Success in Music City
“You heard this is Justin Timberlake's place, right?” It was the question that nearly every person asked and every person answered, at least once. I found myself on the balcony of a rooftop bar, staring at the rain-soaked Broadway Avenue. It does not matter how hard it rains, you could never miss these neon signs blazing both sides of the street. Nashville usually doesn’t get rain like this evening, but still, the street is as lively as ever. I hear the sounds of faint music blaring from down Broadway. Nashville takes its reputation for live music 24/7 seriously. All the muddled music blended together into one faint tune. And for this city built on music, the talent pool has never been deeper. Talent should never be confused with success. In fact, they can have an opposite correlation. This evening I saw what tremendous talent actually looks like and thought a lot about “success” and what exactly that means.
The Twelve Thirty Club is an impressive place, even by Nashville’s standards. Unless you have been living under a rock, Nashville is blowing up. “Music City”, as the city has long been known, is one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States - with no signs of slowing up. Warm weather and low taxes are having a moment right now. Tennessee is right up there with Texas and Florida for most moved to states. I haven’t even mentioned the southern charm. I did not cross paths with a single frown during my entire visit. Even the TSA agents during my flight out were a pleasure to deal with. Really. A city that was founded on country music has diversified into one of the fastest, most diverse metroplexes in the country.
Put simply, a great place to live or visit.
My night didn’t really begin until I returned from the rainy balcony. I love a good rain, but this was turning into quite the storm. I made my way back inside and took the first chair I could find. I was still a little wet from the rain. The chairs were those classic red cloth chairs that spun all the way around. There were about four chairs at every table. Each table is just big enough to fit little lamps and about four drinks. The collection of tables and chairs made a perfect ‘U’ shape around the stage. I had seen this place before, either in a movie or a tv show. It was a timeless setting. I’m not surprised an A-list entertainer owned the place.
There were seven band members, each as talented as the next. They alternated between guitar, bass, piano, drums, trumpet and, my personal favorite, the saxophone. It was not your typical performance where members stick to their roles, this band played family style. There were main roles/instruments played around half the time, and the other half of the songs were a mix of each of the members taking the lead.
It was an assembly line of greatest hits. Some of the crowd favorites were September by Earth, Wind, and Fire, Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey, and Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Jovi.
All unanimous crowd-pleasers. All executed to perfection.
Out of all the performances, one took the cake in my opinion. The guitar player stepped up to the mic. I hadn’t really been able to see him because of the angle of my seat, but once I saw him, I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He looked like a test tube experiment precisely blended with Vince Neil and Jimi Hendrix. Granted, this was a point in the performance where everyone had started to fade out and not pay much attention. The guitarist stepped up to the mic in a way where he knew that everyone was going to start paying attention again.
He began to play the first chords of Purple Rain by one of the most notorious musicians of all time, Prince. This is the type of song, written by the type of artist, that if you are bold enough to cover - you better nail it. I sat up in my seat and did not budge the entire performance. The performance was absolutely incredible. To both play and sing lead in that song is something that few other than Prince himself could do. But this nameless guy from the nameless band killed it.
After the performance, I started asking around if anyone knew who the band was. I was sure that they were some big performer, or at the very least, had some sort of notoriety. I am not the biggest music buff, so I would not be shocked at all if there were some big names in this band. I was wrong. Nobody knew who the guitarist was or what the name of the band even was. I was shocked. How could this be true? I have spent good money to see notable bands play that did not have half the talent that these guys did.
This feeling got me thinking about success and what it truly means. Does it matter that this band is not well known or that the musicians are not famous?
Does success require fame and notoriety?
When I think of this band, in a city like Nashville, they have every opportunity to play multiple live events a week. They may not make a ton of money, but playing live events consistently should be any musician’s definition of success. And it’s worth noting that just because this band is not famous, doesn’t mean that they won’t be one day. All it takes is the right show, in the right place, in front of the right people - to get your big break. Odds are, they probably won’t “make it”. Few do. It requires a lot less talent and even more luck than most people think.
When I look at the people at this show, I see two different groups: artists and patrons. The artists are up on stage, doing what they love most and doing their best to entertain the crowd by expressing their art form. They are without a doubt succeeding in that regard. Then there are the patrons. Most of whom are from out of town, in Nashville on a business trip, at least from what I gathered. They are here for “business” but, judging by the number of drinks flowing, the ratio is at least 50/50 business to pleasure. The patrons make comfortable salaries and are at least successful (there’s that word again) enough in their job for their company to pay for them to go to Nashville to represent their respective companies. Many are not ultra-wealthy, but they do well enough by society’s standards.
The patrons are here letting loose. They are fully experiencing and taking advantage of this mini-vacation, thanks to their employers. When I look at the patrons I see the typical corporate lifestyle. They are not particularly in love, or passionate about their job, most likely. I say this coming from many corporate office settings where it can be all but impossible to be passionate about financial reports, budget meetings, managing people, etc. But the benefits are great! They make enough money to have a nice house, drive a decent car, send their kids to a decent school, and take a nice trip or two a year when they can get away. A solid life. To put in perspective, a life that is better than the vast majority of people on this planet. At least on paper.
When I look at the artists I see something different. I see people doing what they are put on this earth to do. I doubt this sort of passion oozes into the corporate meetings of the patrons when they get back to reality Monday morning. Not only is their look a look of passion and confidence, it is a look that says that there is nothing else in the world that they would rather be doing. I would bet that if one of the patrons were to approach any of the members and offer them a job, on the spot, after the show - the artists wouldn’t take it. Even if they did, my guess is that they wouldn’t last long in the corporate setting.
When you have been to the heights of what they are feeling when they are performing on stage, doing what they do, and doing it extremely well, you can never go back. At least I am assuming. Why else would extremely successful entertainers continue to play long after they need the money. There are some things that money can’t buy, and that feeling must be one of them.
I was reminded of a quote I heard once when famous footballer Thierry Henry was asked during an interview: “What would you do if you weren’t a professional footballer?” He answered, “An amateur footballer.”
When you’re passionate and truly love what you are doing, making money from your craft is not success. Success is being able to find something that you love that much. I can’t speak for the band members, but I believe that playing music is that thing for them. After hearing them play, in the way that they did, that’s as close to success as anyone can hope to find.
