Nashville Dreamin'
By: Holly Gibson
When thinking of my dream career, my mind wanders aimlessly towards Nashville, Tennessee. I have had the dream of working in music promotions for years now, and it is a dream that will become my reality in just a matter of months. I am moving to Nashville this next March, after I complete my hours at the University of Oklahoma and save enough money to make the 10-hour move east.
It all began 5 years ago, when I came across an artist that stirred something in me that has ceased to stop moving up until this day. I went to an OU fraternity house to see a small acoustic artist play. I’d heard that he was amazing, and due to my adoration of music, I was quite excited. After seeing that show of an amazing lyricist, guitar player, and singer, I have always known that I want to make independent artists like himself famous. His name? John Mayer.
I know its cliché and every college girl swoons over songs whose titles are things like “Your Body is a Wonderland.” Yet there was still something about this artist that drew me to him like a moth to a flame. Maybe it was his heartfelt lyrics, or his incredible voice or guitar skills… I am not sure what did it, but I have been hooked ever since. After seeing him succeed to a career that holds two Grammys, I knew that this was something I could make a lasting and fulfilling career out of.
Since that concert, I have discovered many other incredible independent artists, most of which live in Nashville. It is the music capital of the world, after all. I have promoted Oklahoma shows for artists such as Matt Wertz, Dave Barnes, and Andy Davis. I’ve sold merchandise for them at their concerts, and even developed a first-name basis with a handful of young, talented and overlooked artists. The respect for them and love for their genre of music is something that has in the forefront of my mind daily. They are out there living their dream, and I’m going to be there to help them along in their journey to “making it big.” Now I only have a few months left until I can move there and let my own dreams start to play out.
I am not sure the exact area of music promotions that I would like to go in, though I would be very happy doing publications/design, concert and artist promotions, or talent scouting. Anything that molds my love of music with my degree of Public Relations is sure to make a perfect career for me. I am beginning to research some jobs that I could possibly look into, and can’t wait to start interviewing once I make the move. So watch out Nashville, I’m coming to “live the dream.”
Links:
Nashville, Tennessee -- http://www.nashville.gov/
Music promotions -- http://www.artistpr.com/
University of Oklahoma -- http://jmc.ou.edu/
John Mayer – http://www.johnmayer.com
Matt Wertz – http://www.mattwertz.com
Dave Barnes – http://www.davebarnes.com
Andy Davis – http://www.andydavisonline.com
Jobs -- http://nashville.craigslist.org/mar/
2 comments:
You seem like you know what you're doing and what you want! Keep up the hard work
Holly.. I envy your absolute certainty of what you want to do. I think that is so rare so take advantage of it while you can. Be open to new things and changes. Good luck taking over Nashville. Norman will miss you!
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