Oh, hello!
For some time now, I've been meaning to start a written chronicle of my days at 'work' as a professional touring musician. Tour Blogs are fun to read, right? I've always thought so. Who knows, maybe a few folks will find similar interest/enjoyment in my stories that I've always found in following the adventures of my favorite bands.
I'm fortunate to be able to call playing music my day job. It's silly... traveling around the country, playing gigs and hanging out with some of my best friends, and that's my career. I try my best to keep that previous sentence in mind on the rough days, and suddenly the drive isn't so long, the venue isn't so shitty, and so on. Perspective!
So, bit of background - I've worked, to varying degrees, as a professional musician for the entirety of my adult life. In 2012 I relocated from Cincinnati, OH, to Austin, TX, for a teaching job. I'd always wanted to teach music in Texas (and the time I spent in public schools here was absolutely fantastic), though a pleasant side-effect of the move was getting in on the wealth of performance opportunities that Austin had to offer. Within a couple years, I got so busy playing that I was able to take a break from teaching work and support myself with music as a career. Don't worry kids, I still teach a little when I'm in town, and am sure that I'll return to the profession full-time at some point down the road.
2015 has been the best/busiest year yet as far as gigs go -- by the end of the year, I'll have played just over 200 shows, with around 150 of those being on the road. Had some really incredible opportunities to play big shows like Auditorium Shores during SXSW (in the rain...), a run of theater shows opening for Shakey Graves, and opening an ACL show for Jerry Jeff Walker at The Moody Theater. The various bands that I tour with have visited 34 states and 2 Canadian provinces (eh!), and the upcoming new year isn't shaping up to be any different. I love it.
It's my goal to update this blog during/after every tour for the upcoming infinite while. Hope you enjoy reading about this stuff as much as I've enjoyed living it. Cheers!
PS - If you're curious, here are links to the bands/songwriters who hired me to go on the road this year. They're all fantastic, you should like them and give them lots of money.
Carson McHone
Jackie Myers Band
Porter
Garner Sloan
For some time now, I've been meaning to start a written chronicle of my days at 'work' as a professional touring musician. Tour Blogs are fun to read, right? I've always thought so. Who knows, maybe a few folks will find similar interest/enjoyment in my stories that I've always found in following the adventures of my favorite bands.
I'm fortunate to be able to call playing music my day job. It's silly... traveling around the country, playing gigs and hanging out with some of my best friends, and that's my career. I try my best to keep that previous sentence in mind on the rough days, and suddenly the drive isn't so long, the venue isn't so shitty, and so on. Perspective!
So, bit of background - I've worked, to varying degrees, as a professional musician for the entirety of my adult life. In 2012 I relocated from Cincinnati, OH, to Austin, TX, for a teaching job. I'd always wanted to teach music in Texas (and the time I spent in public schools here was absolutely fantastic), though a pleasant side-effect of the move was getting in on the wealth of performance opportunities that Austin had to offer. Within a couple years, I got so busy playing that I was able to take a break from teaching work and support myself with music as a career. Don't worry kids, I still teach a little when I'm in town, and am sure that I'll return to the profession full-time at some point down the road.
2015 has been the best/busiest year yet as far as gigs go -- by the end of the year, I'll have played just over 200 shows, with around 150 of those being on the road. Had some really incredible opportunities to play big shows like Auditorium Shores during SXSW (in the rain...), a run of theater shows opening for Shakey Graves, and opening an ACL show for Jerry Jeff Walker at The Moody Theater. The various bands that I tour with have visited 34 states and 2 Canadian provinces (eh!), and the upcoming new year isn't shaping up to be any different. I love it.
It's my goal to update this blog during/after every tour for the upcoming infinite while. Hope you enjoy reading about this stuff as much as I've enjoyed living it. Cheers!
PS - If you're curious, here are links to the bands/songwriters who hired me to go on the road this year. They're all fantastic, you should like them and give them lots of money.
Carson McHone
Jackie Myers Band
Porter
Garner Sloan
RSS Feed
