Middle schooler shoots video for first solo song

Editor’s note: The video becomes available for viewing at 6 p.m. July 7.

A bunch of Brookfield school students are gathered in the high school gym. Blake Hammond nudges Alex Higbee to draw attention to his sister, Jordan Hammond, behind them. Alex turns, sees Jordan but, not realizing that she was behind him, quickly turns face forward with wide eyes. Jordan swats her brother.

Alex’s dad, Chris Higbee, tells Alex to “tone down the emotion about 10 percent,” and they run through the scenario again.

This isn’t a school assembly or a basketball game – this is a music video shoot for Alex Higbee’s coming out as a solo performer.

Chris Higbee has been performing for many years as a member of the Poverty Neck Hillbillies or, since 2009, as a country-rock solo performer and has brought his family on stage for about as long as he has had a family. His wife, Melissa, sings duets and Alex, who will be entering eighth grade at Brookfield Middle School in the fall, has been a part of Chris’s shows since he was about 3, singing or playing fiddle. The family lives in Brookfield.

Alex has started attracting his own fan base, and Chris wrote the song “I Like a Girl” for Alex to sing. They recorded the song in Nashville over Easter Break. In early June, they shot a video for the song at Brookfield schools. They filmed sequences in a classroom, the gym and the cafeteria.

“For the sake of the song, this was our number one (location),” Alex said of using the school.

Chris Kilgore did the filming.

“I’m excited for it to be brought to the public,” Alex said.

The song should be available on Chris’s Facebook page and YouTube on July 7, Chris said.

“I Like a Girl” has more of a modern-country feel than Chris would write for himself. Alex called it a fun song.

“It’s about those young feelings about when you start to like a girl and how you don’t really know how to cope with it,” Chris said. “A lot of blushing and a lot of, ‘I don’t know what to say.’ It’s a very cute, young song.”

“Alex sang it very well,” Chris said. “The production was amazing. I just hope the video matches it. If the video matches the song, we did our job.”

Prior to the video shoot, the Higbees had played the song before a live audience twice.

“It got standing ovations both times,” Chris said.

Alex said he likes “everything” about performing: “Being a part of setting it up, being there to play, being there to be a part of it – it’s so much fun.”

Making a career as a music performer would be “a dream job,” he said.

But, it’s a little early to say whether that’s his destiny, Chris said.

“I tell him. ‘I will lay the road for you. If you want to go down it, go down it. If you don’t, I’m OK with that, but let’s have some fun while you’re interested in it,’” Chris said. “He says he wants to be an engineer, and he loves to build things and make things and stuff like that, but he also likes music. I’m OK either way, and we’re gonna keep driving this train until we run out of track.”

Others you might see in the video are Peyton Hunkus, Ayden Bauder, Joseph Hook, Sam Kasula, Sophia Hook, Luke Kasula, Mindy Hammond and Kara Kasula.

Chris recently released the single and video “One Night in New Orleans.”

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Some upcoming Chris Higbee gigs:

• Greenville (Pa.) VFW, 8 p.m. July 21.
• Tavern 618, Conneaut Lake, Pa., 9 p.m. July 22.
• St. Patrick’s Parish Festival, Hubbard, 8 p.m. Aug. 5.
• River Rock at the Amp, Warren, Ohio, 5:30 p.m. Aug. 19.
• Crawford County Fairgrounds, Meadville, Pa., 7 p.m. Aug. 21.
• Buhl Park, Hermitage, 6 p.m. Sept. 4.
• Roaster Rally, Canfield (Ohio) Fairgrounds, 4 p.m. Sept. 22.

For a complete list, go to www.chrishigbee.com