This month's guest is the incredible Steven Paradis
Steven plays 5-7 times a week in the Bradenton, FL area.
I've had the pleasure of seeing him play a few times and he is an incredible performer
who has fun with his audience.
I thought Steven would be a great guest because he started performing solo later in life.
One day he said screw it, quit his job, and started playing gigs
He'll tell you how he did it in this episode.
We'll also talk about:
Making time for vacations
Making that leap of faith from a regular job to pro musician
Having fun with the audience
How not to be intimidated by people who we think are more talented than us
Hosting open mics
Steven's awesome social media strategy
We're also gonna talk about how your critics probably aren't doing anything anyway
Steven's advice for beginners
Paul McCartney is allowed to screw up and so are you
…and of course the 5 songs you should know according to Steven
Something a little different today…
Today, we have a duo on the Solo Performer Podcast.
I wanted to interview a duo because as you can imagine, there are a lot of similarities and overlaps between a solo and a duo gig.
But there are also some nuances that are specific to duos.
The duo I have today are the husband-wife team Casie and Jonny Thibodaux.
They have been playing consistently for about 20 years, so believe me when I say
these guys know what they're doing.
They play mainly in a small geographic area.
That would be the Houma-Thibodaux area in Louisiana. Now I know most of you
aren't familiar with that region...it's about 50 miles SW of New Orleans
Here are some of the topics we cover:
How to start playing even if you're not ready
Playing songs you don't know
Playing consistently in a small geograghical area
Long term thinking
The advantages of duos
Dealing with imposter syndrome
Picking the right songs to play
Drunks crashing into gear
Avoid getting hurt on stage
Songs every female singer must know
How and why to separate music lover in you from the musician
Networking
Todd and I are lifelong friends. We met in 2nd grade at East Park Elementary and paid a lot of musical dues together. He has been playing solo piano for over 25 years now and has tallied over six thousand gigs! We talk about a lot of stuff including: Why you should take requests - Bring you "A" game whether you're playing for 40,000 or 4 - When to take a break - How to recover from bombing - The 10 songs every piano player should know.
In this episode I talk with solo performer Cort Farris. Cort does his solo gigs on steel drums! He is also the booker at several venues and gives a ton of insight on what people who book solo performers look for. We discuss many topics including:
Having faith in your ability and not being afraid to screw up
What bookers look for when booking gigs
Why the pros get more gigs
How to cope with anxiety and self doubt
Why talent doesn't matter
Episode #1
P.D. Brody--Why You Should Max Out Your Credit Card Whenever You Buy A Guitar
P.D. has been playing solo acoustic gigs at a high level for nearly a decade. There's a lot to learn from him in this, the debut episode of Solo Performer Podcast.