What I’ve learned and am learning as a career artist and songwriter in Nashville.
Last night I placed a small Bluetooth speaker on the top cupboard shelf in the kitchen, hit play on my iPhone, then set off to do the dishes. The only thing strange about this scenario was the musician I chose. He’s somebody I never put on. “Who are we listening to?” asked August, my eleven-year-old. […]
What My Family Thinks of My Next Album Read More »
My songwriting mentor passed away in 2019. He was one of the most successful songwriters of the last decade, writing and producing hundreds and hundreds of songs, many of which were number-ones. On the flight home from his private memorial service, I realized something. Not one person I talked to mentioned any of his hit
Lessons from a Hit Songwriter’s Funeral Read More »
Hi Jaime, Noah is friends with me, not the other way around! Joking, of course. I met Noah a month before his nineteenth birthday—before he could rock such a great beard. (Still, he had pretty good stubble.) It was December of 2015. He came to Nashville to work on songs for his debut album. My
Jamie asks, “Are you friends with Noah Kahan or is that just a rumor?” Read More »
I couldn’t concentrate in class. I kept thinking about my guitar, lyrics to songs I was working on. I’d daydream about performing in front of thousands. Old high school classmates in the crowd. My junior high crush apologizing for not noticing me: “If I could only go back, Aaron,” she’d say, “I’d do things differently.”
From College Dropout to Career Musician: A Letter to Worried Parents Read More »
The other day, I emailed 1,257 people, asking if 124 would volunteer to stream my song five times a day for five days on Spotify. I’ve been doing this long enough to know that everything is a percentage of a percentage. For example, I knew about 50 to 60 percent would open the email. I
Confessions of an Introverted Marketer Read More »
(From Aaron’s book On Songwriting: Practical Tips and Insights from a Decade in Music City) I’m often asked by songwriters whether or not they should move to Nashville. I remember asking my Nashville songwriter friends the same question when I lived in Denver. What they (and I) were really asking was, “Do you think I
Should You Move to Nashville? Read More »
Deep Work This was my introduction to Cal Newport. In March 2024, I changed much of my work behavior based on this book. Learn more. Profit First Don’t let the title fool you. It’s not “profit over people” or anything like that. I took over our finances in September without even knowing our bank account
For Songwriters: Top 3 Books I Read in 2024 Read More »
Just the other day, I had an opportunity to arrange a song for a commercial. As I thought about how the opportunity actually came to me, I had to go back fifteen years. It was a relationship made that long ago, which was yielding results now. That’s how long some opportunities take. The groundwork is
Sustaining a Career Read More »
I stumbled upon this YouTube video. It caught my attention because it seemed off-brand for Elliott Smith: the dark, brooding artist on a couch at six a.m. with a puppet behind him (not Sesame Street) and the host of America’s Funniest Home Videos. Huh? It made more sense when I saw the date. It was
Lessons from Elliott Smith’s Appearance on a Tacky Morning Show Read More »
I wasn’t just interested in recording “I Love Rock N Roll” because I liked the challenge of reinterpreting it. I also recorded it because I knew my publisher controls the copyright. Back in 2020, they gave me a list of popular songs they can clear for licensing. I scanned through them and picked several that
The Art and Science of Choosing Cover Songs Read More »