Levi Randolph

I grew up with music. From the time I was little, I was surrounded by the rich vibrations slipping through the little F’s of my grandfather’s violin, the resonating chords of my aunt and uncle’s piano playing, the plucking of my father’s guitar strings. As a little kid, I would watch enthralled as my brother and sister banged out their James Bastien Primer books, waiting for the day I could learn the piano. At age 5, that day came; I had my first piano lesson. Studying under Vasana K. De Mel, I began to scratch the itch that had been there for as long as I could remember. The next few years were devoted, solely, to my study of the piano. In addition to notes in books, however, I learned by listening and recreating what I heard. Dr. De Mel encouraged the growth of this particular creative muscle and before I knew it, I was learning countless pieces on the piano all without the help of a page. The first piece I wrote, at the age of 6, was called “Butterfly Beat”. This began the ears of performances at recitals, malls, coffee shops, and churches. I proceeded to study piano with Vasana for the next 11 years studying jazz, classical, and rock, and musicianship most of all.

While my experience in piano developed, a vocal counterpoint wove its way into my playing. At 8, I auditioned for my first musical, Willy Wonka. This show ignited my desire for the stage. Piano and vocal, plus my stage performance gave me the talent and the confidence I needed. Throughout elementary school, I gave a show whenever an opportunity came my way- school talent shows,  school events, and poetry recitations creatively sung to my compositions. In fourth grade, I performed as Dad in Junie B. Jones, alongside Riley Max, the featured singer on my full length album, who played the role of Junie B. Jones. Having been friends both then and now, we reunited to record “Synthetic Love”. 

Fourth grade was also the year my grandfather, Dennis Ferrigno, agreed to teach me violin.  I was admitted into the middle school orchestra followed by the high school orchestra years later. I took my place among my peers as a 1st and 2nd violinist, playing pieces like the “Hallelujah Chorus” and "Adagio for Strings". My experience was put to use in my album, writing violin duets and trios to some of my piano compositions. These can be heard in “Love Part 1, “Love Part 2” and “With you” in Opus 1.   

My middle school life was cut short just as everyone’s was due to the pandemic. But, as a lot of people feel, the virus was both a blessing and a curse. Stuck at home with my piano, voice, violin, and the beginner audio interface my mom had bought me, my brother and I started to create. With only the internet as our teacher, we started producing covers of famous songs. We had barely a clue what we were doing and probably didn’t get a single thing right, but we had fun. The video component naturally followed, and before we knew it, the production of our first music video was born: “What do I know” by Ed Sheeran. With our newfound skill, we then produced our original song, “Omicron Standard Time '', capturing the frustration of teenagers across the country through one song. Within 24 hours of its release, the song exceeded 1000 views and our area of reach had been drastically enlarged.

Jumping on this momentum, I reached out to Cory Cullinan of Pictoria Records to see if he would be interested in producing my single, “With You” and as a surprise to me, he agreed. We hit it off immediately. During the craziness of my junior year, amidst my professional debut in Parker Arts & Culture Events Center as Cavemen in The Addams Family, assistant directing my first show, Beauty and the Beast, and preparing for my National Piano Guild High School Diploma exams, “With you” was released. After hitting over 24K streams across all distribution platforms, I realized that my music resonated with people across the world, and the inspiration for the creation of my first album Opus 1 was born. 

Opus 1, drew from my mixed piano studies in jazz, classical, and rock, pulls from my 5 years of orchestra experience, and brought in my musical theater training to effectively convey its story. That work, written over my 4 years of high school, represented the unrestricted, messy version of love that we all have faced. Each song exploring a different style of music, as well as a different side of relationships. The album spoke to the endless cycles of love, the path it travels, oscillating in and out of our lives, the unimaginable pain we feel when we lose it, and the ways that pain is tempered by the reminder of loving moments to come. 

Following that album, coming out my senior year, I decided that it was time I move somewhere to pursue my craft of both performance and music. So where else to go other than the big apple. 

2 years in New York City was the biggest change I had every faced. It was essentially restarting. Similar to other kids my age I was going to college, just without college. The Institute for American Musical Theater, while the most welcoming and home-like environment there is, did not have most of the conveniences a traditional school has. So not only was my immediate concern making new friends and doing well in classes, it was also, "what groceries do I buy to cook," and, "how do I do my laundry at the laundromat," and, "what does a fully furnished apartment look like?" and "How on earth does someone afford that?" And while those questions were definitely at the forefront of my brain, the question that kept ringing in my head was how do I move forward. 

(I have to take a brief moment to talk about my interum single, "The Tracks Before Us", which came out the summer of 2025. Having been started in the Dillon's home studio, then moving to Reach Studios, and finally being finished at Stanford's recording studio, The Knoll, the recording shined with triple layered polish. I collaborated with my favorite brothers Micah and Caleb Dillon to write the music for the song, and the amazing Matthew Fall for the music video. I could not be more happy with how it turned out so if you haven't had a chance to check that out, go do that. It is worth it. Anyway, back to my story!)

While it would seem easy, with the excitement of NYC, to leave hodunk Colorado behind, it was truly difficult. I found myself, every second, hung up on the things of my past. Not necessarily bad things. But things that wouldn't serve me in my pursuit of moving forward in my life. And as most of us do, when we are stuck looking in the rearview mirror, we tend to forget there is a wide Open Road in front of us. And that is where the inspiration for my song "Open Road" came. I won't drag on too much longer with what the lyrics mean because I think that the song speaks for itself, but the theme of "leading your life on the open road, and leaving the past behind" I think is one we all need to carry with us, no matter where we are in our walks of life. 

So here we are at present. My song "Open Road" comes out October 30th 2026. And I would LOVE for you to listen to it. Thanks for reading and I cannot wait to get on the "Open Road" "With you".  

 -Levi Randolph