Standing at 6’5; with his mountain man beard, edgy baritone and beefy guitar lines, Gilliam strikes a commanding presence onstage. In 2010, tired of waiting on lead singers to hire him, he pulled on his front man boots and created his own opportunities. “A bunch of my friends were side musicians as well and we all needed money so I was like, ‘Screw it, I’ll start my own project,’” Gilliam recounts with the earthy practicality of a working musician who earned his chops in the bar scene. “I had five original songs and played covers the rest of the time, but I made it work. That’s how it went for the first six months. I was still a side guy until one day in 2014, when I looked at my calendar and realized I had booked myself solid with my own gigs instead of playing guitar or bass for somebody.