Tour Tip: Chewing on a Slice vs Getting a Taste
During my current, four week tour, I tried out a new strategy for my scheduling: Instead of rushing from gig to gig in new cities each day, I planned a few days off around a city to spend extra time exploring the scene.
Specifically, during my four week tour, I planned four nights in Chicago, and three nights in Nashville, even though I only had one gig booked in each city.
I’ve discovered that the rewarding part of the traveling to Chicago and Nashville was found on my days off rather than during the actual gigs. (The gigs were fun, too).
In a way, I’m still “working” on my days off, but it’s cool stuff: visiting concerts, meeting musicians, playing open mics, having coffee with other creatives. I’ve met so many people on my days off.
Last night, was another highlight: I went to the National Underground’s open mic, and I met Layne Oliver, a young country songwriter who moved to Nashville from Georgia this year. It was a blast to talk to him about his perspective of the scene from his experiences while we were bar hopping up and down Broadway.
Layne and I also met a group of Europeans songwriters that played at the open mic the National Underground. One “hello, I liked your song,” lead to us bar hopping to 1 or 2 AM, sharing beers at Tootsie’s and the Stage on Broadway, with Matt and Dan, German songwriters in a band called Skinny Jeans, and an entire group of Europeans they met while staying at the Nashville Hostel. It was a late night of singing along to ZZ Top covers, talking about our music goals and songwriting, hearing about Europe’s music scene and traveling…It was nuts.
Today, my alarm clock was menacing at 8:15 AM, but I got to meet Nashville freelance writer Chuck Schultz for coffee, and one minute into our conversation had me awake for the day! (The coffee helped, too.)
I’m might be still only passing through, but I feel like I’m getting to chew on a slice of the scene rather than only getting a taste.
My Michigan friends Ron and Erin surprised me at my gig in Nashville!
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