KID NEBRASKA

When I was really young, my dad won tickets to a concert from a local radio station. I think the name of the group was “Reality Check.” They were a hip hop group, and it was the first concert I’d ever attended. They were dancing and rapping and doing backflips off the stage, and it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. I was hooked. From then on, music was a huge part of my life.

My biggest inspirations were Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. At the time I was playing guitar, but not all that seriously. Then, one day I heard Jonny Lang on the radio. At first I thought, “Eww, that’s old people’s music,” but then the DJ said he was 15 years old. When I heard that, I immediately went to the record store and bought his album “Lie to Me” and the book of guitar tabs for the album, and I learned it front to back. In that same time frame “Blue on Black” by Kenny Wayne Shepherd started playing on the radio and it was the coolest thing I’d ever heard. After hearing that, I went back to the record store and bought “Trouble Is” and the book of guitar tabs, and that’s where much of my style developed.

Being a musician is not a peaceful journey. There’s a lot of self-doubt, there are people telling you you’re wasting your life, there are people telling you you suck (even if you don’t). It’s difficult to filter out the signal from the noise. Pile on the fact that you never make enough money and most music careers die before they ever get started. I sort of gave up after my first serious band broke up. We’d been together for 8 years and toured all over the country. If I couldn’t make it with them I didn’t think I could make it with anyone, but the itch never went away. I was still writing and practicing even without a band, and eventually after the sting of the break up subsided, I got serious about making music again. Since then, I’ve been living the dream.

I love making music. For me, there’s not much better than playing a great show. One of my biggest goals in life is to be a great musician and performer, and there’s no better way to do that than to play lots and lots of shows. Even if I never get my picture in the Rolling Stone, if I can keep playing lots of shows and progressing as a guitarist, singer, and songwriter, I’ll be happy.

“It’s About Time” is the name of my most recent release. I came up with the title because I’d been playing music professionally for many years, but always as the guitarist for other artists. I knew I was a decent singer and songwriter and I’d wanted to record my own stuff for many years, but never built up the courage to do so. When I finally did, the name just seemed to make sense. It’s also the title of a track on the album I consider one of the most honest songs I’ve ever written, and one I hope will inspire other people to have the courage to follow their own dreams before they run out of time.

My wife is a big inspiration for a lot of my music. She inspires all of my love songs in some form or another, and she also inspires my angry songs and my drinking songs. When you’re with someone long enough, you’ll run through every range of emotions with them and whether she likes it or not, I write about them all. I’m also very inspired by my audience. I really want to make music people enjoy listening too. Isn’t that kind of the point? When I’m crafting a song, my audience is at the forefront of my mind. I want to invoke as many emotions from them as possible. As long as you can make someone feel something with your music, you’ll continue to have a career.

I love collaborating with other artists and my goal is to bring in guest artists for every project I create. “It’s About Time” is full of collaborations, first and foremost with my band; Travis Muzney on drums, Jon Packard on bass and Todd Laird on guitar, mandolin and cello. These guys are so good I just let them do their thing and the songs are better because of it. Beyond that, I brought in my friend Taylor Madden to direct and produce the music video for “Go” and he killed it. The video itself stars my friend Becca Daigle, who’s a badass martial artist, as well as several other martial artist friends of mine. For the album artwork I had my buddy Logan Bartels of Bartels Creative do the design and for the track “Don’t Need Much,” I had my friend Elizabeth Becker record some amazing background vocals. For my next album I already have two duets written, one with my buddy Dylan Bloom in mind and another with a fantastic local singer named Sarah Land, and I’m hoping that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

I would say “Go” really struck a chord with people. I knew it was a good song when I finished it, but the success of the music video far surpassed my expectations. Personally I think the song “It’s About Time” was a big step for me so I’m probably most proud of that one.

If you like a musician, let them know you support them. Go follow them on Instagram, go like their Facebook page, and go stream their music as much as possible. Even if you never spend a dime on their art, those little steps can help them earn the money they need to keep going. It’s been difficult for musicians to earn a living for quite a while, but 2020 has taken it to another level. Your support means the world.

I’m mostly self-taught with spurts of instruction here and there. I had some voice lessons very early on, but stopped singing for a long time before I started again later in life. For guitar I started learning on my own and took lessons here and there from different instructors. As for songwriting, it’s always been something I’ve enjoyed. My mom has a tape of me from when I was 5 or 6 years old singing a song I wrote called “She’s My Favorite Girl.” I also remember writing a song called “Paper Crane” around the same time. I’d started a “band” with some girls down the street and we called ourselves “The Colorado Rockers” though I’m not sure why, considering we lived in Nebraska.

I’d probably be making a lot more money doing something a lot less fun. I’m currently a Jiu Jitsu and self-defense instructor, so I’d probably be doing more of that.

The first album I ever bought was “Michael Jackson: Bad” and the second and third albums were a Beach Boys Greatest Hits album and a Kenny G album. I was all over the board. It wasn’t until I found the blues that I fell in love with a genre.

I’m influenced by all the great guitarists I grew up listening too. Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd started me on the path. From there I found Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of my biggest influences. After that it was a Native American blues band called “Indigenous” and all the brilliant blues legends like Muddy Waters, BB King, Albert Collins, and Buddy Guy.

Yes. You can find me on Instagram @kid.nebraska and on Facebook.com/kidnebraska