SoundBetter

2x Diamond, 43x Platinum selling keyboards. Recorded and Toured with Luke Combs, Billy Ray Cyrus, Justin Moore, Randall King, Randy Houser, Tracy Lawrence, Corey Kent, Aaron Watson, Priscilla Block, Collin Raye, Jason Crabb and many more!

Hey! My name is Wil. I'm a Nashville based recording session keyboardist. I've had the incredible honor of recording, and touring the world, with some of the most notable names in the music industry. I spend most of my days in the recording studio playing on everything from Number 1 Radio Hits to Songwriter Demos for some of the most popular writers in Nashville.

Specialty: Piano, B3, String Programming, Wurli, Rhodes, Synths
Genres: Classic Country, Pop Country, Southern Gospel, Rock.

Send me a message and lets discuss your project. In some cases clients know exactly what they want. In other cases the client trusts me to give them what I believe the song needs. And that's what I always strive to do. I look forward to partnering with you and adding to your songs!

Send me an email through 'Contact' button above and I'll get back to you asap.

Credits

AllMusic verified credits for Wil Houchens
  • Mo Pitney
  • Luke Combs
  • Luke Combs
  • Luke Combs
  • Luke Combs
  • Luke Combs
  • Luke Combs
  • The Alton Brown Trio
  • The Alton Brown Trio
  • Stephcynie
  • Kolby Cooper
  • Kolby Cooper
  • Dynamo
  • Kolby Cooper
  • Kolby Cooper
  • Liz Conlee Johnson
  • Wil Houchens
  • Rochelle Feldkamp
  • Rochelle Feldkamp

85 Reviews - 14 Repeat Clients

Endorse Wil Houchens
  1. Review by Jeff Stauffer
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    First time working with Wil and I was blown away! He did an amazing job and graciously fit me into his hectic schedule! Highly recommend! Thanks, Wil!

  2. Review by Marius Hjertø
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    Amazing player, with good timing, and good tones!

  3. Review by 5ivestar
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    Gifted and brought an element to the record I didn’t think was possible. Amazing to work with… humble and kind. Glad the music industry still has people like this in it!!

  4. Review by Cuz C.
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    by Cuz C.
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    Cuz Cotton Bootcamp Artists expect that Nashville Sound and with Wil and his credentials, its exactly what you get! Awesome interpretation, highly professional, pro sessions stems, all delivered on time and under budget. It feels like we just left a top recording studio in Nashville. Looking for that #1 hit? If you describe your project properly to Wil, he will deliver 100% every time!

  5. Review by Queen HIT-Maker
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    It was a pleasure to work with Wil. I've seen some of the previous work he's done for other well-known artists. I was grateful for having him work on my song. He was quick to reply, gave helpful feedback and recorded the piano track in a quick and professional manner. Recommended!

  6. Review by Chris
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    by Chris
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    Tremendous parts and perfect for the song!

  7. Review by Phil P.
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    Always 5 stars. Will nails it every time and I'm so happy with the result as usual!

  8. Review by Wingtip
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    Attentive, quick, and responsive to revisions!

  9. Review by Phil P.
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    5 stars again. Perfectly executed and not overdone. Class without excess. Just what I needed.

  10. Review by WILLIAM M.
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    Thank you Wil!
    Great as always!

  11. Review by John E. Mendell
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    Will did a phenomenal job and the tracks he sent were beautiful.

  12. Review by Phil P.
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    Will does such an outstanding job at interpreting the music in a way to give just the right amount of keys while leaving room for the other instruments (who are still just a thought at this point) room to move. Amazing!

  13. Review by WILLIAM M.
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    As Always, Killer job.
    No wonder Luke Combs uses Wil!

  14. Review by Phil Parker
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    Such an amazing talent I’m so happy to have used Wil again.

  15. Review by Tim p.
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    by Tim p.
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    The Attention to detail, talent, plus the devotion - true professional and next level artist. Really enjoyable to work with someone like Wil who is a craftsman and forces you to be better.

  16. Review by Mike Nikou, MicNixProductions
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    Great working with Wil, highly recommended for your piano needs, he's a great player.

  17. Review by Chris
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    by Chris
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    Wil is one of the top performers in my SoundBetter group, and a tremendous talent who hits a home run each time with perfect parts and sounds. Worth every penny!

  18. Review by Phil P.
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    Will outdid himself. I gave him a 20 year old track and he brought it to life. Amazing!

  19. Review by Phil P.
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    As always my main man Wil delivers. The perfect balance of supporting the song with nice moments that shine. Thanks as always. You won't regret choosing Wil.

  20. Review by AJ Rivlin
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    Wil, did a great job laying down some Wurly on a cover song I did. It was exactly what was needed and sounded great. Would use his help again for sure when I need some keys.

Interview with Wil Houchens

  1. Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

  2. A: One of my most proud projects was an early album that I did for a guy named Eddy Dunlap. It was a country instrumental album, and I got to play along side my session musician heros, like Brent Mason and Pig Robbins. I got to come in and play a real fast chicken pickin' song with those cats. Truly a moment to remember. Since then we've shared numerous albums together, and it never gets old. So much joy to be had in creating great music.

  3. Q: What are you working on at the moment?

  4. A: Today is Saturday and I've completed everything I've been working on for the week. 7 Film Score tracks on piano, a full Orchestration, a gospel single project on piano, an R&B single on Wurli and B3, and another pop-country single on B3. It's been slammed pack week, but that currently clears my schedule so I can be on tour next week. That's just the best way to handle business for me. I don't like dragging out projects for long periods. And that's rarely the case in Nashville. Everyone here gets things done very quickly. That's something we take a lot of pride in.

  5. Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?

  6. A: There are quite a few guys on SoundBetter that I know from the Nashville community and I have nothing but great things to say about them. And their SoundBetter ratings speak for themselves!

  7. Q: Analog or digital and why?

  8. A: I'm a mixture of both. While I love the convenience of recording into digital, I still love the gooey-warmth you get from analog gear. People claim you can't hear the difference anymore, but if you actually own the analog gear, you can hear the difference. I'll take an Neve through an SSL4000 any day over plugins.

  9. Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?

  10. A: I promise to give you the best tracks that I can. I'll give you something that reflect my entire life's worth of experiences. It might be simple, it might be complex, but it'll be exactly what I think your song needs.

  11. Q: What do you like most about your job?

  12. A: I love getting to do what I love, each and every day. Having a career that's fully supported by music is incredible. Getting to sit and create music is a joy in itself, but the real prize is seeing an artists project come to life and see it grow and take on wings as it goes out into the world. That's the real magic of the job.

  13. Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

  14. A: Most of the questions I get asked are usually about my past projects. What was is like working with so-and-so? Mostly always awesome. We're they cool? The artists are always amazing. That's why they got to where there are today. Oh, I see you tour with Billy Ray Cyrus, do you ever get to hang out with Miley? Yes. And she's actually really cool and down to earth. No one really asks a much about the music or the process.

  15. Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

  16. A: I'm not sure that there are any misconceptions about what we do. I suppose some people think we're just robots. Send us music, and we send back parts. It's not always easy. We labor over our parts to make sure we don't do a disservice to the music.

  17. Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

  18. A: My biggest question, assuming the music doesn't speak this for itself, is: "What role do you hear the keys playing? Is the the lead instrument, is it a power instrument, or is it just there for support?"

  19. Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

  20. A: As in most all studio situations, we want the customer to "hear us out". We've been doing this for a very long time, so our first-instincts are usually pretty close to being right.

  21. Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?

  22. A: Well, this is just an absolute impossible question. Who could go anywhere with only 5 pieces of gear!? LOL! I've gotta have a ProTools rig on a MacBook. I could trade off the piano for Keyscape perhaps, but I'd have to have the real B3. And gosh, I suppose I'd need a Neve Preamp and a Neumann U87. Gosh, I suppose that would cap out the 5 piece limit.

  23. Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

  24. A: My career has been long and fairly adventuresome. To keep it short, I started playing by ear at age 3. One of those freak incidents when the parents realize their kid isn't actually just banging on the piano....he's playing melodies and harmonies. I started classical lessons at age 6. Started attending college for classical piano at age 14. Went on to get my undergraduate degree in Classical Piano Performance. Moved to Nashville TN to complete my Graduate Studies in Commercial Music (essentially Jazz Studies). I spent a few years after that touring in small bands and recording songwriter demos. After a few of the "being in the right place at the right time" gigs, I started touring with larger artists, started getting called for larger sessions. Ended up touring with Justin Moore, Collin Raye, Billy Ray Cyrus, Luke Combs, and getting to record on large records for some of these guys. And while this was all going on, I was still plugging away every day recording and producing songwriters EPs, Demos, Singles, Albums, on the days I was back in Nashville. Now closing in on almost 30 years after I first started, things are still rocking; recently received a Platinum album award, got another platinum single, and am getting to play on records that are all over the world. It's been an absolute whirlwind of a ride.

  25. Q: How would you describe your style?

  26. A: It's always hard to describe yourself. But I'm often told that I'm the guy with "the touch". I've certainly spent my life attempting to master the piano and have studied music on its most complex level, now I'm bringing the refined touch of classical music and jazz to modern setting. So you get all the right feels and licks, etc, but with a carefully refined touch.

  27. Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?

  28. A: Oh gosh, that's a really tough question. Honestly if I had to pick a current country artist that I'd want to work with, it would have to be Luke Combs...and I've been working with him since his very first album. I can't think of anyone in the industry doing bigger thing for music than he is. He's being himself, writing genuine music, and we're cutting some great tracks for those records. That young man is going somewhere big, because he's letting the real music flow out.

  29. Q: Can you share one music production tip?

  30. A: My number one tip is to TRUST YOUR GUT. When you sit down to work on a song, you hit the record button and you begin to play....the idea that settles into your mind is usually the right one. You may not always execute that idea on the first try, but it's usually the right idea. Quit second guessing yourself so much. Music is a reflection of who you are on the inside, don't keep changing it to mask who you really are.

  31. Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

  32. A: About 75% of the time I work on country music. That's a rather broad genre, but I am hired for everything from 90's style country, on up to the current main-stream pop-radio-country. The other 25% covers mostly film orchestrations and jazz.

  33. Q: What's your strongest skill?

  34. A: I've spent the last two decades carefully sculpting my crafts. Knowing the piano is my strongest instrument, I've focuses diligently on B3, and other keyboard instruments, as well as orchestration, engineering, and producing.

  35. Q: What do you bring to a song?

  36. A: Every session player is going to bring something different to a song. A good player is going to give a piece of themselves to the project. Decades of knowledge and training are always the foundation for what I play, but i always create a produced part for my clients. No generic "cookie-cutter" recuts for the projects I work on.

  37. Q: What's your typical work process?

  38. A: On a normal day, an assistant and I will arrive early at the studio, and listen through all of the day's projects while preparing session files, miking instruments, and patching cables. We'll determine a plan of flow for the day and pick what we want to work on first. I'll start by listening to the track again while charting the song and developing possible ideas to try. We'll move on to the first instrument, record a few passes at the song, then review in the control room to make sure we've really nailed the vibe and the part is exactly what the song needs. Then we'll move on to the next instrument, and repeat the process until the song is complete.

  39. Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

  40. A: I own a large, full operation recording studio in Nashville. Not a small overdub rig like most people operate from home. The 1,500sqft facility is carefully constructed for prime acoustics, and is outfitted with fantastic instruments. Grand Piano, vintage 1967 Hammond B3 with 122 Leslie, numerous drum kits and guitars covering all styles of music, a vast assortment of microphones, preamps (including Neve, SSL, and API), and outboard compressors. The control room is built around a Avid Console, and anchored by ProTools HD with 40 inputs and 18 outputs. Along with a slave computer system that handles an incredibly deep sample libraries covering many popular and great sounding libraries on the market.

  41. Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

  42. A: I'm endlessly inspired by my colleagues in the Nashville Recording Industry. The musicians that I work with on a daily basis are incredibly talented and bottomless wealths of knowledge and creativity. We encourage each other to grow and push the limitations of the music that we create.

  43. Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

  44. A: Most of the work that clients bring to me consists of a mostly completed track, whether it be a Demo, EP, Single, etc. that needs a keyboard addition of some kind. Most cases just ask for, or require, an addition of Piano and B3. But some songs need Rhodes, Wurli, or other type of keyboard to fulfill the vision.

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Sample Compilation of Luke Combs, Billy Ray Cyrus, Kolby Cooper, Jobe Fortner and More....

I was the Pianist, String Arranger/Programmer, B3 Player in this production

Terms Of Service

*One Revision. Additional Revisions $50 Each.

GenresSounds Like
  • Luke Combs
  • Brooks & Dunn
  • George Strait
Gear Highlights
  • Yamaha C7 Concert Grand Piano
  • 1967 Hammond B3
  • Rhodes Eighty-Eight
  • 1974 140b Wurlitzer
  • Assortment of Neve
  • SSL
  • API Pre-amps
  • Numerous vintage mics and outboard gear
  • Tons of sample libraries (Keyscape
  • Arturia
  • UVI
  • Spitfire
  • etc).
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When possible, I try to ease the financial burden of making a project. Reach out to me and let’s talk!

  • LUKE COMBS "THIS ONE'S FOR YOU" ACHIEVES RIAA PLATINUM CERTIFICATIONJul 21, 2018

    LUKE COMBS achieves Platinum certification for his debut album This One's For You, surpassing one billion career streams globally.
    -www.lukecombs.com

    This is a huge milestone for myself, and for the super talented musicians I share credits on this album with. Congrats to all the great folks involved, many of which can be found right here on SOUNDBETTER.com for use on your own personal project!