Jerry Hines: On the Invisible Work That Makes a Music Career Possible
By Jay Franze Fans see the lights. They hear the songs. They cheer when the artist walks on stage. What they rarely see are the hundreds of decisions, and dozens…
Paul Sidoti: Believes the Song Always Comes First
By Jay Franze Some guitar players spend their careers trying to be noticed. Paul Sidoti has spent his making sure the audience notices someone else. That may sound like an…
The Dreamboats: Aren’t Playing Oldies. They’re Rebuilding Live Entertainment.
By Jay Franze There’s an unwritten rule in live music: if your audience spends more time watching the show through their phone than actually reacting to it, you’ve probably lost…
Stephen Quinn: Is Building a Country Career One Opportunity at a Time
The music business has a strange habit of making years of preparation look like a few minutes of opportunity. A three-minute audition. One song in a Nashville recording studio. A…
Stephanie Rabus: Has Spent a Lifetime Refusing to Give Up on the Dream
At 11 years old, Stephanie Rabus underwent open-heart surgery. Thirty-three years later, she found herself dealing with her heart again. And somewhere between those two moments, she built a life…
Karen Waldrup: Refuses to Let the Music, or the Mission, Change Her
By Jay Franze There are artists who build careers around image. Others build them around hit songs. Karen Waldrup has built hers around something much harder to fake. Consistency. Spend…
Kieran Robertson: Is Helping Carry a Rock Legacy Forward
Kieran Robertson was 18 years old when he went to see Geoff Tate perform. He was a fan. That’s an important detail. Kieran had grown up listening to Queensrÿche. He…
Jay Bragg: Is Challenging Nashville to Remember Why the Music Matters
Nobody moves to Nashville dreaming about selling beer. They come to write songs. Make records. Build bands. Stand on stages. Maybe get discovered. Maybe make a living. Maybe become the…