“We were kinda like the odd man out in the nu metal scene and had to prove we could whip ass”: From hanging out with Lemmy and Willie Nelson to the carnage of Woodstock, how Sevendust’s Lajon Witherspoon became a modern metal icon

Sevendust’s Lajon Witherspoon posing for a photograph in 2026.

Lajon Witherspoon is regarded as one of the world’s greatest metal vocalists. Not only our words, but the words of US magazine Hit Parader, who in 2008 placed the Tennessean at No.35 in their Top 100 list, above the likes of Chino Moreno (51), Tom Araya (58), Amy Lee (69), and Corey Taylor (86).

His appearance in that veritable who’s who of rock singers is warranted. He’s been the soulful frontman for Sevendust ever since they formed in 1994 and, over the last three decades, the band have released 15 albums and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance in 2016 along the way.