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 Michael
Cartellone
You Never Know
Greetings
fellow drummers! Well, I'm winding down from an exciting year touring the
world with the legendary John Fogerty. After touring the States this summer,
we headed to Scandinavia, and I've just returned from Australia. Needless
to say, this has been an incredible experience. Working with John has been
a pleasure, and playing all those great Creedence tunes has been a blast.
My musical relationship with him will continue into future endeavors.
So, now let me explain the meaning of the title of this story. As musicians,
we are sometimes faced with decisions regarding career choices. More often
than not, it's impossible to see the outcome of these choices and how it may,
or may not affect our careers. I was recently in this situation, and thought
I would pass my story along.
I've been living in Nashville for nearly five years. Having moved here from
LA - with a rock resume (mainly Damn Yankees) - I have to admit I felt like a
square peg in a round hole. I also had a real hang-up about playing
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As
musicians, we are sometimes faced with decisions regarding career choices.
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country music.
After all, I had established myself as a noisy, banging rock n' roll drummer.
But, Nashville had a thriving music community and after the '94 earthquake in
LA, I was getting the hell out of there. (My condo was condemned; I lost
lots of stuff, and thought I was buying it.) So, why not give Nashville
a shot? Well, for the first two years I kept getting called from LA and
elsewhere to work. (Recording and touring) Which meant I didn't look
for work here in Nashville - Great, I still had that mental block anyway.
As time moved on, I met more musicians here and found myself getting called for
session work. (At first rock sessions, but then country.) I will admit
I was unsure about doing a country session. Could I pull it off? What
will me rock friends think? Well none of that mattered when I got to the
session. I found that I didnít have to change my style as much as
I thought. The other players were great and I realized music is music. I
love playing drums and that didn't change because I was playing a country tune.
Okay, lets fast-forward a year. I was asked to join the touring band for
country artist, Suzy Bogguss. I had all those same concerns run through
my head. Doing country sessions was one thing - but would live country work?
Nowhere to hide if I do that. My reputation as a rocker might be in jeopardy,
or so I thought. I took the gig, and I'm glad I did. Suzy is very
talented, the band is great and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. There is no
question that it helped me grow as a musician. Isn't that what its all about?
Whatever we can do to better ourselves as musicians, we must do. Period.
I realized how silly my stubbornness had been.
Now here's the beauty of the story. When it came time to audition for Fogerty,
(who as you know, has a lot of swampy, twang in his music.), I'm convinced I approached
it with a different frame of mind because I had been playing with Suzy for four
months. I nailed the audition and got the gig! Ain't that a
kicker?
In closing, let me suggest as a musician to try it all. Play all styles.
Be a sponge. It will only help you mature as a player, as it has helped
me. Keep your mind open because... you never know. |
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