Photo courtesy of Ethan Womack.
Ethan Womack performs at Dog Daze in Trussville in 2023.
When he was a kid, Ethan Womack often drummed and tapped on things.
By middle school, he tried out for the band and earned a percussion spot. He got a drum set. Then his parents bought him a guitar. In eighth grade, he really began to learn by searching for YouTube videos.
“I started putting together songs and then just kind of fell in love with the process,” Womack said.
Next up for Womack was the electric guitar. Then he learned to play the piano during his senior year of high school.
“And really all for the Lord’s purposes, however He wants to use me,” said Womack, a 2022 Hewitt-Trussville High School graduate. “He gave me a gift and a talent of music, and I want to be a good steward of that. So, I wanted to make myself as usable as possible and learn as many instruments as I could, so I can be used in whatever worship settings He’d like me to be used in.”
Womack has played worship music at First Baptist Church Trussville, first the drums and later leading acoustically and vocally. It worked out, so much so that Womack has played gigs across central Alabama, from Trussville to Boaz, from Gadsden to Homewood. He plays a lot of country music — Hank Williams Jr., Chris Stapleton, Riley Green, Willie Nelson and Alan Jackson are his favorites to perform — and mixes in as many Christian songs as he can.
“Sometimes people notice it and sometimes they don’t,” he said. “Sometimes I get a thumbs up, sometimes I get a scowl. It just depends on the people there, but I love to use that as my ministry field to minister to people. I’m on a platform and I love to always give back to the Lord. So, that’s a huge thing for me.”
His go-to Christian songs are “Gratitude,” “Champion” and “Behold Him.” Because of Womack’s musical success, for the second year in a row he will open the Trussville Dog Daze Music Celebration on Saturday, Sept. 14. He will take the stage at The Gateway — Trussville Entertainment District at 7 p.m., opening for Sidecar.
Womack, a student-athlete at Samford University, spent much of the summer interning at a church in Florida. He is studying education to potentially teach one of the sciences and coach track and field — like a former Hewitt-Trussville High School coach before him, David Dobbs — unless he feels called to the worship ministry.
He has time, with two more years at Samford before graduate school. But Womack is aware of how torn he feels.
“Because after I finish my track career, I’d love to go and coach track somewhere, but it also might be the Lord’s call to worship ministry,” he said. “I don’t know. That’s kind of what I’m doing [in Florida]. I want to see if the Lord’s call is to education or the worship field. Just praying that He would swing doors wide open, and close them if He doesn’t want me to go through.”
While he sorts out that future, the music helps. It is how he uses a spiritual gift and ministers to people. Womack is looking forward to doing that from the largest stage in his hometown.
“It's an honor,” he said. “I'm just super, super grateful that Mrs. Melissa reached out to me to do it. I love Trussville. Trussville is awesome. I love the people there. … I'm super grateful for the opportunity, ready to get out there, just put on a good show for the people, and hope they enjoy it and just have a good night.”
