Nashville Blog #2 - One Big Music camp
Well it’s hard to believe, but we’ve officially been here for a month, which means it’s probably time for an update! This first month has really flown by, but life has been so crazy that it feels like we came here a while ago! Here’s some of what I’ve been up to.
Our moving day was surreal. We couldn’t pick up our moving truck til the morning of, so we got it early in the morning to start loading it. Right away we ran into issues. There was a mishap while backing it into our driveway and it ended up clipping the roof of our house! My mom was also having a dental issue that she had to get looked at and couldn’t get in until that day. We had run into plenty of issues when planning our move so it almost made sense that we would face some adversity on the way! As we’d learned, nothing worth doing comes easy!
We weren’t loaded and ready to go until late afternoon, and it was an 8 hour drive! My poor dad was tasked with driving the moving truck the whole way, and the truck did not do us any favors. The steering alignment was off, it got dismal gas mileage, and struggled to maintain highway speeds. It burned way over 100 gallons! Some of our stuff also got damaged in the journey. One of our TVs unfortunately did not survive the move. Much of my music equipment had to be put in there too, but there was no damage to any of that thankfully! Despite all of that, we somehow still managed to make it here that day. After one in the morning, we finally made it to our new home.
The next few days were spent unloading the truck and our cars and setting up our new home. I want to give a shoutout to my cousin Travis and my aunt Nancy, who accompanied us and helped us move in! Within a few days, it was starting to look like home. The best thing about this place is that I have a dedicated music room now! I bought a desk and decorated the room to my liking. It definitely makes me want to practice more!
There have definitely been changes to get used to, some good, some bad. We’ve been enjoying some newfound restaurants that they don’t have up north, like the fried chicken and wings from Zaxby's and burgers from Whataburger! And of course you can’t forget WAFFLE HOUSE! The weather has also been beautiful! Almost every day has been 70 degrees and sunny! The main thing to get used to however, has been TRAFFIC. Traffic is crazy here! I live about 30 minutes from downtown Nashville, but at certain times of day, it can take upwards of an hour to make the drive! I’ve learned to avoid I-65 between 3 and 6 if I can! That being said, if I’m stuck in traffic, at least there are always rolling hills to look at!
Once we were somewhat settled, I started going to the city quite often to try and meet some people and network. In Nashville, one of the main tourist attractions is Lower Broadway, which is a row of bars that all feature live music all day, and many of them are owned by country music stars. Broadway offers a ton of work for musicians down here, and it’s a great place to start with meeting people and trying to get involved. I’ve been visiting there a lot to watch bands and network with them! It’s a slow process and a lot of hustling, but somebody has to KNOW you to give you a gig! Another shoutout to my buddy Ryan, who moved here a year ago and has been killing it on Broadway ever since! He has also been showing me the ropes of how things work there. Having a friend like that here truly makes all the difference. On Mondays, they also have a program called Honky Tonk school which offers instruction to musicians looking to get involved on Broadway, and you can play and showcase your skills and get feedback. It’s a great way to network and meet other musicians! Between that and meeting performers on Broadway, I’ve gotten to meet a lot of cool people so far, and I’ve even made a couple new friends! The talent here never fails to astound me!
I definitely felt intimidated by the “networking” aspect. It’s not a skill that comes very naturally to me, so I knew it would require pushing myself out of my comfort zone! The more I did this though, I eventually had an epiphany. I’ll never forget the first time I went to music camp here in Nashville. I was 16. I was a very reserved guy and had never done anything like that. For the first couple of days, I really found myself struggling to connect with people and break out of my shell, and I just was not enjoying myself at all. After the nightly concert one night, I came back to our dorm, prepared to go right to sleep and start fresh tomorrow. But then my camp counselor came up to me with an acoustic guitar, and he offered to let me borrow it to go jam with people outside, which is a huge part of this camp. I wasn’t really feeling it, but since he offered I decided I’d give it a shot.
So there I was, wandering awkwardly and aimlessly outside amongst a sea of people talking and playing music together in little groups. I eventually came across a small group just sitting in the grass in a circle.
“Just talk to them.”
“Just talk to them.”
Something in me was nudging me to talk to them. I was already out there, I might as well at least TRY to meet somebody! And if I crash and burn, at least I’ll never have to see them again after a few days! I said hi and joined them on the grass for a little bit. I don’t remember much of that conversation, but from that point on my camp experience changed.
There’s a camp guitar battle every year, and the top three contestants get to compete on the last night of camp in front of everyone. The next day I auditioned and got chosen to be in that final three. Very quickly I made a name for myself for my guitar skills, and suddenly I was making tons of friends! When the night of the final battle came, my groupmates and I formulated a plan. I borrowed an Uncle Sam outfit from them and concealed it with a white sheet. When I started playing, I would rip off the white sheet to show my outfit and rip into a medley that included “The Star Spangled Banner!” The battle is chosen based on audience applause, and this was a winning strategy! I walked away victorious with an experience that I’ll never forget.
What changed? How did I go from loneliness and anxiety to HUNDREDS of kids chanting my name? All I really did was just put myself out there! That has become a huge part of my life philosophy, and it shows up in many of my songs! Even if I fall on my face, at least I can say I tried! And I usually learn something no matter what!
Seven years later, now living here, I had this epiphany. I’m back in the same city where this all began, trying to make music and make connections. That doesn’t sound so different from when I was at camp! With such a small world community of musicians, I realized that I could think of Nashville as just one big music camp! It feels like my camp experience prepared me for this in a way, and the same tenacity that made me successful there will serve me well here!
I love it here so far. It’s definitely not easy being in the early stages and figuring things out, but I know I’m doing the right thing in the right place! It’s so refreshing to be here and be able to focus on building my career. I don’t have a whole lot to show for all of this yet, but I do have ONE gig scheduled currently! On June 5th, I will be playing with the band Bobby Kitchens & The Dirty Dishes on the patio of the Brooklyn Bowl here in Nashville! If you find yourself in the area, come check it out! We’re opening for the Wallflowers which is pretty awesome! It hasn’t been easy, but it’s been a great first month, and I feel like I’ve come a long way already! I believe that big things are coming in the near future, so stay tuned!
