He discovered his knack for songwriting while in high school, when he wrote a rap for a friend, and soon after this discovery he began working with acclaimed producer Jermaine Dupri (Mariah Carey, Usher). After recording a hip-hop album with Dupri, Colt would spend the next six years as a professional golfer before returning to his musical pursuits. While he excelled at golf and was able to earn a living doing something he loves, his desire for a career in music was always just beneath the surface and he continued working at his songwriting along the way. When his wife said “Look, just go try one more time“ Colt felt compelled to give it another shot, and with the full support of family and friends he set out to make his mark in the music world with a unique and bold vision.

Colt teamed up with Zach Mackeroy and manager/producer Shannon Houchins to form the start-up record label and management company Average Joe’s Entertainment. He then enlisted veteran Nashville session players to record his debut album “Ride Through The Country.” A truly original piece of American roots music, the heart of the record is Colt’s deep voice delivering raps about country life, everyday folks, Waffle House, and trailer parks. The rap-style lyrics are intertwined with melodic choruses over a deep stomping groove, while at the same time featuring more fiddle and steel guitar than most country records in recent history.

With the completion of this groundbreaking album and release in December of 2008, Colt set out to build his fan base and started the year 2009 with a handful of tour dates and four friends on MySpace. By the end of the year that number had grown to 68,000. Colt’s concept regarding building a fan base is simple; personal attention. When I asked him about his approach, he said, “I still, to this day, answer every message myself on MySpace. I’ve never requested anybody as a friend on MySpace, it’s been organic.” He also signs autographs after literally every show. This approach has paid off. One year and 210 tour dates later, Colt had sold over 150,000 copies of his album which by that point had made it to the hot 200 albums chart, all without any help from radio or TV.

Some of this recent wave of success currently enjoyed by Colt can be attributed to his connection to the Nashville songwriter community, as he has recently been collaborating with such notable songwriters and singers as Randy Houser, Luke Bryan, James Otto, Joe Nichols, Darryl Worley, John Michael Montgomery, Josh Gracin, Trent Tomlinson, Rhett Akins, and others. Colt has cherished these experiences so far. “Being able to write [and record] with those guys is amazing, and it’s changed the way I’ve written songs a little bit in certain things, which is a great thing. I mean, you’ve got to grow. I wrote most of the first album myself, but I wanted to expand and see what else I could come up with. I don’t got all the ideas (…laughs).” Some of these recent co-writes will be featured on his much anticipated second album, Chicken And Biscuits, scheduled for release on April 20, 2010. Other recent songwriting credentials include work with songwriter/guitarist Jeremy Popoff of the alt rock band Lit, and hip-hop writer Attitude.

Already off to a rocking start, 2010 has delivered Colt Ford to his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry, the crème de la crème of country gigs. With excitement building as the release of his new album grows near, and what is destined to be another busy year of touring, who knows what surprises are in store. Regardless of what the future may hold, one thing is for sure. Colt Ford is bringing a new kind of country to town.

I have always been in the latter camp. My very first nightclub performance with a band came at the age of 17 at a local “hoot night” at a club called the Mill in Amesbury Massachusetts. The experience was a positive one, leading to several more sit-ins in the following months. These sit-ins allowed me to graduate from practicing in the bedroom, to playing full songs with a band in front of an audience. At these jam night, I also made friends with other musicians, locals, and even a couple of “lady friends”, and this was pretty exciting for a young kid who was barely out of high school. This was in the early stages of my development as a gigging musician, and helped me gain some valuable experience and confidence as a performer.

A couple of years later I was in music school and still attended jam nights regularly. I looked at jam nights as opportunities to road test some of what I was learning in school, it was part of the exploration process for me. After school, I began playing professionally in a top 40 band, 3 to 4 nights a week. It was a great band, but pretty much a note for noter, not leaving much room for improv. At this point I began seeking out and attending many different jam nights and blues jams regularly. The basic attitude of “anything goes “found at many jam nights was an opportunity for me to further explore musical ideas and concepts. I also used jam nights and blues jams as a way to keep my sanity, temporarily freeing me from the restraints of my top 40 captivity. While not all of these were great musical experiences, some were, and I met some great players along the way, developing lasting friendships with many of them.

In the early 90s I heard about one particular jam night that was really happening. It was a cold Monday night in the middle of the winter, when I first arrived at an old rustic club called Colbys in the small town of Rochester New Hampshire. The place was packed and the band was rockin’ as I walked in carrying my Fender Strat and Marshall amp. The first thing I noticed was that the whole place was just alive with energy, everybody was really listening to the band, even clapping and singing along at times. The group that hosted this weekly event was the Ron Jones band, and they played a mix of rock, blues, and country, very well I might add. There weren’t many jammers there on that particular night, and after the band heard that I could play, they had me play with them for an entire set. It was an extremely rewarding musical experience, and I didn’t view it as something I was doing for free, I was simply doing something I love to do.

I returned often to Colby’s over the following months participating in many great jams as well as a nightly ritual called the Dr. Pepper, in which shots of 151 rum were lit on fire, dumped into a row of beers, and then consumed quickly by the band (by the way, don’t ever drink and drive). On one particular night I walked in and heard an amazing guitar player sitting in with the band. Simply put, he was one of the best guitar players I had ever heard. I was intimidated at first, but upon the encouragement of the band, I set up to play a few tunes with this fellow. From the first note we played together, everyone knew it was going to be good, it just felt right. We jammed for over an hour, engaging in some great band interplay, and became instant friends that night.

I eventually lost touch with my new guitar buddy, but continued playing in bands and using jam nights as a musical outlet. Over the years, I made mental notes about the stronger players I would encounter, and when a player would leave my band, I would sometimes hire players that I had previously met at jam nights. On more than one occasion, I would bring my band to a jam night and use it as an opportunity to audition live for the club owner, sometimes obtaining work from this approach.

By the early 2000’s I was burning out on the New England nightclub circuit, or lack thereof, and began to think about relocating to a place with more music industry. I had heard some rumors that my old guitar buddy had moved to Nashville and was doing quite well there. I tracked him down, called him up, and even though we hadn’t spoken in 10 years, it was as if our conversation picked up right where it left off. He understood my frustration with trying to earn a living as a musician in New England, and suggested that I check out Nashville. A couple of weeks later my wife and I made the drive to Music City and my old friend greeted us with a smile. He graciously took us around to all of his hangouts, introduced us to his friends, and gave me the scoop about Nashville. A couple of months later we made a permanent move to Nashville and my old guitar buddy was instrumental in helping us get situated.

Since being in Nashville, I have attended a few jam nights and blues jams. Over the first year I spent a lot of time going to the Fiddle and Steel in Printers alley. Sometimes I would have to wait all night, but eventually I would get to sit in. It wasn’t advertised as a jam night, but it seemed to be kind of an unofficial sit-in after the first set on weeknights. After about a year of going to the Steel regularly, one of the relationships I made there led to an opportunity to work as a guitar tech on the Toby Keith tour. That tour lead to other tours. I have been working as a professional musician ever since. I wonder if I ever would have come here if I hadn’t met my guitar buddy at a jam night.

So, what have I gained by going to jam nights?

1. Friends
2. Experience
3. Confidence
4. Ability
5. Bandmates
6. Connections
7. Gigs
8. Social Skills
9. A Career
10. A Lot Of Fun along the Way

Why does it matter if a nightclub owner profits from others playing for free if those who are playing for free can also find ways to benefit or “profit” over time by doing so? Jam nights, open mics, and blues jams have been around for decades and are what you make of them. They can be great and they can be terrible, sometimes within the same night. You might have to search hard to find one with a group of players or vibe that fits you. You might have to make repeated attempts at any given jam night to gradually work your way into the niche, and you probably won’t get discovered at a jam night as the next “superstar”. But I believe, with the right approach, a jam night can be a useful tool for some. For me, they have helped me discover myself.

I moved from New England to Nashville in 2002, and for my family and me, the first year was the hardest. Over that first year, my wife and I both tried relentlessly to find employment and struggled to pay the bills. We earned the bulk of our income during that time by selling off musical equipment and other possessions on eBay while going out on the town at night to network. About one year into this new life, the networking paid off, and I landed a job as a guitar tech on the Toby Keith tour. Landing this gig was a financial lifeline. After a year of working for Toby, I began playing guitar for the Honky-Tonk Tailgate Party, a package tour in which one band backed four artists nightly. When that tour disbanded in 2007, I stayed on with one of the artists, Rhett Akins, who in addition to having a large cult following is also a well-known Nashville songwriter, having 25 of his songs cut by major artists in 2009 alone. In addition to working for Rhett as tour manager, lead guitarist, and band leader, I have also been recording demos for various songwriters in my home studio, Music on a Hill. I came to Nashville with very little knowledge about professional recording and have learned much about professional recording from many of my friends in this music community over the years. I’ve also recently licensed some of my music to a couple of television shows and documentaries.

None of this would have been possible if I didn’t have what turned out to be an invaluable combination of skills, work ethic, and a friend in the industry who helped point me in the right direction. Over the past couple of years I have met many struggling musicians and singers. At a recent blues jam, I met a drummer that moved to Nashville about nine months ago. He had done a couple of gigs in town, but nothing consistent, and nothing that came close to paying any bills. He was doing his best to try to insert himself into the scene but wasn’t having much success. “How do you get a road gig, or any gig in this town for that matter?” he asked. I could see the look of desperation in his eyes as he told me that his savings were now all used up and he wasn’t sure what he was going to do next.

Unfortunately, this kind of story is common in Nashville.

The concepts and information in this book come from my life experiences as a working musician in Nashville. I am very fortunate to be in the small category of musicians in Nashville that do earn a living from music, and it is my desire to share this knowledge in the hopes that it will help some of those who are struggling. In addition to my perspective about the practical side of Nashville, I am getting help and perspective from friends and others in the industry, and everyone I’ve talked to about this project has been more than excited to share their insight and stories. I have completed several recent interviews which will be printed in the book. Among them A-list session bassist Mike Chapman, self-made indie artist Colt Ford, nightclub musicians, club owners, songwriters, engineers, managers, bus drivers, and more.

Nashville is a funny place. Everybody comes here to fulfill their dreams in music. Most people are unable to survive the industry for any real length of time. Many of those who do survive long-term end up so trapped in the business end of the industry that their musical integrity often suffers. It seems that for many people, the Nashville experience isn’t what they hoped it would be. The key to surviving Nashville is to figure out how to earn your living within the industry, do your own thing on the side for fulfillment and personal long-term goals, and use your connections and other assets from the industry for financial survival, and for your long-term goals. None of this can be accomplished without a long-term commitment to this place and without building real, lasting relationships. It is my hope that this book will provide a path for some to accomplish their dreams.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be launching a website for this book project, thenashvillemusicianssurvivalmanual.com. The site will contain excerpts from the book, interviews (both transcribed and audio), links to many useful Nashville business websites, information about networking, relocating, and a blog. I am truly excited to get this information out into the world. Check back often for updates. In the meantime, hang in there, the road to success is not always an easy one, but everything in life worth accomplishing can’t happen without some hard work, dedication, and a lot of patience.

In the critically acclaimed book “This Is Your Brain on Music”, author Daniel Levitin points out that no known human culture now or anytime in recorded history lacked music. Some of the oldest artifacts found in human excavation sites are musical instruments. It’s only been in the last 500 years of our own culture that society has divided itself into two groups, music performers and music listeners. In many non-industrialized cultures, music making has always been, and still is as natural an activity as breathing and walking, with everyone participating. Before television came along in our own society, many families played music together for entertainment. Most modern day music listeners have the ability to recognize wrong notes, remember melodies, and tap their feet in time to music, which according to Levitin is an activity that involves a process of meter extraction so complicated that most computers cannot do it. An argument could be made that a person who possesses even a minimal amount of music making abilities is a musician.

Our culture tends to put emphasis (perhaps at times, too much emphasis) on technical virtuosity. While understanding music theory and being technically capable can enhance the performance of some musicians, it is not at the essence of human expression through music. We only need to look back to the blues music of the last century, the work songs of the slaves, or the primal rhythms of Africa to understand the power and depth of human emotion that “non technical” music can convey.

Music exists for everyone, and the performance of music should not be reserved to the few that happen to excel at it. If you enjoy the feeling you get when you strum a guitar chord or strike a drum, that is reason enough to make music. If you like to sing, even if it’s only in the shower, then you should sing. Music is perhaps the oldest form of communication, and should be continually explored by all people from all walks of life. What is a musician? Perhaps a musician is simply a human.

The importance of having a good hang factor is also one reason that when a player leaves, the band leader will want to replace him or her with someone they already know and feel comfortable with. The band leader can go to the artist and say “I’ve got someone in mind to replace Jimmy. This guy is a great player and a great hang. I’ve known him for 5 years and he’s a solid, reliable, stand up guy, I think he’ll fit right in.” In many cases the new player is hired on the basis of a brief conversation with the artist or manager such as this, and it is the band leader vouching for this player that gets the new guy the gig.

Getting one of these gigs in Nashville is all about who you know. Although there are some “cattle call” style auditions, in most cases when a player leaves a band, the band leader will replace him or her with someone they already know. While some may refer to this as the good ole boy network, I prefer to call it the buddy system. They are simply hiring one of their buddies that they already feel comfortable with. I’ve heard of situations where a National Act has already picked the new player but holds auditions anyway, and then still hires the player they already had in mind. Maybe they are just looking for options, or it might be a formality to appease the record label and/or management. Some feel that this buddy system is unfair, as it makes it difficult for newcomers or players that aren’t in the loop to have much of a chance. For better or for worse, this is just the way it is. Knowing and accepting this is essential! If it is your goal to land a road gig, you must know and become friends with people that are in road bands.

Be Visible: Whether you are new to town or have been here for several years, nobody is going to know you are a competent player if you don’t play some gigs in town or do some sitting in. Try to land a regular weekly spot with someone performing in clubs on Broadway, Printers Alley, or other in-town music venues. Know the Country standards that everyone plays and look for opportunities to sit in with bands playing around town

Spread Out: Over time, work your way into as many different in-town gigs as possible. Rather than being in one band that plays out 5 nights a week, you would have more irons in the fire if you played in 5 different bands that each played 1 night a week. This way you are playing with and building relationships with a larger number of players thus increasing your possibilities that one of them will call you for something else. Little gigs can lead to bigger gigs.

Hang where Road Guys hang: If you want to get to know some guys in road bands, hang out where they hang out. Over the years there have been different clubs on different nights that have had good hangs for road musicians. These musician hangs kind of self evolve and are always changing. Nobody says “hey everybody let’s start all hanging out at the Stage on Wednesdays”. At the time of this writing, a few hotspots worth checking out would be; The Fiddle and Steel (any night) and The Stage on Mondays 10:00 to 2:00. Also keep in mind that road guys are usually out of town Thursday thru Sunday, so Monday thru Wednesday are the nights they are most likely to be out on the town.

Let people be aware: When you are hanging out at the clubs and meeting people, let them know what you are working towards. People come here to work in many different aspects of the music industry and won’t necessarily assume that you are looking for a road gig.

The Nashville Handshake: If you meet some new players and they like you and/or you’re playing, they may ask you for a business card. “Hey man, I really enjoyed playing with you, you got a card?” “Sure, let me grab one of yours, too.” This is what is known as the Nashville Handshake.

Phone Calls: After you have made some friends with different musicians and industry people, call them every once in a while to touch base. People are busy in general and have a lot on their minds. A little monthly chat will help keep you more to the front of their minds, just don’t overdo it. If it is a friend, call them as much as you feel is appropriate. If it is someone you only met once and barely know, you might want to call sparingly, it’s a fine line. A little goes a long way, but the squeaky wheel does get the grease.

Be Patient and Don’t Panic: If it is taking a long time and you haven’t gotten any bites, don’t freak out. It can take years to land a road gig. There are approximately 450 touring bands based in Nashville but there are tens of thousands of players trying to get hired by them, very stiff competition. 450 touring acts means there are 450 drummers, 450 bass players etc, but it does not mean there are 450 job openings for each band position. Many artists have had the same players in their bands for years and with times being tough, most players are sticking around longer. Therefore, at any given moment there are only a handful of job openings for those tens of thousands of players looking for gigs. There are no guarantees in this town; you just have to be patient, wait your turn, and work it.

Most interfaces today come with recording software like Cubase and Ableton with some effects plug-ins included, and this is all you will need initially. They also have great help menus and online customer support forums which can be of great help. Chances are that you have some musician friends that are home recording savvy. Just ask for help and advice and they will more than likely be able to show you what you need to know to get started. If you perform a google search on home recording you will also find a wealth of free knowledge that is right at your fingertips. It does take a lot of time to develop your engineering abilities and recording chops but in the end you will become a better musician and have a better understanding of what makes a great song great by learning the recording process.

When I first moved to Nashville, I felt the need to record some of my originals. I found a great studio on music row and spent roughly 100 hours at $40 an hour over a 2 week period recording this project. I tried to take my time to get it right, but in the end I always found myself watching the clock as it was all on my dime. This fact, always in my subconscious, seemed to get in the way and restrict the overall creativity and vibe. The project turned out very good, but I felt I could have spent more time on it but simply could not afford to.

This experience prompted me to buy some gear and learn how to do it myself. It was the best investment of time and money I have made since my move to Nashville. Now, I record myself and others on a regular basis (both for fun and money). I can put as much time into my projects as I need or choose, work on my own schedule, and really get deep inside of the recordings I make. I have found that by learning how to make a good recording, I have learned about how a great song is constructed, the importance of good parts and the space they need, and the art of capturing a strong “performance” plus much more. I have no doubt improved my overall musicianship throughout this process and learned a great deal about engineering, producing, arranging and the importance of these roles in the recording process.

So, if you are thinking about going to a studio to record your own music on any kind of regular basis, just do a little math. How many trips to a studio at $30 to $40 and hour or more will it take to add up to the cost of some recording gear? How much time will you spend in the coming years earning the money for those sessions? How much more effective could you be if you had the freedom to record whenever you want without punching the “time clock”? Home recording is an art form that isn’t right for everyone. It does take money, drive, and a lot of time and patience, but if you plan on writing and recording your music for a long time to come, it’s definitely worth considering.

Broadway is a multi-layered scene. First and foremost it is a 3 block stretch of maybe 20 or so clubs lining both sides of the street that provides a year round destination for tourists. People travel from around the globe to visit some of the more famous spots on the strip such as Tootsies, Roberts or the world famous Ryman right around the corner. Most of the clubs on Broadway have an old western honky tonk feel to them and feature live music 7 nights a week. There are 2 “shifts” that bands and singers can play 7 nights a week year round; 6 to 10 and 10 to 2. During the meat of the tourist season (April thru November) many places add on an afternoon shift from 2 to 6 that gives a few more slots to bands and solo performers. Tootsies and a few others actually have an 11 am to 2 spot for acoustic solo acts.

Parking can be a nuisance especially during tourist season. There is no cover charge in general, and the clubs on the “Stage” side of the street are non-smoking (minors welcome with parental accompaniment) while the clubs on the other side are smoking and 21 and up. The bands play long and loud thru less than great house pa systems quite often spanning 3 ½ to 4 hours with a minimal break if any (pee breaks for players are often provided by the singer playing a couple acoustically). The pay for most of these clubs is a base pay of $20 to $40 per player plus tips (a couple of places pay slightly more). If your front man knows how to work the crowd you might make upwards of $100 per man, if he doesn’t, you might make only $25.

The music played by these freelance country commandos are standards for the most part. The biggest hits by the biggest Country artists of all time (Merle Haggard, George Jones, George Strait, Hank, Waylon, etc…) plus lounge standards like Mustang Sally, Honky Tonk Women and Pride and Joy are regularly beat to death. The audience is here to drink and sing along with songs they know, so this largely keeps the song lists to well known and well worn tunes (there are some exceptions of course). Although many of the singers that work these clubs have a regular group of players that back them, many of these “bands” are put together with short notice. It is common for players to sub out their gigs at the last minute if they are offered something more lucrative.

Beneath the guise of a tourist attraction, Broadway is the first and most obvious place for newcomer musicians and singers to network. When I first moved to town I hit these spots nightly to break myself in to this music Mecca that some call Nashvegas. If you start talking to players on breaks (if they have one) or between shifts you will find some are Broadway regulars trying to hustle a living, some are road guys that are playing for fun or networking, some are newbies to town trying to work their way up while honing there chops while others have been squeaking out a living by playing solely on Broadway since the 70s or 80s. Just start talking to people and most will be happy to tell you their story. On any given night, you might be hearing an unknown singer backed by players that play for acts like Brooks and Dunn, Keith Urban, Dwight Yoakam or Jo Dee Messina. Of course this won’t be obvious unless you start talking to these folks. There are many great players that work the strip and even more less than great players as this town has been recently over saturated with a mass migration of mediocrity from every small town across the land. All in all this is a great place for someone new to town without any contacts to break themselves in and start meeting some players and singers.

Right up the hill you can find the somewhat hidden historic Printers Alley right off of Church Street. Printers Alley has been home to many a club since the 1940s and has a great old town feel to it with elegant Victorian style architecture and a cobblestone street. Many years ago an unknown guitar player worked nightly at clubs in the alley years before the world knew him as Jimi Hendrix.

Many clubs have come and gone in the alley, but since 1996 The Fiddle and Steel Guitar Bar has been a great hang for many of Nashville’s road musicians when they are not on tour. Often called the “Cheers” of Nashville, the club has a great vibe to it, a decent stage with a house drum kit and a good pa with a house engineer. The level of musicianship is generally a little better than what is found on Broadway and parking is easy as there are several parking garages very close by. Each night features a different house band playing mostly covers as there is a lot of tourist activity in the alley. On Tuesday and Wednesday nights there is an “unofficial” sit in that takes place. It’s not advertised, but if you are a good player or singer you can probably sit in and show your stuff if you ask the house band when they are on break. Before Rascal Flat was a household name they were one of the house bands at the Steel for quite some time.

If you go down Demonbreun to the “roundabout” there is a strip of several pub style bars that have live music nightly. Places like the Tin Roof and 3 Doors down have been popular college hangs for several years and feature bands nightly that play everything from country to Motown, to classic rock and original music. I believe most of these clubs offer base pay plus tips. Many of these clubs are also lunch and dinner restaurants with decent menus.

If you take James Robertson parkway across the river to East Nashville you will find another cluster of trendy college and indie bars. These clubs have bands and performers that play everything from originals to covers and even the occasional poetry reading. This area is somewhat unknown to tourists and is home to some cool hangouts like the 5 spot, the Foobar and the Family Wash among many others.

As far as I can tell, these are the biggest groupings of nightclubs that feature live music in the city. There are many more worthy of mention that are scattered throughout the city and its outskirts each with its own unique vibe and type of clientele. Obviously, there are way too many too talk about each one specifically but just google nightclubs Nashville and you will find plenty more to check out. Here is a little more on some of these stand alone music emporiums.

If you take I40 west for about 20 minutes to Kingston Springs you will find another one of my favorite undiscovered gems of the Nashville club scene; The Fillin Station. I call this the “cheers” bar of outer Nashville and it is housed in an old one stall garage right out of yesteryear. Owner and operator Patrick Weikenand is a former member of Eric Burdons group War and sometimes blows a mean harp from behind the bar in between serving beers to his patrons. The club features live music Wed thru Sat and when the weather is warm the overhead garage door opens and the outdoor patio fills up with locals who gather for some cheer and good music.

The Exit Inn is a great concert club with a great stage and top notch production and is a stop for many national acts coming thru Nashville. Third and Lindsley is another stop for nationals, regionals and local acts as well as a great place for a showcase as is 12th and Porter. The Mercy Lounge (birthplace of the music mafia) is housed in an old mill building right off of Broadway and Douglas Corner is a great listening room with a diverse array of bands and performers just a little ways down 8th avenue. Of course we must mention the world famous Bluebird Café, king of the singer songwriter night and BB kings on 2nd ave which is a great place to see live blues. The Basement (right below Grimeys) is a great club for the indie scene and the Tap Room and Café Coco are good places to play for the jam band types. A few others worthy of mention would be The Rutledge, the Listening Room, Spring Water, The End, Cadillac Ranch, The Rock Bar, and Sambuca.

The pay rate for these venues runs the gamut from pay to play to upwards of $150 per night per player and everything in between. Most are tips only or a $20 to $40 base pay plus tips. The audiences range from tourists to locals, college kids to music row execs, but the biggest draw (excluding the tourist laden Broadway) is musicians, singers, writers, and music industry wannabes. This is good for those who are out networking but bad for the players that are playing for tips, as most musicians in this town are broke.

This information in this article is based on my personal experiences of gigging and exploring over the past decade since my arrival in Nashville. I am sure I have left out some great venues; however I wanted to write about the venues in which I have first hand knowledge. The main purpose of this article is to help musicians and singers who are new to town find their way around. Good luck and happy exploring!