Nashville Blog #3 - Breaking In
Well I’m technically a bit late to this one, but I officially have been here in Tennessee for two months! In my defense, I’ve been pretty busy lately! As I’m writing this, I have played shows for the past three days in a row and four out of the last five days!
I look back at what I wrote last month and realized things have shifted quite a bit since then. I feel much more settled now. The nervous excitement of living here has largely passed, and I feel much more grounded. There are good things and bad things about this. On one hand, I feel more relaxed with a better understanding of my new environment. On the other hand, it becomes harder to ignore the frustrations within it. Rose colored glasses only work for so long! A lot of good has happened though, so let’s dive in!
Last time I checked in, I had one gig scheduled on June 5th. Well, what was supposed to be my first gig ended up being my fifth! The turning point seemed to happen when one of the instructors at Honky Tonk School suggested that I do a solo audition playing acoustic guitar instead of with a full band. There was more space for them to book me that way. The next week I brought my acoustic and it was a success! I got booked immediately after to play at Old Hickory Country Club that coming Saturday!
That still would not be my first gig! My real first gig was on May 22nd, the day before. This was also my first gig on Broadway, or “shift” as they call it. Broadway bars generally function in four hour shifts of musicians, creating a constant stream of live music throughout the day.
This was also another acoustic gig. Three people are usually paired together in these gigs,each of them taking turns playing songs. Looking back, I’m very glad I started playing solo acoustic gigs over the past year or so! That experience unknowingly prepared me well for the work I’ve been getting here. A lot of times I’ll sing a harmony or play a lead guitar part over the songs that the others play, which really adds to it! We also try to connect with the audience and make them stick around. Tips are a crucial aspect of making a living with this, so you want to get the audience on your side! It’s a lot of fun doing this in a group setting, and it takes some of the workload off of me compared to playing only by myself. I don’t usually come in having met who I’m playing with, but that doesn’t matter! By the end of the shift I usually have a couple new friends!
At one gig I had the privilege of meeting pro golfer John Daly in the audience! He really liked our set. We played a Zach Top song and he liked it so much that he FaceTimed Zach HIMSELF and had us play it again for him over the phone! So for any Zach Top fans reading this, I kind of met him! Those are my only direct celebrity encounters, but I also caught Kane Brown sitting in with the band for a few songs at his new bar on Broadway the week of CMA fest! I didn’t meet him or anything, but it was still cool to see!
There were a couple other gigs I got to do too. I got to play on the patio at the Brooklyn Bowl with Bobby Kitchens & The Dirty Dishes. Those guys were all great to work with and it was a great show! Plus I got to see the Wallflowers headline that night! I also played guitar for an artist who was playing a writers round, which was great as well! I have also been rehearsing with a band through Honky Tonk School, and we’re hoping to get playing on Broadway soon!
There was a period though when the gigs weren’t coming. I felt like I was hitting a wall during these times. With this and knowing the vast amount of talent I’m surrounded by on a daily basis, it really made me question my place in this town long term. In a world where music is your sole source of income, inconsistency is scary, and there are always tons of people vying for the same opportunities you’re looking for. These feelings made dealing with the traffic more of a chore, it made it harder to make connections, and the overall differences between living here and in Illinois really started to stick out like a sore thumb. I had felt this before, but being so new and excited to be here carried me through. I started to miss Illinois quite a bit. I missed my hometown. I missed college. I do miss those places, but in these times I realized it was the COMFORT of home I was missing above all. In reality, I was often very frustrated back then with not having many performance opportunities and dealing with trying to move here! In those moments, it’s easy to forget about all that I suffered through to get where I am now.
This past week most of my shows have been at Rippy’s. I played one at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, also on Broadway. That place holds much importance in country music history, so performing there for the first time was really special!
There were some tough moments this past month no doubt, but I’m leaps and bounds ahead of where I was a month ago. I hadn’t played ANYTHING yet a month ago! I stayed patient and persistent, and now I’ve played four out of the last five days as I mentioned before! I’m not expecting it to stay like this necessarily, but I do know one thing: I’ve broken in! I’ve stepped on stages, connected with people, and made lasting impressions here that I know will push me forward! I’m very much still figuring things out here, but I’m excited for what’s next!
