The Death of the Middle Class Musician (feat. Tim Pierce) 

The best thing about music today is that anyone with a laptop can make a record. The worst thing about music today is that anyone with a laptop can make a record.

great insight, I’m 73, played with Tennessee Ernie Ford when I was 19. For musicians things are worse and it makes me sick. We are losing our culture. This is not the lament of an old man, this is reality, sad but, true. Rick, more power to you, same to Tim.

I was a full-time NYC studio musician back in the day. I was on the B-list:- about 120 musicians who took the work the A-list musicians (about 15-20 individuals) didn't have the time to do. Really good money but the pressure was terrible. One strike, and you were OUT. The producers usually enjoyed letting you know there were 10,000 guys waiting to take your job. I got tired of the strain and became a music instructor. Not as exciting but music became fun again. Be careful what you wish for if you want to continue loving music.

I love these conversations that get people to start thinking about how we can find a "happy middle ground" between the efficiencies of the digital technology revolution and the quality of life for everyone. The technological revolution came about so quickly that those at the top took advantage of its benefits while leaving everyone else behind. The giant middle class is now starting to wake up to the realization that we need to re-structure business models that were developed at the start of the technology revolution, so that we all get a fair share of the pie. We need to find a happy middle ground that maintains the efficiency gains of new technologies but isn't structured as a business so that it leaves everyone out in the cold, except those at the top. Keep this conversation topic ongoing!!

It's not just the US. I am a similar age to Tim. When I was a teenager in the 70s here in the UK, there was so much happening in the music world. So many artists, so many bands, in so many genres, at so many levels. I lived in the centre of a town in the industrial north. Any night of the week within a half a mile radius of my house, I could see young bands playing in pubs, learning their trade, bands in slightly larger venues on the verge of making it. Up the road, at the Civic hall, I saw Bowie, Queen and many other chart topping bands. 500 yards down the road was another venue where I saw, Hot Chocolate, Golden Earring and Thin Lizzie. We lived next door to a theatre where Hendrix, The Beatles and others played. Just three miles away there was a ballroom where I saw ELP and Yes. All this has gone. Now young bands have very few places to learn their trade and if you want to see anyone famous you have to travel miles to a city where you sit in a giant arena and watch them on giant TV screens - if you can afford the extortionate ticket prices. I was so lucky.

Another great one. Before I make this all about me, I want to say thank you to Rick and Tim for your candidness, expertise and great spirits. I so relate to this. I’m a couple years older than both of you. I wouldn’t change the period I grew up in for anything. It was so different and wonderful in so many ways. I feel sorry for anyone trying to do music professionally these days. It’s beyond hard. I’m retired now, but I was always able to make a living. Being a drummer, I have always been middle-class at best. Had a fairly popular band in upstate New York, who got signed to a major label. Brutal story, but I paid my bills. Moved to LA. My first pro LA session was with Tim Pierce at a studio called Master Control in Burbank. I’m very proud of that. I’m sorry it never happened again. I went on tours, recorded jingles, records, wrote instructional books, produced, mixed etc. etc. which altogether enabled me to buy a house. I didn’t think that was a big deal at the time but, turns out it was. None of these things, with the exception of touring are viable ways to make money anymore. Even then, as a drummer… well, let’s just say unless you’re on the road (a lot) making decent money consistently your lifestyle won’t be great. Not sure what the answer is. The world needs the middle-class. It’s the middle-class that drives the economy in every industry and the country as a whole. OK, the old guy’s gonna sign off now. Thank you Rick and Tim. Love what you do.

As a low class musician I was never alive. 😎🤓 Love it when you two get together.

In the UK, I went self employed as a musician in 2008. I've done over 150 gigs a year every except 2020/1 . I play as one half of a duo called Dew Barf. I play kick drum and hihat with my feet and guitar with my hands and sing. My buddy of 37 years plays bass and sings. We are pretty unique and look like the love children of ZZ Top and The Wurzels 😂. We're not rich, we get by. We use cheap gear and laugh at each other's mistakes. We have been approached by various people to elevate us to Glastonbury etc. Our answer is that we are not main stage material because the pressure of those gigs will destroy our DILLIGAF attitude. Happy doing what we do and think it's the best job in the world.

I like how Tim holds a guitar during the entire interview even though he does not plan to play it. It is as if the guitar is a natural part of his wardrobe.

I think the message here is we all need to change. The problem with that is there are a great number of people who are too young to retire and too old to change. Very sad to say that there is no such thing as a job for life anymore. I was forced to change track in my mid forties and it was hard. I really sympathise with all in this predicament.

Back in the 60s I was a kid in a church-based marching band. Our director was the first call trumpet player in Boston. He owned a little music store, taught us, did nightclub gigs for touring singers, was in the pit band for travelling Broadway musicals, was in the circus band when they came to town, and did general business gigs (weddings,etc.). And gave private lessons on trumpet. He worked all the time, and made a nice middle class living. Little of it exists any more.

I love the credentials these 2 men bring to the table. Thank you for sharing your insights with us Tim and Rick. :)

I was 17 in 1970, so I can attest to how amazing it has been to witness the 'heydays' you mentioned. After many years of being a 'working musician' in the middle, I have also seen the gigs disappear. Every hotel chain had a band playing 6 nights a week, so you could work non-stop. That's gone. I think what is harder to take might be the decline of an audience or market for music with more complex melodies and interesting chord structures. Also, I will now smile a bit more when I play the guitar solo from "Don't Dream It's Over"......on piano. Thanks for all you both do.

I'm a visual effects artist working from home across the valley from Tim. I love watching you guys talk shop. As someone in the entertainment business on the TV/movie side, I'm seeing a lot of the same themes in my world. I love that you guys have figured out another, more productive way to pursue your love of music that's not reliant on the old crumbling system. While I too am glad that so many tools have been democratized, I do miss the romance of the old days. That said, I was at the Roxy last month and it was packed. Sunset still has some love to give. People do still leave their bedrooms!

Being a musician raised in L.A., I really enjoy these kinds of videos. Keep them up!…

makes me so sad and reinforces what I always heard people telling me about being born too late (1988); always wanted to just be a middle class house keyboardist for somebody and/or touring and make just decent money and benefits...

Wow.. thanks for taking me back in time. I was there when the Lynndrum replaced our drummer in the studio. It was a heartbreaking eyeopener for a working band who dreamed of recording. I was fortunate to be asked to record. 1983. What an awesome interview.

Thank you for this great interview. I was born in 1952. I remember the music of my youth. At some point, the digital tsunami swept all before it. it will never be the same again. Many years ago, someone interviewed an aging comedian. They asked him what was wrong with the entertainment industry. He said, "There is no place to be bad anymore."

A very entertaining half hour conversation between two of my favourite people on RU-vid. Thank you so very much for taking us down memory lane of what was the music industry of a generation or two ago. I think of the industry much like I do Jazz music which I love. Its dying but somehow it still exists. Perhaps it is a combination of all of the great recordings of all of the artists, icons and muscians of the past that somehow infuses the present generation that ignites that spark.

Dave Fanning, an Irish Radio presenter and music oracle, once said “ Unemployment brings the guitarist out in everybody “.

Wow, Being a musician from LA in the 80s and 90s, you guys just described my life on just about every level! Accurate to the T! Thank you gents!!!

Wonderful insight Rick and Tim. I was one of those middle class guys, working in the larger studios as an assistant engineer, and running a demo studio where I would engineer, produce, and maintain the books. For me, the writing on the wall came with the ADAT machine, and my skills in setting the bias on a 24-track tape machine were no longer needed. I still play and hit the road every now and then, but all of my engineering and production work is done at home on a 12-year-old laptop.

Once again, Rick, extremely informative. As a former professional drummer, you’ve reinforced my decision to make a career change, which I did in 1982, about the time drum machines were making inroads. Thx again!! CJ

I love watching Tim play. I have never in my life seen a musician as overjoyed as Tim is to be doing his job. Always such a huge, happy smile. And he is just so ridiculously good. I loved the stuff he did with Kevin Gilbert

Love the chemistry between you guys when you just sit down and chat about the music industry, both now and then. Enjoy the NAAM Show!

I could listen to a whole episode of Tim going over his solos for those Rick Springfield records and stories from that time. I grew up on those records, and was little kid who would just stare at the tour booklet, and I always thought that dude with the hat playing guitar was so cool. I'm so glad I get to see that guy talk guitars and the music business. Seriously, if you're a fan of Tim's guitar playing and aren't familiar with his work on those Springfield records, you should check them. And some of the music on Rick's "Living in Oz" and "Tao" sounds like poppy early avenues to what became Nine Inch Nails. Distorted rock guitar and arpeggiated synths on top of heavy electric drums.

What a great video! Absolutely fascinating to see “behind the curtain” to get more insight into this world. Thank you, gentlemen!

Tim and Rick, love what you guys do and the history lesson is brilliant. This Adirondack region musician is still producing music at 58 and will do so until I cannot.

I agree 100% Thank you so much for having this conversation!

Fascinating conversation. As an East Coast cover band lifer, it's so cool to hear conversations about the 'industry' that I grew up listening to. Still ply my trade to this day some 40 years later. It ain't about the money, it's about using the talent that you were given by whatever force, religion or cosmos you believe in. If you were given the ability, use it and share it, no matter how little or much you can.

Just an amazing amount of info and knowledge shared. Love all the nostalgia. Always great context Rick . You and Tim are great together.

Awesome RB🎸Nice convo guys👍It must have been great to be a part of the Biz in its HayDay🍺Tom Bukovaks name is popping up a lot these days✌️🤠🌵

Looking forward to hearing about the session with Bukovac.

I loved the recycler. Found some good gear in that paper. Never used it to get gigs. I missed that part.

Always great interviews and guests, fascinating 😊

I cut my teeth in the industry in LA in the '80s and witnessed the start of the Digital Age. I don't think I could make it starting out today.

Omg… this takes me back. Doing jingles, sessions, small gigs all added up. Learning on the job. I’ve been able to make a success of music, but I think it’s much more difficult now to grow and gradually climb that nebulous ladder!

Great conversation. Artists these days don’t know how easy they have it. I played in several bands when I was younger and doing shows was really cool, but the end game was to get an A&R person out to watch your show and hopefully pay for a demo session. Nowadays, if you have a MacBook and Logic, you’re most of the way there. Please blushing your own music has never been easier than it is today.

Amazing to hear how things have changed. My uncle was in the music biz back in the day (played in the Squares with Joe Satriani and worked on Crowded House's album as well). One thing I learned by seeing his struggle was to have a side hustle / plan B. I always wanted the giant record deal in the sky and to be whisked away on tour but it didn't happen. I still feel pretty blessed though because I did get to do fun things, short tours, played big venues and such but I had the luxury of a decent day gig so making it in music wasn't so "do or die" for me. It's allowed me to play music simply because I love playing music and performing. I would have loved to have had music be my only job but I'll take using music to fund my bougie gear habit and provide a giant tax write off lol. It's a wild journey for sure.

I found this so incredibly interesting. The labor history of the music industry of LA through the 80s.

Great video! Glad you were able to shed light on what is going on in the industry!

I learned a hard lesson from my parents that things change. Your way of life, your job is never safe from change. I started off as a drummer and backup singer making a solid living performing live, and off a little bit of studio work and jingles. I had a thirst for recording and mixing and learned as much as I could from a 6 channel mixer into a cassette deck, then on to a 2" MCI deck and console. I knew I would have to diversify to stay working the minute I started working with a Roland D20 to use it's sequencing abilities for support additional tracks in live performance. Doing this set our band ahead of the others. A click track made me a better drummer. I started working at a music store because live music was dying. I saw the future in 1995 in digital mixing consoles. It was great until things began to change again. We'd moved from 2" tape to ADAT then to Pro Tools. Everything was storming ahead. LED lighting and displays, and digital consoles ran with tablets. The economy was changing where I was. Less clubs were booking bands. Prior to this I was already learning to play guitar, bass, lap steel, harmonica, dabbling in keys. In the last 30 years I have switched to guitar full time, become a lead singer, & front man. Something I never would have imagined in 1980. I never imagined I would eventually become an "Entertainer". All these years later I travel with a pair of acoustic guitars, a digital console, LED rechargeable lighting, and a pair of EV50 line arrays in a minivan performing 2-6 shows a week because after 2020 the solo acoustic market exploded in my area. I am still working steady because I was able to adapt with change. Be ready & willing for change because it will not wait for you.

I experienced a similar learning and career process in Denver, CO from 1999-2011. The drumming community was extremely gracious to one another. We wouldn’t hesitate to throw a pick up gig to our fellow drumming brothers and sisters if we were booked. Lots of Blues/R&B/Pop gigs to go around.

Great interview Rick....I remember seeing Tim playing with Rick Springfield in Lake Charles LA. back in 1986. He was great back then and still is now. Bon Jovi's Runaway is still one of my favorite guitar solo's of all times. I put him up with Neal Schon, Steve Lukather and Michael Landau.

Great stories from the 80s working as a session musician in LA. I'm a guitar player and read fluently (or at least I could) and regret that I didn't hit LA in the 90s (I was too young in 80s) to give it a go as a session guitar player.

The mystic of a Great player will carry on forever, on my concerts some people cry and connect with a Great spirit I Summon. I love this guys, thank for this

You can use the music industry and everything discussed here as a frightening example of what has happened to our country and our economy

Another great interview, thank you, Rick and Tim!

Good points. Whenever a "new" band breaks into the pop music scene, I always try and research their personal backgrounds and like 98% of the time they will be the son of so and so, an executive, or the daughter of what's-his- name, the movie actor. #1 way to get into the scene is to be a nepo baby and your parents get you lessons, invest in high quality instruments, studio time, and use their connections to get you into the game. Nobody makes it anymore who came from the factories- they are too busy working and surviving to practice and perfect their art skills. Interestingly enough, if Tony Iommi hadn't sliced off his finger tips in his factory job, the world possibly wouldn't have heard of dropped tuning in metal.

Rick - loved the video! The story got me excited and bummed me out. I wish things were a little closer to how they were back in the day

Great video! Very informative and quite eye opening to how things have really changed for working musicians. Lots of good information, very helpful to me as a working musician. Thank you so much!!

Same here in Argentina. My father in law is a 75 yo bass player (tango and jazz).Back in the day musicians had a lot of job offers...radio stations owned orchestras, tv channels, etc, nigh clubs, carnival, theaters, pubs... even with rock and roll through the 80s ... but,at the end of the millennium, most of it has disappear

Another great vid! I started playing and gigging in high school in the mid-90s. It's great hearing about even further back in the day!

Time Pierce 🎸👍. Formidable Guitariste.

100% agree as I worked in the Film Music Soundtrack and Feature Film Post Production Sound end of the business in the 1980s and 1990s when it was an analog world and I was in the union. It was a solid middle class lifestyle. There were jobs everywhere

Don't dream it's over, great song...

Tim was a student of Steve Maze. Everyone I know that study with Steve played with an amazing amount of control. I worked with Tim in the 80s. He was playing at a world class level before he ever set foot into L.A.. Jaw dropping actually.

Great session. There is so much under the covers in the music industry. The Internet and social media is making more musicians available. I wonder if that affected the originality of music rather than a lot of sampling and electronic music.

Good information.. My brother always had his own bands and plenty of gigs, but that was during the 80's and 90's... He didn't write music, so there was no album or royalties and money was always tight, but boy did I have fun hanging out with those bands...

Enjoyable as always thx mate

Great interview. Great to hear how people got paid in the past. This seems to illuminate (somewhat) how studio musicians might get paid nowadays. That being said, perhaps we could have another interview with Tim P talking about how it works today.

This is awesome and needs another episode based around the death of production/variety bands and the work that created for aspiring middle class players willing to don the dress blacks, meet their fellow band members on stage and play their asses off for someone’s wedding or corporate event. I learned plenty in that world and had many amazing musical moments jamming that songbook. And those gigs paid for family life for many working players.

Absolutely noticed when you compared the piano with the guitar. I don’t have perfect pitch but I do have relative pitch and it was obvious to me at least. My mother had a Chrysler when I was a teen. When DLR came out with eat em and smile her cassette player was a half step faster and it drove me insane. No one knew what I was talking about LOL! I feel your pain!

It is almost ALWAYS worth noting that the streaming platforms are owned by record company people to circumvent paying royalty income. They collect full subscriptions with no real overhead after providing a turn key platform. Then, you get Framption with like a hundred million plays of “Baby I Love Your Way” recorded as a hit by multiple artists. So, then, you see Peter holding up a check a $400 for the endless million plays and saying, “Who can live off of this?”

Great video - I was initially drawn to this by the title expecting something more political - ‘middle class’ maybe means something a bit different here in the UK where we are class obsessed (or so the cliché goes), possibly a slightly negative thing meaning those people with enough money to pay for their children’s education and have two family holidays a year, generally ‘comfortably off’. You guys genuinely mean the folks in the middle, doing all the other jobs that aren’t being a wannabe or a megastar. And all the better for it - invaluable to hear both of you sharing all that experience, but possibly a bit ‘how great was it in the old days’. It would be excellent to hear another interview/conversation with Tim who has so much experience to share (and others) along the lines of ‘how do we make a living as a musician today?’ given that these changes have happened, and we are where we are.

Rick, I see you are in LA to visit Tim. Could you do a video on 'where the studio guys go jam live.' Maybe some of the venues in a given city: Nashville, LA, New York, Atlanta. Basically how they get their live fix. What do they do after work. Talk about live gear.

Really loved this. Thank you!

A great conversation! Love you guys. Really interesting! Best

We need more Tim and Rick together. Brilliant insight into the business of music.

Great video. I’ve made a living as a small time musician/guitar teacher my entire adult life. House/family, all that. I consider myself very fortunate.

Like most industries becoming financialized, it's not about the product or consumer anymore, it's about the execs and investors getting richer.

Before recording devices excluding vinyl records work was abundant. Technology little by little in conjunction with Corporations have killed the music man.

A working class hero is something to be.

You're talking about the death of the middle class musician, but truthfully, it's the death of the middle class period. I'm sure back then the average worker had a home and a family that they could afford. Now the average worker can barely afford a one bedroom apartment with no family. Nothing has trickled down.

I figured out pretty quickly when I started playing professionally (20+ years ago) that I was way better off playing for successful local cover bands. But here in the Midwest that’s all there is. There’s no big recording business around here. I played enough every month that it was paying my mortgage and any money I made at my day job was just a bonus. It’s got to be super competitive these days now that everyone can do high quality recording at home.

Live music with emotion is where it's at!

Just like rust never sleeps, the CPU doesn’t get hungry or have a family to feed.

Rick, you should check out DOMi and JD Beck to see that middle class new music is evolving, not dying. Rather than reject both the older traditions and the new music, these two seem to embrace both and formulate something new. Drum kit adjustments to produce electronic percussion sounds that young kids are hearing every day on the games they play. Old and new rhythms. A drummer and keyboardist who sound like a trio with base. And music that both looks forward and backward. All of this together and they are young and seem to be having a really fun time. Check them out.

It's the death of the middle class that started with Reagan in the 80s...soon we'll be a nation of CEOs and Uber drivers and everything else will be done by AI!

Superb episode. I am surprised you never interviewed Neil Stubenhaus. He is very knowledgeable on all financial topics.

When Lynn drums came out 😳, I switched from drums to keyboards and started writing commercials. It was an excellent living until I just couldn’t take playing another jingle. Went into something else that that worked out very well to this day. Just have to shift decade to decade :)

I would suggest the beginning didn't start with the invention of the drum machine. It started with increase in demand for multi-track recording. Songs like " I'm not in Love" 10cc. The voice track at that time was considered cutting edge sound engineering. Remember when Boston debut their first album? Again a brilliant piece of sound engineering through multiple layers of recording, paving the way for bands like Def Leppard's vocals.

Thank you for sharing all this!

In 1980 Reagan privatized retirement. My mom said, "thats the end of the middle class." And she was right, as usual.

great topic and sadly true, another offshoot of studio work for me (Boston area) was music library and corporate gigs opening for major acts, also film stuff once in a while.Those gigs (live corporate) have seemed to die down unfortunately-it was GREAT while it lasted tho...keep up the good work so informative for all of us!!

Wow - great discussion. A window into the world that the Wrecking Crew & Glen Campbell came up in, or created a million years ago. People slam on LA a lot (especially locals e.g. Randy Newman 'I Love LA' from ~'83), but I always find it vibrant and creative, precisely because so many people get up and go to work in entertainment and arts. Regrets that's changing so drastically - I assume a big chuck of the road traffic on 405 is working slabs commuting from Barstow and Ojai. Love your vlogs Rick, and especially enjoy you and legendary Tim Pierce talking music and music biz.

11:06 there it is!!! Talk more on how the Union was instrumental!!!

Fascinating interview and it detailed a lot of things I always suspected were true. As much as we might pine for the way things were and will never be again, I think it would be just as interesting, Rick, for you to interview someone who's currently having success in the music industry and have them explain how the music business works nowadays. Because, frankly, a lot of us just don't get it.

I started playing professionally in 1976. Many times i played 6 nights a week. Rock clubs were built like concert halls. Huge crowds! Many bands were playing material like Jethro Tull or the early Chicago. If you made a mistake people noticed right away. The whole social environment was completely opposite of today. It was the golden age of Rock and many new ideas for Rock Music had just been invented. New ideas and concepts all the time...until New Wave took over and during that time bands like Happy The Man were dropped by Arista while others like Dixie Dregs seemed to be struggling. I was a young guy playing the theater circuit specifically at a point in time when record companies were pressuring prog bands to be commercially viable. One of these bands being Renaissance who used to play Club Bene. It was awful being 22 years old and witnessing these bands go under. Watching the industry neglect them for new artists. Decades later i ended up playing in bar bands...in the 90s the club owners sold their business and bars took over. They payed next to nothing, most of the bar bands were amateur sounding, and people no longer cared wth you sounded like. Open mic was insulting. It was like something stupid youd participate in...in high school. Money wasnt that important to me. I accepted the inevitable. The difference between then and now was ridiculously moronic. In the 70s i made between 5 to 6 hundred a week at casinos and Rock Clubs. When i was opening for Doc Severison i sometimes made a grand. In 2017 I'd play 3 sets in a packed bar and be lucky to make anywhere between 60 to a hundred bucks and regarding money that was the difference. The music was just a form of redundancy. Entertainment...however not comparable to what i experienced in the 70s and 80s. I had to get away from it and i did. I viewed this kind of compromising as a waste of talent and time. It wasnt fun.

wonderful stories, things have changed so much, a decent player used to make a decent living just playing jobbing gigs, corperate parties, weddings and events, a steady gig in a house band, maybe teach some lessons on the side, no more

Adjunct college instructor, here. It would be impossible to survive teaching for just one college. One pay increase in 15 years, meanwhile class sizes have increased, expectations have increased... .

Great talk! Things have sure changed

Another great interview, and sad to see the industry in such a "race to the bottom"

I’ve been in the habit for 10 years now ever since smartphone internet access became ubiquitous to looking up albums on Wikipedia and looking up the personnel on the record and usually you can click on their name and get a bio on it. The world of the sideman musician is fascinating to me. I mentioned an album Main Squeeze by Chuck Mangione and there was a guitarist named Tony Levin I had never heard of. I’m unbelievably uneducated I know. I’m a huge Bob James fan so I learned names like Richard Tee, Idris Muhammad, Steve Gadd, Eric Gale, Gary King. Steely Dan employed guys like Bernard Purdie, Jeff Porcaro, Larry Carlton, Tom Scott. If there is a great album usually it is an ensemble of great artists doing it. I have so many questions about studio artists. How much would they be paid per session? Would they get royalties on record sales? How much would they make on tour? I heard that if Quincy Jones called you at 2am to do a studio session and you were in LA you put your clothes on and met him there

Fascinating. Love Tim's story telling.

My first studio experience was at a studio in the Ithaca, NY area called "Calf Audio" in the late 80s. Al Grunwell maybe? Sorry to admit I don't remember exactly his name or spelling. Some really great memories of those sessions.

Speaking of things that have changed…my wife here in Eugene just tried to get Bonnie Rait tickets,Bonnie bought all the best seats for her fans…all the rest 72bucks…A far cry from seeing the 3 kings at Winterland for 8bucks in the 70’s.’

Similar issues have plagued most of the middle class. Don’t forget as well, your dollar continues to be devalued by endless “printing.” Since 1980 a cumulative inflation of 280.65% has occurred for the dollar. That means $100 then, now takes $381 to have the same effect. Since 2020, the US has printed nearly 80% of ALL US Dollars in circulation. To put that in perspective, at the start of 2020 we had ~$4 trillion in circulation. Now, there is nearly $19 TRILLION in circulation, a 375% jump in 3 years as of 8-2023. Everything is fine…

Tim is right about the great music as a kid. I’m similar age and I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything either

oh man... I love both of you and the great content you put out, but this was a weird combo of cool and hard. I'm typing this as I sit at my job that I can't afford to leave. I've been plugging away for decades doing sessions, writing for other people, performing, and after all of it I'm still stuck in the same place. A few years back I wrote three songs for a little Indy movie and when I sent in the demos, the songs caught the attention of a few folks in Nashville. I got a call from one guy who had been a writer since the 70s, who I'd heard of and knew had hit songs to his name, but he said that everything was changed. He literally said "with how good your songs are, 15 years ago I'd have you on a flight, shop your songs, and have a publishing deal for you in about 48 hours, but now...well, good luck man!". It was kind of a soul crusher, but I'm still doing better than a lot of folks in music and most of the time choose to try and live in gratitude more then be annoyed by it all. Anyway, great video either way, thank you!