Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

I'm a drummer, been pro for longer than I care to think about, or can remember. I'm in Nashville and have been searching for a WORKING band. Not just twice a month.... for free. This seems to be the impossible. What the hell i up with that?

You are too young to remember my Nashville-based band “Sweetheart,” because that was back in the mid-seventies. Back then in Nashville the music scene was very “click-ishs,” especially for studio work. Of course part of that was that we were playing rock with no country influence and that was not yet accepted there, but I imagine that in Nashville it is still who you know as much as how good you are. We worked through an agency called Crescent Moon Productions (Tony Moon's company) which was very helpful in putting talented musicians together. Have you tried letting the booking agencies know about yourself? If you have not, you should. I hope this is helpful. Rock out.

This is bizarre. I always thought Nashville was a mecca for musicians, like Austin or LA. Are you guys serious?

Yeah, I figured all one had to do to find a good band in Nashville was to step out your front door!

Irminsul and Auburn Diva, you two have obviously not worked in a closed shop environment. That is about what Nashville was, musically speaking, when I worked there in the seventies and I'll bet it still is today. Our band then, Sweetheart, was loved by the college students because we rocked them. The rest of the town was stuck on crying in their beer 'cause their woman left or their dog died or their pickup truck quit. (I don't mean to sound like I hate all country music, I don't.) At first I thought we were treated as outcasts because we were rockers and they were country. Then I realized I was dealing with a closed shop and even though I was a Musician's Union member in good standing I was still not part of that shop. The real union of musicians was determined by who you knew and who approved of you. A funny side note is that certain country musicians' children were big fans of ours and their parents hated that. Back then I would meet some incredible musicians whose talent was simply stunning. But if they didn't belong to the real union, they got nowhere. I would not be surprised if Nashville is still that way today. I hope that MassArtist can overcome that by contacting agencies. Their desire for commission motivates them to work outside of that closed shop environment.

Our AFM union local represents a blip on the musical radar, mostly ethnic musicians or wedding players. I belonged for awhile, but quit after a dry spell in gigs when I couldn't pay the dues. I still believe in the union ideal, but I've learned its not the silver bullet around here for musicians' profits and fair treatment. So in other words, how influential the local union is can determine how "closed shop" the town is. Among other factors of course.

Salt Lake City is an interesting connundrum. There are tons of musicians here, and of all the major cities I've lived in, both in the US and abroad, I've never seen so many talented musicians in one place, as here. Yet, it's exceedingly difficult to "find each other", click and even hold a band or ensemble together. After years and years of being a Salt Laker, I still can't tell you exactly why that is.

I just moved from Nashville a year ago. There are 2 kinds of musicians in Nashville 1 makes $50.00 a night the other makes $50,000 to make the big bucks in Nashville you gotta join the Musician's Union or you won't be playing any real good places all of the big guys gotta belong to the Union. It's kinda good and kinda bad, but you can meet some outragously good players in the union and they will help hook you up. The down side is you can only play at union places the up side is you get paid union scale. Travis Tritt said it best when he recorded "I'm a member of a Country Club" It's a very close closed club, But if you get in with some good players and play around Nashville alot and I mean a WHOLE lot make a good to great Demo and send it to every crick and cranny in town then you might have a chance at puttin a crack into the wall of that closed door envirment. Much better chance in LA or Austin. Then Nashville's gotta pay attention.

Dude check you rajon111 post about touring bands it's in Lebenon Tn 30 miles east of Nashville, might be what your lookin for it deffinately might be a steppin stone to the big time.