fbpx vie magazine subscribe button

Spreading Sunshine

Music for Kids and the Grown-Ups Who Love Them

By Sallie W. Boyles  |  Photography by Dawn Chapman Whitty

In the past, a songwriter could earn a comfortable living behind the scenes. Low-cost streaming and downloading have since reduced royalty payments, so now, more than ever, endurance in the industry demands great talent, originality, and effort. Ken Johnson and Andi Zack-Johnson, who are respected, award-winning songwriters with deep ties to Nashville, exemplify what it takes to make it in the industry by succeeding in projects they never imagined pursuing a decade ago.

The public may best recognize Ken and Andi as regular cast members of CMT’s I Love Kellie Pickler (2015–2017), a reality show produced by Ryan Seacrest. Exposing their naturally engaging personalities and friendship with Pickler and her husband, award-winning songwriter Kyle Jacobs, Ken and Andi are entertaining when they’re just being themselves. But when they step onstage to perform their original music, they often pose as their alter-ego characters, Huck and Lilly.

It all began with a chance meeting. As the story goes, the two were enjoying the beachside deck of Bud & Alley’s restaurant in Seaside, Florida, when Andi, a native of British Columbia, spotted a fiddler crab. “It scared me,” Andi confesses. “I’m from Canada!” The male crab’s major claw is significantly larger than the other, giving him a Frankensteinish appearance. Ken, born and raised in Alabama, assured her that the crustacean would keep his distance, but he couldn’t explain the name fiddler. “I don’t know,” he told Andi. “He don’t play a fiddle!”

Ken Johnson and Andi Zack-Johnson of Huck & Lilly

From those words, Ken and Andi wrote “The Fiddler Crab (He Don’t Play the Fiddle),” a breakout song on their first children’s album, There’s a Tree Growing in My Room, released in 2015. They also gave life to Phil the Fiddler Crab, a puppet ambassador for Huck and Lilly—the stage roles for Ken and Andi, as well as their children’s music brand. Huck pays tribute to Huck Finn, a literary favorite of Ken’s, and Lilly to Andi’s favorite flower.

“We wanted to put ourselves out there as two best friends who play music, have adventures together, and help others,” Ken says. Accordingly, they are highly approachable and interactive with fans. Kids also love meeting Phil and Slo-Mo-Joe, a stuffed turtle who also has a song.

“We wanted to put ourselves out there as two best friends who play music, have adventures together, and help others,” Ken says.

The personable characters also spread goodwill to Ken and Andi’s music industry pals. Phil (Ken) has interviewed numerous country music celebrities: Lee Brice and his brother Lewis, Kellie Pickler and Kyle Jacobs, Maggie Rose, Ashley Campbell, Craig Wayne Boyd, and Carolyn Hobby. The gregarious crab has also sat down with Andi and Ken (the latter thanks to Andi’s adept video editing). While lighthearted and kid-friendly, the puppets’ video spotlights amuse adults, who are also Huck and Lilly’s fans.

“Music for kids and the grownups who love them,” is a fitting tagline for Huck and Lilly’s catchy songs that target toddlers to seven-year-olds but hook multiple generations. During performances, the duo will inevitably spy older children mouthing the lyrics. Somehow their teens—eighteen-year-old Marlee, now a college freshman, and fourteen-year-old Max, a freshman in high school—know every song!

guitar under water

If not singing along, audiences are moving to the special harmony made with Ken’s deep voice and guitar and Andi’s high pitch and ukulele. Andi says she picked up the ukulele because it complements her tone, deeming it “her instrument.” She says, “I started playing five years ago. You can’t write a sad song on the ukulele!” (When Ken challenged her to do that, Andi began to sing, “I lost my ukulele . . .”)

Earlier this year, Huck and Lilly released their second album, Sunshine.

Considering the brand’s evolution, Ken admits, “The first album was organic and kind of slow-going with our writing songs and not knowing we were going to do an album.” Progressing, they wanted to do something that hadn’t already been done. For one thing, instead of sticking to a single genre, they let each song dictate if it would be country, blues, hip-hop, disco, or rock. A refreshing mix of dance music and ballads also kept the set list interesting. “If we were producing an album in Nashville,” Ken notes, “the publisher would ask, ‘What are you doing?’ and the label would say, ‘You don’t know who you are!’” That’s why they’ve produced their two albums in-house.

After writing their first song collection, Ken and Andi went to their friend Skidd Mills, an industry veteran with multiple Grammy and Dove Awards. “We felt he had been the missing link as far as the sound goes,” says Ken, “and we had great chemistry together.” Also, Ken points out, “We are not at the mercy of a studio.” Skidd has one in his home, so they could work late into the night and set their own deadlines. They all believed that the first album was complete when the idea for “I Sat on a Porcupine” arose. “We wrote and recorded it in one day,” Ken reveals, reiterating that songwriting is all about inspiration. “Some songs, we’ll work on for a while and come back to them.”

Huck and Lilly exist to entertain children and inspire young ones to use their imaginations, insisting that not every song has to teach a lesson. Huck and Lilly have produced three singles from There’s a Tree Growing in My Room and four from Sunshine that have earned airtime on Sirius XM’s Kid Place Live, channel 78.

Followers may struggle to envision Ken and Andi outside Huck and Lilly, but their résumés prove their chops outside of the children’s genre. Ken’s includes cowriting plenty of hits: “Still a Little Chicken Left on that Bone,” released by Craig Morgan; “Beer on the Table,” cowritten with Andi and recorded by Josh Thompson; “You Dream I’ll Drive,” “Summer and 16,” and “White Van,” the three of which hit number one with Josh Grider; and “Every Time I Fall in Love,” recorded by Harry Connick, Jr., The Farm, Lisa Lambe of Celtic Woman, Clare Bowen from the show Nashville, and Kree Harrison from American Idol. (Moments after meeting Ken for the first time, Connick spontaneously invited him from the audience to perform “Every Time I Fall in Love” in a duet during a live episode of HARRY, his syndicated daytime show.) Ken also cowrote the theme song for the 2018 motion picture American Dresser with ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons and Tim Montana.

Ken Johnson and Andi Zack-Johnson of Huck & Lilly

Andi’s song “Heart Shaped Locket” appears on Brothers Osborne’s Grammy-winning Pawn Shop album. Josh Thompson, Danielle Peck, Etta Britt, and Drew Gregory are among many other artists who have recorded her music. Andi additionally released her CD, Love Party, which features eleven songs written for the ukulele.

“We have a great network of friends in the music business who are like family to us,” says Ken. “It’s a community that rises up to help one another.”

Emulating that ethos, Ken and Andi launched Hit Songwriter House Concerts to inspire collaboration among songwriters and expose them to audiences, mostly along Florida’s Emerald Coast. “We write together and do private concerts,” Ken says. Usually, the concerts take place in private homes, although they book small public venues occasionally. Such intimate settings allow talents like Charlie and Dana Black, who have at least twenty number-one hits between them, to play their songs and share the stories behind their lyrics. With performances booked nearly every week, Ken informs, “We don’t have to advertise.”

Whether as Ken and Andi or Huck and Lilly, the songwriters are having the time of their lives and feeling grateful. “Andi and I aren’t the kind who would waste time worrying about why something didn’t work or wasn’t fair,” says Ken. Andi agrees. “You can sit around and complain about the industry,” she muses, “or you can find opportunities that reflect the way things are.”

Their words hint of more to come.

— V —


To learn about live shows, watch interviews, sample or download music, purchase signed albums and other products, or join the fan club, readers should visit HuckandLilly.com or go to Facebook.com/HuckandLillyOfficial. Albums and songs are also available through iTunes. Find out about their songwriter concerts at HitSongwriterHouseConcerts.com.

Sallie W. Boyles works as a freelance journalist, ghostwriter, copywriter, and editor through Write Lady Inc., her Atlanta-based company. With an MBA in marketing, she marvels at the power of words, particularly in business and politics, but loves nothing more than relaying extraordinary personal stories that are believable only because they are true.



Read Responsibly

VIE Magazine September 2023 Jay Mercado
VIE Magazine - The Art & Design Issue November 2021
VIE Magazine January 2021 Special Commemorative Edition
VIE Magazine September 2020 Wanderlust Issue, Fancy Camps, The Idea Boutique
VIE Magazine August 2020 Art & Culture Issue, Nathan Alan Yoakum Art
VIE Magazine - Architecture & Design Issue - July 2020
VIE Magazine - Decor and Home Issue - June 2020
VIE Magazine May 2020 Entertainment Issue, Leslie Odom Jr
VIE Magazine - April 2020 Culinary Issue
VIE Magazine March 2020 The Fashion Edit, VONDOM, Alys Beach Fl, Digital Graffiti, Tres Chic, isidro dunbar Modern Interiors, Digital Graffiti Festival
VIE Magazine February 2020 Health & Beauty Issue
VIE Magazine - Travel Issue - January 2020 - Tanzania Safari Cover
VIE Magazine - Women's Issue - December 2019 - Tina Brown Cover
VIE NOV19 Goodness Issue
VIE Magazine, September 2019 Art & Culture Issue, Paul Hanninen
VIE Magazine - August 2019 - The Architecture and Design Issue
VIE Magazine - July 2019 - The Artist Issue
VIE Magazine - June 2019 - Fashion Edit
VIE Magazine - May 2019 - Culinary Issue
VIE Magazine - April 2019 - The Health & Wellness Issue
VIE Magazine - Special Entertainment Edition - March 2019
VIE Magazine February 2019 Luxury Homes & Technology Issue with Robbie Antonio of Revolution Precrafted
VIE Magazine - January 2019 - Southern Sophisticate Issue Cover
VIE Magazine - Special Anniversary Travel Edition - December 2018
VIE Magazine - The Goodness Issue - November 2018
VIE Magazine - The Art & Culture Issue - October 2018
VIE Magazine - Home & Garden Issue - September 2018
VIE Magazine - August 2018 Animal Issue
VIE Magazine - July 2018 Architecture & Design Issue - Subscribe to the magazine!
VIE Magazine - June 2018 Travel & Tech Issue
VIE Magazine - May 2018 Couture Issue
VIE Magazine - The Culinary Issue - April 2018 Cover - Chef James Briscione and Brooke Parkhurst
VIE Magazine - The Entertainers Issue - March 2018
VIE Magazine - February 2018 Destination Travel Issue
VIE Magazine - January 2018 Health & Beauty Issue
VIE Magazine, The Sophisticate Issue, December 2017
VIE Magazine - November 2017 Art & Culture Issue
VIE Magazine - October 2017 Home & Garden Issue
VIE Magazine | September 2017 | The Stories and Storytellers Issue
VIE Magazine - The Adventure Issue - August 2017
VIE Magazine - July 2017 - Art & Artist Issue
VIE Magazine - The Voyager Issue - June 2017
VIE magazine 2017 March-April Cover South Walton Fashion Week
VIE Magazine - January/February 2017 - The Health & Beauty Issue
VIE Magazine - Nov/Dec 2016 The Sophisticate Issue
christian siriano vie magazine september october 2016 vie magazine
the modern minimalist issue
Summertime!
the culinary and couture issue march april 2016 vie magazine
the voyager issue alys beach vie magazine january february 2016
cultural issue vie magazine november december 2015
home and garden issue vie magazine september october 2015
the art and style issue vie magazine july august 2015
the wedding issue 2015 May June vie magazine
the food and fashion issue vie magazine march april 2015
the travel issue vie magazine january february 2015
the music issue vie magazine 2014 november december
The Animal Issue vie magazine september october 2014
the home and garden issue vie magazine july august 2014
the wedding issue vie magazine may june 2014
emeril lagasse food and fashion vie magazine
the men's issue january february 2014
the music issue november december 2013 vie magazine
the home and garden issue 2013 october september
the wedding issue vie magazine july august 2013
the artist issue may june 2013 vie magazine
the food and fashion issue march april 2013
the men's issue january february 2013 vie magazine
The Holiday Issue
the love issue july august 2012
the all american summer may june 2012
the entertainment issue march april 2012
the fashion issue vie magazine winter 2011
the home and garden issue vie magazine fall 2011
the anniversary edition vie magazine summer 2011
the wedding issue vie magazine spring 2011
vie magazine the holiday issue 2010 Dec
vintage swimsuits vie magazine 2010 Fall
judith march designer vie magazine summer 2010
wedding giveaway vie magazine spring 2010
holiday gift guide vie magazine winter 2009
emarketing explosion vie magazine fall 2009
tribute to mother's day vie magazine summer 2009
james and robert redford vie magazine spring 2009
zz top vie magazine fall winter 2008
project dreams vie magazine new york fashion week
Sign-up for VIEmail

Sign up for VIEmail


X

A LIFESTYLE