Tell us about your tour vehicle.
We fly, rent vehicles, tour vans, etc so we don’t have maintenance costs and all that goes into owning a vehicle. However, travel with a 9pc band can be expensive, as you can imagine.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
Eating healthy on the road is difficult when you are actually traveling. Once you make it to the town you’re playing it’s normally not hard to find decent local food. We all use various apps and social media to help us find the good stuff.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
I don’t change strings that often and I rarely break a string so it’s not an issue; And I get free strings through Fender.
Where do you rehearse?
We don’t rehearse- it costs too much. Luckily, my band is extremely talented. It’s Nashville, after all….
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
Gypsy Lullaby- “I didn’t see you in my dreams last night..sleep came all too easy. And so as I awoke alone, I knew I’d found sanctuary…in a cemetery in my mind where I lay my thoughts of you to rest.”
Describe your first gig.
At an infamous Nashville drug dealer’s “club”. Maybe 10 people there. It was everything you could wish for in a maiden voyage…
What was your last day job? Did you have a favorite day job?
I play music. It’s all I’ve ever done.
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
Ticket prices to a show haven’t changed since I started 20 years ago. I honestly don’t see it changing. Music is becoming less and less of an event; less special. It’s everywhere we go, all day every day. If anything, the price of admission will probably go down, unless you’re McCartney. Recorded music already is nearly worthless.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
I would have loved to have been clean and sober and fully engaged in my craft. That would have been a great benefit! 🙂