Chick-fil-A ‘Triple A’ – Trigg County’s Caleb Coots

Music and soccer run in the family for Trigg County junior Caleb Coots, with his mother both a former player at Caldwell County and coach of the Trigg County girls’ team, and his grandfather handing down his love and talent for the guitar.

Caleb has been a part of three 5th-District championship teams at Trigg County and will look to add a fourth next year with first-year head coach Kyle Bleidt.  After playing all over in his first two seasons with the Wildcats, Caleb nailed down a starting spot and became a standout defender for the team last season.

Caleb’s grandfather taught him to play guitar at a young age and he says he has always been around many different guitar players growing up.  He credits his grandfather with teaching him not only the basics, but more complicated songs as well.

He counts his grandfather, Eddie Pennington, among his biggest influences, which also include Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, Tommy Emmanuel, and Thom Bresh.

Caleb had the opportunity to play at the Chet Aktins Appreciation Society (CAAS), while also appearing on RFD TV in Nashville, TN when he was young.  Another big moment on stage came when he appeared at the Nashville City Winery, taking the stage and playing with a number of famous musicians.

In addition to winning international and national thumbpicking guitar contests, Caleb was inducted into the National Thumbpickers Hall of Fame in the birthplace of thumbpicking, Muhlenberg County, KY.

While Caleb would love to make a career out of music, he says that regardless it will always be something he loves to do and says playing in the Air Force Band is a possibility for the future.

His favorite types of music to play are rock and fingerstyle, and he lists Parker Hastings, Collin Hill, and Queen, along with many of his influences, as the music he likes to listen to.

When discussing the pressure of performing in front of an audience, he says that soccer and playing the guitar both make him anxious for different reasons.  In sports the nerves come from not wanting to let his team down, but during performances, talking and singing can be difficult, although playing the guitar is second nature.

Check out Caleb performing Merle Travis’ “Cannonball Rag.”