Steve Tipton is a musician from Hagerstown, Maryland, who makes all of his music using a cell phone and a guitar – and nothing else! In fact, the only instrument he owns is a guitar. His tunes offer a fun mix of rock and hip-hop, as well as both acoustic and electric guitars. You can find his music on YouTube and follow him on Twitter for all of his latest updates.

You take a minimalist approach to making music. What’s behind that decision?

I use my cellphone to make music out of necessity! Because I don’t have a band or the equipment to record. Just a guitar. 

How did you get into music in general?

My mother is a bluegrass musician. There were always instruments around growing up. She showed me a C chord on guitar and piano and after I heard Van Halen 1 it was all it took. Spent my teens in my room learning.

And what led you to start recording music on your phone?

In 2019, I found an app called Bandlab. It has every drum kit you can think of. But it doesn’t do samples or prerecorded beats. It lays the kit out across the phone screen. You play with your fingers and thumbs. But it also has a 12-track recorder in the app. I play drums, so I naturally have timing and knowledge of drumming. I just had to retrain my brain to use my fingers instead of my feet and arms. Same for bass and keyboards. They’re all done on the phone screen too. The guitars and vocals are multi tracked live against the tracks I lay with the app. It takes about 30 hours to make a 4-minute song and video. 

How would you describe your sound – beyond, of course, the idea that it’s all recorded on a cell phone?

I would describe my sound as Van Halen, Smashing Pumpkins, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Beatles, Foo Fighters, A Perfect Circle, all had an orgy and produced a baby!

I’m curious about your collaboration with the rapper Petworth Paul. Can you tell me anything about him?

Ah yes! The Petworth Paul questions! I’m always asked… He and I know each other through the AA, NA recovery community in Maryland. We’re both former users of bad stuff!

How did your collaboration come about?

I recorded all the music and chorus vocals on “Why da Haters,” our collab together. I knew my song topic and song structure, but I don’t write rap verses. I made contact with him, he came to see me in Frederick, Maryland. And in one day, he wrote and recorded the verses after I told him, it’s about the haters! The video was done a month later in Baker Park, Frederick Maryland. 

You actually released two versions of the track you recorded with him. The second was an unplugged version, with you on guitar on Petworth Paul rapping over it. What was the idea there?

The unplugged version of “Why da Haters” was done at a recovery cookout. 

Do you think you’ll ever record with more than your phone?

I would love to play and record with other people, especially in a studio. I found that most local musicians mostly want to play covers and aren’t thrilled about doing already wrote original songs. If you do covers, cool have fun. I feel like I’m not challenged by driving a road someone else drew the map for. I like making my own map!

What’s next?

Keep writing, keep making music, until someone hears it that can further me in the process of a wider fanbase.

I’ve been signed twice as a result of my cellphone songs. Atomic Records, and Clean Artist records. Atomic Records released an EP titled Cellphone Songs from the Stairwell. It’s on iTunes, Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and YouTube. 

I love the songs, but I was still learning to make a cellphone song, and I cringe at my production values on them. Since that record in 2020, I have honed my craft at this genre of song production. I call cellphone songs art. I may have made this an artform! Who else can lay down an entire drum track and bass track with their fingers on a phone screen!