A homeless busker’s life has taken a dramatic turn after a chance encounter with a stranger led him to viral success.
On September 12, Donut Larsen (@donut.larsen), 29, from Birmingham, Alabama, was winding down in a Cincinnati Walmart parking lot after a long day of busking. All he wanted was to end his night with a beer and a movie.
“I was playing my guitar by a stop sign, and I made $100 to $150 that day—it was a good day. All I wanted after that was to drink some beer and watch Megamind. But I didn’t have an ID, so I hung out at a gas station,” he told Newsweek.
He encountered a group of people smoking and struck up a conversation, where he met Dominic Alexander (@pottieskippen), 26, from Warsaw, Kentucky, who was working in sales at Walmart at the time.
@pottieskippen/@pottieskippen
“Slightly an imposition, I guess, but they were cool with it. We hung out for a while, and I asked Dom if he could buy me some beer. He asked if I’d be willing to play him a song, so I did,” Donut shared with Newsweek.
With a simple wish to get back and relax, Donut played the easiest song in his repertoire, “Ghost of You.” But Alexander immediately knew he was in the presence of talent.
“I got chills,” Alexander recalled, immediately asking Donut if he could record him.
What happened next would change Donut’s life. The video, showing Donut singing beside his 12-pack of Budweiser, quickly went viral—amassing 2.8 million likes and 16.5 million views on TikTok.
“This guy walked up to me and said if I bought him beer he would play me one of his songs,” he wrote as the text overlaying Donut’s performance.
“Was the best deal I ever made and found out his name is Donut,” he captioned the video.
Donut, more formally known as Andrew, earned his unusual name in sixth grade after a character in the web series Red Vs. Blue.
Flans flooded in sharing their awe. “This is so SO good, the voice, the guitar, the raw emotion. please get this man in a studio,” wrote one viewer.
@pottieskippen/@pottieskippen
“I need this guy to get recognized. His voice… is insane,” said another user.
Before they parted ways, Donut had shared with Alexander his unconventional lifestyle: a life on the road, busking, singing, and living freely across different states.
“I couldn’t wrap my head around it,” Alexander said. “He told me he had $100 in his pocket, enough to eat, watch a TV show, and drink beer. He didn’t care that he was homeless—he was genuinely happy.”
The encounter could have ended there, but Alexander felt compelled to share the video online.
Over the next few days, the clip exploded across social media, and Alexander’s phone was flooded with messages from record labels and music industry professionals looking for Donut. But there was one problem—he couldn’t find him.
After searching through the morning and worrying Donut had already moved on to another state, Alexander finally spotted him in the same Walmart parking lot in EastGate Mall, Cincinnati.
“I felt like I had to help him,” Alexander said. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. My phone was blowing up— everyone was trying to reach out.”
Donut was none the wiser regarding his overnight surge in popularity.
“That morning, I saw a Facebook post and learned I had a million views on TikTok. I thought, ‘Well, that’s cool.’ Then the next day, my brother messaged me on Facebook and said I had 3 million views. That’s when it started to sink in—I was like, ‘wow that’s cool.’
“It’s been a wild ride since then,” he added.
A whirlwind followed, with the duo traveling to Louisville, Nashville, and even Los Angeles, meeting with several record labels along the way.
Sitting in a Los Angeles hotel room, Donut experienced a surreal moment.
“They flew me out to LA, and there was this moment of dissonance where I was looking at the city through the window. I thought, ‘This is absolutely the first time I’ve ever been in LA and not wanted to leave.’ I’ve never been a huge fan of LA, but in the past, I was always homeless and carrying a backpack. Places feel different when you have resources.”
Since his rise to fame, Donut has relocated to Nashville, where he’s focusing on establishing himself in the music scene and working on releasing his first album.
“I’m 29 now, almost 30 in four months, and I’ve been playing music for nearly 20 years. I’m just starting to get my footing. We’ve been planning for the next few months, and Nashville seemed like the right move.”
Despite the newfound opportunities, Donut’s journey hasn’t been easy. From the age of 17, his nomadic lifestyle sleeping outside, often sheltering in the woods, has led him to battle stigma and encounter numerous hardships.
He’s been open about his struggles with alcohol and the difficult experiences he’s witnessed through friends fighting addiction, which have inspired his gritty guitar sounds.
One comment on social media summed up the general ignorance about homelessness.
Donut recalled: “They said, ‘Look at his teeth. His teeth are straight. His nails are clean. That guy’s not homeless.'”
Donut’s music, which he describes as Americana, is deeply rooted in his life on the road. His raw experiences and emotional storytelling have shaped a blues sound that is heart-wrenchingly real and unique.
While he’s currently calling Nashville home, Donut’s future remains open. He hopes to continue making music and perhaps find some stability along the way.
“Obviously, I never expected any sort of sensational blow-up. Now, there’s this prospect—like, this could be my job, this could pay my bills—which hadn’t crossed my mind for the past six years.”
Reflecting on his new friendship, Alexander said: “I can’t be happier for Donut about the whole situation, it almost makes me feel religious, and I’m not religious. It was all just meant to happen.”
