Sublett learned to love music at an early age. 'All I wanted to do.'

Oct. 11—Owensboro's Elliott Sublett was already part of a music community before he picked up an instrument.

Sublett is now a member of the country and Southern rock group Kalico, but his musical roots were planted at an early age while watching his father play.

Originally from Hatfield, Indiana, Sublett's father, Scott Sublett, had a band called the Fabulous Silvertones, and Elliott became enamored with the world of performing.

"Mom and Dad (are) both from Evansville, and Dad played music for a living," he said. "He was pretty established in the Evansville and the tri-state area. I mean, I didn't go to a babysitter as a kid. When they set up or (had) rehearsals or anything, I'd be riding around with him.

"It was just — that's all I wanted to do."

Sublett, now 36, began playing with toy instruments around the age of 3 or 4, before picking up the guitar when he was about 5 — with his dad at his side helping him along the way.

"It was cool," he said. "Dad started me on just an open tuning, so I think that first song he taught me when he was trying to get my rhythm down ... I think it was like 'Wake Up Little Susie' ...."

Sublett continued to master his craft with the strings, while putting the idea of singing on hold at first.

"The vocal stuff came later down the road," he said. "I really didn't get into (singing) until I started growing up and wanting to sing songs and putting songs together."

After graduating in 2004 from South Spencer High School, he found spots playing in Owensboro at the former Martin's Bar before making his way to Nashville Auto-Diesel College (now Lincoln College of Technology) in the Music City to become a diesel mechanic while getting his feet wet in the music scene.

It was a scene that was unfamiliar to Sublett at first.

"I didn't even listen to a lick of country music," he said. "I mean, I was like heavy rock."

Sublett found gigs playing on Broadway, sitting in on early slots with friends at venues like Second Fiddle and Tootsie's World Famous Orchid Lounge for about two years before deciding to settle back in Owensboro in 2009.

He kept busy fairly quickly after the move, gigging frequently with local musician Andy Brasher and writing songs with fellow Nashville musician Dustin Bogue.

"That's when it really started picking up for me," he said.

Sublett decided to become a musician full-time when he was around 25.

"It took a few years to grasp a hold of what I was doing," he said. "At that age, it's like all these musical aspects come into play and you're like, 'Man, I love blues,' but I was like, 'I love this outlaw stuff' and then I'm like, 'Man, I dig rock-and-roll.' It's like you're trying to find out who you are."

Sublett still finds time to pursue his own solo acoustic shows, but found a groove when he formed the country and Southern rock group Kalico after he and drummer Coty Burton had an instant connection.

"... (Coty) did his percussion-drum thing and I did the acoustic guitar, and ... it (just) worked," he said.

The band added bassist Dave Brown and lead guitarist Grant Carter, and the four continue to "put our nose to the grindstone," Sublett said.

"We still rehearse every week and are working on the craft," he said. "...You never quit learning."

The band has become more than just a musical partnership.

"We're brothers," he said. "We hang out ... grill out. ... You got to vibe with the guys that you're working with."

Sublett now has a full-time job beyond music as an industrial surveyor at Pro-Align, Inc. But the band still has an active schedule playing frequently on Friday and Saturday nights, and he's been able to find a happy balance.

"I've taken breaks — because everybody does need a break, every now and then, to get that spark and that flame back," he said.

And his love of music is very much alive.

"I think any aspect of life (for me) seems to revolve probably around a song — whether past, present or future; and I love being able to share that with someone else, too ... whether it's a song that they know or a song that they've never heard," he said. "(Music is) in my blood. ... I wouldn't be the same person without it."