Nightclub Musicians"We're just a bar band, that's all we are." – Kurt Cobain If you are a musician, songwriter, or music entrepreneur trying to build your music career in Nashville, you will probably be spending some time in the bars and clubs around town, especially at first. Unless you already have a good job in your chosen field, you will need to make new connections, and it is in the clubs that many of these connections can be made, (it is very unlikely that you are going to land a good road gig or pub deal from an ad on craigslist). First of all, regardless of what some jaded players around town might say, playing music in the Nashville nightclubs is both practical, and essential for the career minded musician, serving many different purposes for many players. I believe that at the core of many a great player is a nightclub musician. Nightclubs are the places that most professional musicians and singers have spent the most time performing. Unless you went straight from music school to a national tour, there's a good chance that you spent some time in a local band grinding it out on a local or regional club circuit before you thought about moving to Nashville. Once you are here, it is often a nonstop barrage of nightclub activity that will lead to either your advancement or premature exit. So don’t be put off by the term, it is at the core of many a great player. One important thing to understand about the Nashville club scene is that many of the “bands” playing around the city are actually comprised of freelance musicians, often with varying levels of commitment to any given project or gig. In many situations, a singer will have a weekly time slot at a club and a core group of their favorite regular players that he or she will try to get commitments from for a weekly gig or gigs. As many players in this town are involved in several projects at once, quite often a singer's favorite players aren't available. Sometimes players will also bail at the last minute for something more lucrative, for instance, a paid recording session, or an out-of-town gig. If a singer’s first call player isn't available or cancels, they will call their second and third choices, etc. As singers are sometimes booked for gigs at the last minute, their regular players might not be available on such short notice, and this can result in complete strangers filling in, usually by a referral. Because of this basic element within the Nashville night club scene, many of these “bands” don’t rehearse and might only come together as a band for a weekly gig or two. There are, of course, some bands comprised of groups of musicians that are exclusively committed to their band projects, rehearsing regularly and performing in the clubs around town and elsewhere in middle Tennessee, but from my experience, the freelance groupings are more commonly found. Instrumentation Although lead singers are an essential component for most bands, their unique role puts them in a different position than most other players, therefore an entire chapter will be dedicated to them. Drummers, bassists, and guitarists are by far the most in demand and commonly used musicians in most live band situations. And, as you might guess, there are far more drummers and guitarists here than needed and never enough good bass players, especially ones that can sing harmony. In addition to the classic trio instrumentation, if another player is added to an ensemble, it is quite often a keyboardist. In many situations, it could also be a second electric guitar, steel guitar, fiddle, or mandolin. In some situations, the fourth or fifth member of an ensemble might be a “utility player” who might play a range of different instruments at different points of a performance, such as electric and acoustic guitar, mandolin, fiddle, dobro, lap steel, etc. Some steel guitarists also play lap steel and/or dobro. There is also a demand for strong harmony singers that can play acoustic guitar. Banjo players are fairly uncommon but can occasionally be found in some settings. There's an old joke that goes “What is something you never hear said in Nashville?”…..Can somebody ask the banjo player to move his Porsche? Also worthy of mention would be that there is some demand for horn players in the blues and jazz scene, although the amount of paying gigs around town is minimal in those genres. Styles and Genres Different types of Paying Nightclub Work in Nashville
Suggestions for Nightclub Musicians in Nashville
Here are some concepts that I have found helpful in becoming an active freelance musician in the Nashville nightclub scene.
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