Ethan Ames: Copywriter, Strategist, Storyteller, Musician

I’ve been fortunate to work across various industries — from digital agencies, e-learning, and financial services, to e-commerce and music journalism — but, at my core, I’m a storyteller. My goal as a writer is simple: to create content that resonates with target audiences. Whether through a marketing campaign, an engaging script, or editorial content, I aim to inspire and engage.


Over the years, I’ve freelanced with well-known brands and agencies like American Express, Edelman and Capital One. Each of my roles have sharpened my ability to create brand-specific content that leave a lasting impact on audiences and enhance brand performance.


One of my most rewarding challenges at Salted Stone, a digital agency, started with a blank slate. I was asked to write a retrospective case study on a project I hadn’t been involved with. To me, that was where the fun began. I dove deep into talking to team members, gathering insights, and piecing together a narrative that captured the project’s success. What started as a challenge became a discovery process, and it reminded me how much I love uncovering the stories behind raw data.


I’ve also explored my passion for storytelling by being a devoted fiction writer. This passion has led me to serving as a script reader/submission judge at the renowned Austin Film Festival in 2023. My creative prowess and insatiable curiosity shines when I’m building immersive worlds and compelling characters. I’m a student of the craft, and this passion has been a major asset in some of my marketing roles - particulary at a communications agency, Mind & Media, where I wrote digital shorts for a government cybersecurity agency/Mind & Media client, CISA.


Beyond writing, I’m also a musician. Composing, performing and recording music in professional studio environments is a cornerstone of my creative pursuits and other one of my life’s deepest passions.


I’ve come to find that creativity isn’t just an innate passion; creativity is action. To keep it alive, one must maintain momentum and openness to new ideas. There’s a rhythm, progression and tone to all things creative — whether I’m writing a song, crafting a narrative, or working on campaign strategy. Flow, structure, and authenticity are essential to my process.

Music reviews for The Deli Magazine

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Rosehardt plays vulnerable alt-R&B at Baby's All Right 04.06

New York's Rosehardt (real name Caleb Eberhardt) has a unique musical aesthetic that would be hard to categorize as any one genre. It's a little bit neo-soul, a little bit R&B, a little bit hip-hop, and a lot of heart. On his forthcoming LP, “Songs in the Key of Solitude,” Eberhardt throws caution to the wind and embraces myriad influences to the utmost effectiveness.

Lady Chops & The Goddamn Jam plays Whip In 2/15 – THE DELI

On the short, sweet "Leawood Street," Lady Chops & The Goddamn Jam paints a rich picture of a childhood summer day about town. Lead singer Bethony Nichole’s lyrics are an idyllic series of vignettes: descriptions abound of magnolia trees, gravel underneath one’s feet, pressing one’s hands into wet concrete and wearing overalls. For the most part, the song is refreshingly devoid of overt angst, instead focusing on the images and sensations that comprise a child’s experience of her world.
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Record of the Month: Forth Wanderers - Self-titled

Forth Wanderers' new self-titled album, their Sub Pop debut, is symphonic and rollicking. The band's songwriting duo - Ben Guterl on guitar and Ava Trilling penning lyrics - are perpetually in sync, despite often writing at a physical distance. The five-piece band's members are rarely in the same place at once (they're all college students in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Ohio, respectively). Despite this, their chemistry and synchronization as a band is abundantly evident on this release.
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Culture Wars invokes futuristic wild-west themes in new video, "Bones"

The electro-pop trio of Culture Wars has released a new music video, "Bones." Although the band's based out of Austin, the video was shot in Los Angeles. Directed by Phillip Lopez (Kygo, Cold War Kids), the video for "Bones" is vaguely post-apocalyptic, with much of it set in and around an abandoned bowling alley. The characters adorn gas masks, futuristic-looking helmets and cowboy attire (yes, sawed-off shotguns and pistols included).
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Trace Mountains brings hypnotic indie-pop to Alphaville 03.30

Trace Mountains, fronted by LVL UP's Dave Benton, is a local act you want to keep your ears on: just listen to "Cary's Dreams" off their forthcoming LP, A Partner to Lean On, dropping March 30th on Figure 2 RC. "Cary's Dreams" is at once subtle and upfront, humming with muted emotion and the crackling-yet-contained energy of a thundercloud. Benton's lyrics have a quality of magical realism, infusing mundane social observations (by an unreliable narrator) with a sense of profound clarity, all the
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Late Slip delivers rollicking country-punk at Hank's Saloon 04.12

NYC's Late Slip is best categorized as country-punk, though the band's genre-bending makes for a unique, if not undefinable, listen. Their 2016 EP, Other Men, is a rollicking four-song romp that grapples with the theme of love lost, without descending into tones of bitterness or self-pity. The tempestuous content of frontwoman Chelsea Nenni's lyrics is counterbalanced by uptempo, crunchy, roots-rock arrangements. Nenni's vocals are remarkably strong and versatile, carrying each song along with i
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Plain Dog brings ambient indie to Elsewhere 04.09

On their new album, All My Friends, released this past February, New York's Plain Dog carries the DIY/indie torch while also managing to inject something fresh into their material. The seven-track album is at once buoyant and crackling with angst, with driving percussion and fuzzed-out guitars reminiscent of Modest Mouse and hints of Nirvana. With this release, Plain Dog delivers in droves and promises great things to come. You can catch them at Elsewhere on April 9th. Listen to "Cherry Cola" be
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Vlad Holiday brings thoughtful indie-pop to Elsewhere 04.03

New York's indie-pop sensation Vlad Holiday is a force to be reckoned with. Just take his latest single, the ambient and melancholy "Children" - channeling the likes of M. Ward and The National; Holiday waxes nostaglic for simpler days and laments a certain loss of innocence that comes with the territory of growing up. Moreover, Holiday seems to long for the kind of blind optimism that drives so many of us to plunge headlong into life and love, for better or worse. "Lie to me and say goodnight/I
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Aerial East brings retro indie-pop to Mercury Lounge 04.05

Aerial East's indie/alt-pop is an exercise in subtlety: the Texas-born, NYC-based artist's smooth, retro instrumentation belies themes typically reserved for the most irreverant of artists. At a glance, one might think they're listening to pre-British invasion pop from the early '60s. Strings, tinkling pianos, whistling and low-key jazz drums abound on "Crazy Now," in which East quietly bemoans her own attempts at radical, if not frantic, attempts at self-transformation, which ultimately leave h
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Detroit Rising plays energetic future-funk at Rough Trade NYC 04.08

Detroit Rising, part of the Down Jazz record label, is a funk-fusion act that shatters conventions and boldly explores new musical territory. Comprised of Detroit-hailing, NYC-based musicians who have played with Parliament Funkadelic, Lady Gaga and Mary J. Blige, Detroit Rising is a three-piece that exhibits undeniable musical expertise. Their new album, A Cosmic Jazz Funk Adventure - released March 30th via Light in the Attic & Down Jazz Records - is startling and compelling, harnessing many d
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Dan Abraham brings melancholy indie-folk to Mercury Lounge 04.11

New York-based songwriter Dan Abraham puts a new spin on indie-folk. It's evident that he's first and foremost a pop songwriter: on "Golden," with vocal inflections reminiscent of The Black Keys, Abraham reminisces on lost love with bitter clarity and 20/20 hindsight, over warbling, chorus-drenched guitars and a punchy rhythm section. However, on "As Things Move" and "Alive," Abraham's approach is much more steeped in the folk tradition, with delicate, fingerpicked acoustic guitar and lyrics rif
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Blank Spaces brings retro indie-pop to Mercury Lounge 04.02

New York's indie-pop trio Blank Spaces makes good use of their familiarity with '80s new wave to create a sound that's at once recognizable and unique. On their 2016 single, "Note to Self," Blank Spaces embarks on a three-and-a-half-minute journey into anxious ambivalence, with the kind of punchy urgency reminiscent of Talking Heads. "Note to self/Staring at the wall/Wait for something to happen/Won't make a change, won't make a difference/Let's lose these shackles/Let's leave this house." It's
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Buzz Bulletin: LUECK brings atmospheric indie-folk to Mercury Lounge 04.11

LUECK, the five-piece indie-folk band fronted by Katy Lueck, is a hybrid of musical influences that resounds with emotion. With hints of '90s alternative and West Coast '70s folk rock evident in the band's instrumentation, LUECK creates an atmosphere of longing and introspection without being too esoteric. As a songwriter, Katy Lueck has a pop sensibility, and her songs take enough interesting turns to further augment the appeal of her virtuosic vocals and shimmering guitar lines. LUECK is playi
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Pearla plays introspective indie-pop at Mercury Lounge 04.10

NYC's Pearla is an act you'll want to keep an eye out for - her songs are brooding, melodic and relatable. With inflections of Fiona Apple, Pearla laments her sense of dislocation on "Somewhere," using her literal geographical disorientation as an analogy for her own sense of unmooring. The song's arrangement is atmospheric and poppy, making good use of tasteful electronic percussion and delicate keys. "I don't know which way is north/I never do, I've just trusted I would end up somewhere." It's
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HEAVEN plays symphonic indie rock at Mercury Lounge 04.07

Despite its namesake, HEAVEN is a gritty and angsty band. Their songs are big, booming and compelling, with an evident pop ethos that straddles indie irreverance and top-40 catchiness. Making good use of the minor-key, grimy vulnerability of grunge and soaring, harmonious refrains reminiscent of Arcade Fire and other early-aughts indie bands, the four-piece of HEAVEN are a tight unit on their most recent LP, All Love Is Blue. The eleven-song album flows seamlessly, with enough variety in each so
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Negative Gemini brings brooding electronica to Mercury Lounge 04.06

The music of Negative Gemini (real name Lindsey French) feels spring-loaded - full of tension and liable to blow at any moment. At a cursory listen, the instrumentation on Negative Gemini's most recent EP, Bad Baby, is smooth, and almost mellow. However, factor in her velvety-yet-seething vocals, and the color of her music takes on a whole different shade. It's dark, it's staticky, it's at times dissonant and it's always urgent. Dread seems to hover over many of French's songs - a vague sense of
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Saint Marilyn plays moody synthpop on new EP, "Tangle"

The New York synthpop duo Saint Marilyn has dropped a new EP called "Tangle." The duo of Saint Marilyn is comprised of Che Houston and Kevin Marksson, who began work on the album last spring as a deliberate departure from their existing drums-and-guitar arrangement. "Tangle" is synth-heavy and moody, with upfront basslines and battering-ram percussion anchoring celestial-sounding synth explorations. The compositions themselves are unconventional, hearkening to both disco and new wave, with exten
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Much 2 Much brings angelic indie-folk to Mohawk 09.12

Watch out, Austin - Much 2 Much is coming out to play. Originally born as a duo, Erin Thelen and Angie Holliday formed the band in 2015 during a trip to Asia, and has since taken Austin by storm as a four-piece. Their music is soulful and ethereal, full of evocative, intricate harmonies and fluid songwriting that hearkens to R&B, folk and jazz. The full band's musicianship is a force to be reckoned with, and they're guaranteed to move you. Don't miss Much 2 Much at Mohawk on September 12th, with