Depending on your location, this kind of work may or may not be an option for your husband. Most national level tours are based out of the three major music industry hubs: Nashville, New York, and LA, with Atlanta, Georgia also recently being in the running. If you don’t live within a couple hours of one of these locations, it would probably be pretty hard to get into this line of work.

Assuming you live within a reasonable distance from one of these cities, you would need to get in touch with the major bus companies located there. In Nashville, there are several major bus companies: Roberts Brothers, Diamond Coach, Nite Train Coach, and several others. Perform a Google search on whatever city is nearest to you with the phrase “bus company” – for instance “Nashville Bus Company” or “Tour Bus Nashville”. Make a list of all these companies and start cold calling, or visiting their offices to inquire about employment.

Driving a tour bus is very different from driving a semi. While his experience driving large heavy vehicles will apply to driving a tour bus, there are many other elements that come into play that he should know about in advance. For instance, he needs to understand that he’s not just driving a bus full of people, quite often, he would be driving a bus full of people who are sleeping. The hours can be quite odd – many tours drive through the night, with the shift typically beginning between midnight and 2 AM and ending sometime the following morning. The pay structure will be very different than that of a truck driver. It’s based on a system of day rates and overdrives (the standard day rate is usually $200) – anything over 450 miles will be the first overdrive (an additional $200), if the drive exceeds 650 miles that would be a nether overdrive (another $200), etc. Sometimes a bus driver is required to clean the bus daily, check into hotels, etc. if this is something he is seriously considering doing, I highly recommend he purchases and reads my book as it has a ton of information pertaining to the touring industry, including a lengthy interview with a veteran tour bus driver.

I hope this is helpful. Best of luck

Eric

I am so sad to hear of this experience, what a tragic misfortune. I remember the extreme weather moving in on that day – high winds and downpours accompanied by lightning – and I remember seeing the ambulance. So sorry this day caused such hardship for you. Best wishes to you and your family.

I absolutely love Rhett’s music and songwriting. If we had just cleaned up after eating a few mins earlier, I would have got to see the show, and not had these terrible months since June 18. I won’t be attending this year’s River Jam, simply because I don’t remember it happening, and frankly don’t want to cause memories of it…. but if ya’ll are gonna be playing anywhere else near here, send me an email..

Thanks

Stefanie Coker