I have officially been traveling for a living for over eight years now.
So much has changed since 1998.
Unfortunately, most of the questions haven’t.

Frequently Asked Questions on the Road

So I was thinking today about a specific conversation I had with a guy in the airport a couple of weeks ago. He asked me a question and I am afraid to say that I didn't take him seriously. Why? Because the question was so cliche. I almost started laughing - thinking Andrew Peterson was around the corner and he put this guy up to it. Unfortunately, it was a real guy with a real question. It isn't that the question was stupid or the guy for that matter, just that it is a funny question to answer. I get a lot of questions like this on the road - as do a number of other folks who make their living doing music. So I just thought I would address them here and now - so the next time I meet a stranger, we can at least start talking about something else since we have already covered the basics here.


QUESTION #1
"What kind of axe you got?"
The actual answer to this question is "a Larrivee". That was my answer to the guy. From his following facial expression, I couldn't tell if he had just never heard of it or if Jean Larrivee himself lit a bag of poop on fire and left it on his doorstep. He followed this facial expression with "I've got an Alvarez myself." I knew it. The moment I heard the question, I knew the two motivating reasons for asking it. First - to let me know that he played guitar as well. I mean, only guitar players call them axes, right? (By the way, I never call it an axe). The second reason was that he wanted to tell me what kind of guitar he had.
Now, before you think I am dogging this guy, I know exactly where he is coming from. When I was in college, I would occasionally run into the professional musician here or there and I had this overwhelming desire to let them know that I was not a muggle like the rest of the folks – I was a musician too. Heck, I still have that desire when I see some big time artist somewhere. For example, if I saw Lyle Lovett sitting in the airport, part of me would want to go strike up a conversation with him. How do I let him know that I am not just another fan – I am a professional musician/songwriter so my liking of his music should be more flattering to him, right? There must be some code-worded industry language I could use so he would know I am “in the club”. Something casual yet knowledgeable. I know just the thing … …
“Hey Lyle, what kind of axe you got?”


QUESTION #2
“How long have you been playing guitar?”
This might be the classic question. The actual
answer is “Since I was 15” or “15 years”. There
is nothing wrong with this question. I believe
that people might actually be interested in
the answer. Usually though it is just used as the icebreaker. Kind of like “How you doin’?” or “Do you come here often?” might be used in a bar. There might be genuine interest in the answer, but it is really just a platform to start talking about something else.
The main issue I have with this question is something entirely different. I don’t feel like I am that much better of a guitar player than I was when I was in college. Back then I had time to practice. These days I just leave the guitars in the cases until the next gig. Back then, I could say “I started playing 4 years ago” and people would think it was amazing. “How did he learn so much so fast?” The truth is that I had nothing better to do. But now, when I say it has been a decade and a half – people are like “No wonder. I would be better than you if I had been playing for that long.” So the question is really just a trap. It is depressing to realize that every birthday I have, the more numbers I have to add to the answer to this question. One day the answer will be 50 years. People will no longer think “You are so talented” and instead will think “What a lazy bum wasting 50 years playing a box with strings.” Maybe when I get that old, I will pretend to not hear the question.


QUESTION #3
“How did you get in the music business?”
The real answer to this question is that I married into it. I mean, I came to Nashville because I wanted to be a country songwriter. While in college, I started dating this girl and it turns out she wasn’t a bad singer. When we were planning a wedding and graduating from college, she was offered a record deal. They needed songs. She needed a guitar player. So I was kind of grandfathered in to the whole deal. I have been lingering around ever since.
The sad truth is – for a lot of people who ask that question, I just wasted 30 seconds of their life with my answer. They don’t want to know how I got into the business. They want to know how THEY can get into the business – which, by the way, is a fair question. I would like to know the answer to that as well. The problem is that there is no step by step process of achieving that goal. I am sure that if my answer was something someone could easily replicate, people would really be interested in it. Not that my path into the business can’t be replicated. There are scores of students at Belmont University trying to do that very thing – but I definitely couldn’t make a living writing music business textbooks about it.
Every person I know in the “music business” got there a different way. They all loved music and wanted to do something that involved music, but there was no magic person to talk to that could set them up with a career. There is no magic answer. That being said, it is totally worth finding some beautiful singer girl to get you grandfathered in to the business. So if you are going to try one path – I highly recommend that one. (WARNING: This option is not recommended for the super macho types)


QUESTION #4
“Do you do this full time?”
This is a totally valid question. The answer is yes. The only reason I put it on this list is because occasionally someone asks it in the wrong tone – like “Do YOU do THIS full time?” I feel like if I say yes – then they would wonder how in the world I would live on the $76 a year they think my job merits. If I say no – they would be like “Well, now that makes sense.” Believe it or not, doing music is the only job I have.
There was a season about 6 years ago that I worked at a country club golf course in Nashville. I would get there at 5 AM and pull up all of the golf carts for the rich folks. I know it sounds boring, but I would watch the sunrise on a beautiful golf course while driving golf carts around and writing songs with a little pencil on a scoresheet. It was pretty cool. The reason for this job was so that I could play golf for free. I am not good at golf. I didn’t feel right about paying to do something I was bad at. So I drove golf carts and worked with Hillwood High School students. I was the loser with the college degree.
Oh – I also waited tables at Calhoun’s Barbeque restaurant
in Nashville when I was in college – but that doesn’t count.
So needless to say, even if I wanted to have another job, my resume would consist of serving ribs and parking golf carts in a straight line. Who is going to hire me?


QUESTION #5
“Why don’t you come play in my town.”
I would love to come play in your town. However, I can’t just say “Your Town, here I come. For a concert I will have.” The way this stuff works is that someone somewhere wants to bring someone in for a show. They ask that artist if they want to come and what is involved in bringing them out. Usually there is some sort of payment involved (see the full time stuff above). I wish I could do shows for free – but I just plain can’t afford to anymore. Gas is getting expensive for my Hummer.
That was a joke. I have an Oldsmobile.