Retired Noblesville Firefighter Strikes a Chord With Classic Rock & Country Performances
A local musician is setting the stage on fire with just a microphone, an acoustic guitar and a smoldering voice belting out classic rock and country hits from artists like Jimmy Buffett, James Taylor, Johnny Cash and Travis Tritt.
Steve Honeycutt, a recently retired Noblesville firefighter, has grown a following of loyal fans by the thousands since his debut via Facebook videos 10 years ago.
During his time as a rookie fireman, Honeycutt heard his fire captain, Craig Edwards, strumming guitar and crooning upstairs at the firehouse.
“And I’m like, ‘My God, this guy is incredible,’” Honeycutt says. “So I go up there, and he’s playing some really old country music. And he says, ‘Honeycutt, I heard you love music,’ and I said, ‘I do.’ And he goes, ‘Grab a guitar, and let’s play some Willie Nelson.’ And I go, ‘I don’t play guitar, I play drums,’ and he goes, ‘We don’t have any drums, grab me a guitar and let me show you,’ and I learned my first Willie Nelson song on guitar.”
After that moment, Honeycutt began a fiery new passion. He practiced his favorite rock and country songs and started releasing videos on Facebook while at the fire station, which gained traction quickly.
“Before you know it, I was playing open mics with these professional musicians around the area,” he says.
He’d also sometimes jam with a few other coworkers. After performing “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” by Guns N’ Roses, “3,000 views later, people are like, ‘Hey, put another video out,’” Honeycutt says. “All those videos, releasing one every couple of months, turned into my first gig.”
Honeycutt’s introductory live performance at Ocean Prime at Keystone at the Crossing a year and a half ago turned into an offer for regular gigs at the seafood and steakhouse restaurant, followed by requests to play at the Boathouse Kitchen & Swan Dive in Cicero and several other restaurants throughout Hamilton County and the greater Indianapolis area. He’s been booked for more than 100 gigs since then.
A catchy nickname bestowed by friends has now become part of his identity. “When I book places, people will say, ‘Is this the singing firefighter?’ and I go, ‘Yeah,’” Honeycutt says with a chuckle.
Honeycutt says private parties have become popular to book, as well as birthday, graduation and lake house parties on Morse Reservoir. He counts nursing home facilities among his favorite places to play and especially enjoys performing for veterans.
“They love it when I play Elvis or the Beatles,” he says, along with gospel music and “House of the Rising Sun” by The Animals. He performs regularly at Promenade Trails, an assisted living facility in Noblesville.
Wherever Honeycutt plays, people appreciate the versatility of music he shares with his audience and love to reminisce, according to his wife, Mandy.
“I’ve had grown men come up to me and go, ‘I don’t want your husband to see me crying, but that song brought me to tears,’ because it reminds them of something,” she says. “Music moves the soul. That’s why I want him to share it, because it makes people happy.”
For more information about Honeycutt’s upcoming performances or to contact him, email shoneycutt71@gmail.com, visit him on Facebook (his photo includes a guitar with an American flag in the background), or on Instagram at @honeycutt_steve.
