Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
I’ve got a 2017 Ford Transit. Almost 100k miles. It’s a 15-passenger, but most of the seats are out to accommodate gear. So far no major repairs necessary!!! Before that though, I ran through a Ford Ranger, a Nissan Quest, and a Chevy Express in a matter of about 6 years!
The Chevy Express got stolen in a hotel parking lot in St. Paul a few years ago. It was our first jaunt with a new tour manager and she thought we were pulling her leg when we told her the van was gone in the morning. Luckily, our tour mates, the Grahams, let us use their truck for a while to finish up the dates! We had our guitars in the hotel, but some pedals and amps were in the van when it was stolen, so we had to backline those for the rest of the tour.
A month later, I got a call that they had found the van. I flew up to St. Paul, Uber’ed to the impound lot, paid $300 to get MY van back from the police then started driving. Before I could get out of St. Paul, my manager called me saying someone called him in response to our Craigslist ad about the missing gear – he gave me the address and I was 5 minutes away!
I pulled up to this house and sure enough, there’s my amp sitting in his driveway. The man said he found it on the side of the road, which made sense, as it had long scratch marks and the tolex was all chewed up. I thanked the man, packed it up and drove the van home, listening to Tom Petty for 14 hours straight. That amp is the one that’s on the cover of my album Other Arrangements!
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
If we have time and access to vegetarian Indian or Thai, that will always be my go-to. High vegetable intake is absolutely necessary on tour. If it has to be quick and cheap, I always go for the Taco Bell Veggie power bowl. It’s not on the menu in a lot of places, but they know what to do – it’s just a pile of beans, rice, lettuce and pico de Gallo!
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
Maybe 2 or 3? It used to be a lot more before I switched to D’addario. I play with a thumb pick a lot and that definitely puts the pressure on the strings. I’m learning to relax and not whack the thing so hard. I have a D’addario deal these days so I usually don’t have to pay unless I break a LOT of strings!
Where do you rehearse?
My current rehearsal space is my basement. I can’t tell you the crazy stories because…well…you know…the statute of limitations.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
“I’ve got antennas on my radio set/but ain’t it funny how I always get the channels I don’t get/like the Spanish station”
I don’t remember the title, but still remember how to play the intro and main riff!!
Describe your first gig.
My first 200ish gigs were playing hymns in church. I went to church with a guitarist named Bruce Clark, who had a hymnal with all the chords and capo positions written in it over the music. We played a lot of songs straight out of that book on Sunday mornings and Sunday nights.
My first PAID gig was a back to school bash for Lexington High School in Oklahoma. Probably 2009? I think we got paid $150 for a full band – we definitely played the song about the Spanish station!
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
My first and favorite day job was working for my aunt. I just kind of did whatever she needed done after school…cleaning trash along the highway near her property…pulling weeds in her flower beds…removing sheetrock and carpet to prepare her properties for remodel…cleaning and inspecting children’s books that were donated to her non-profit…scraping wasp nests off of her house. No two days were exactly the same.
After that I was the clean-up guy on a construction site for a few months…Just picking up trash and organizing electrical parts in a big old semi-trailer. Was grateful for the work, but that was a big motivator for me to really pursue music.
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?
For the first few years I made money almost exclusively from live shows. Now, with multiple records out, and a distribution deal, I make more from publishing, streaming/record royalties, and licensing for film and tv. However, merchandise, physical copies of records and live shows still help me make ends meet and are necessary pieces of the puzzle for many artists.
The law and money side can be confusing and frustrating. I highly recommend reading Donald Passman’s book, “All You Need to Know About the Music Business” if you want to learn about your rights as an artist, and the systems and laws that the music business operates within.
I think that streaming will continue to grow and make up a larger and larger portion of artist’s income. I’m a big proponent of streaming. There is definitely room for improvement when it comes to how things are paid out, and many artists are trapped in record deals that keep them from seeing any of that income.
However, in the long-run I think streaming is better for the planet and better for music listeners. Fewer CDs and vinyl means less manufacturing and shipping which means fewer emissions. Also, we have an insane amount of music at our fingertips now. I’m grateful for all of the music I have been introduced to through streaming services. Their creepy-ass algorithms keep feeding me new music that I love, and wouldn’t have discovered otherwise.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
I wish I had learned some basic mental health and group dynamics checks to employ while on tour. For my tour mates and myself. At a corporation they have an HR department to help with that, but in the van, those roles aren’t so defined. It can get weird out there, and if you aren’t having regular, open conversations with your bandmates and crew, things can boil over. There’s nothing worse than being angry at family, especially when you’re about to get in the van for an 8-hour drive! I always try to keep Kurt Vonnegut in the back of my head when approaching these situations – “dammit babies, you’ve got to be kind!”