Latest / The Scene Projects / Nathan Wade on Independent Artistry, Nashville's Scene, and Inspiring the Next Generation

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Nathan Wade on Independent Artistry, Nashville's Scene, and Inspiring the Next Generation · The Scene Projects

• 0:01
  Welcome in to another exciting episode of the scene.
• 0:04
  I'm your host, Bubba Starts.
• 0:05
  And with me today is singer songwriter, Nathan Wade.
• 0:07
  Nathan, welcome to the show, brother.
• 0:09
  Hey.
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  Thanks for having me, Bubba.
• 0:10
  Appreciate it.
• 0:11
  Well, man, it's a pleasure.
• 0:12
  We've already been talking a little bit off camera, and no.
• 0:15
  We gotta hit record already, man.
• 0:18
  For our listeners who don't know who you are, why don't you share a little bit about, you
• 0:22
  know, who you are and your backstory, we'll get into what you're up to now.
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  Well, that's probably most of your listeners.
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  There's a there's a running joke back in the day when I when we playing were with the band
• 0:31
  and that, you know, my ex wife actually made these shirts that said, who the f is Nathan
• 0:36
  Wade?
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  So that was that was pretty funny, but, you know, I'm I'm just a guy who who loves to write
• 0:44
  songs.
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  And for a while there, I was writing songs to send to Nashville, try to get other people to
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  record them, but I wanted to sing them myself.
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  So I finally got a band together.
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  We did really well, and they didn't wanna sing more of the original music.
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  So it's really tough out here in Nebraska.
• 1:00
  By the way, we got a game tonight here in Nebraska.
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  It's actually down at Arrowhead, but, go big red.
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  So
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  we I live in Southeastern South Dakota, so I'm friends with a lot of Husker fans.
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  Yep.
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  They're everywhere.
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  I'm hoping for a good year.
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  But music wise, man, I just I just love it and telling stories.
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  For me, it used to be more about me.
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  And this time around, it's just gonna be more about the music and getting it out there and
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  getting people to to feel what I feel when I sing it.
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  And that's what it's all about.
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  You you shared a little bit of your story of working with with guys that only wanted to play
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  covers, and they're, you know, kinda letting their fears permeate into the band about, well,
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  you know, if we're not a cover band, then we maybe we're not making the money, and maybe
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  people aren't coming out to see us for these reasons or that.
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  But you're never gonna make it in this business if you can't establish yourself as an artist,
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  and you're never gonna make any money unless you have your original music and you're you're
• 2:03
  continuing to push that side of it.
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  And even if you have the greatest songs in the world, you're probably never gonna crack
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  Nashville unless you got a quarter million dollars in your pocket.
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  Yeah.
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  Nashville.
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  I gave up on Nashville years ago.
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  It's not really my my scene.
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  I'm, I'm still a little more traditional, and I actually I did find a band here last year, and
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  they were looking at having me on there.
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  And, then they listened to my music and said I sounded too traditional.
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  I said, thank you.
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  Goodbye.
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  I appreciate that.
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  Well and in this day, and we talk about it a lot on the show that, you know, this is the age
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  of the independent artist.
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  And the the age of the big break and the, you know, record deal and, like, if you want a
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  record deal in this day, you are insane.
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  You because now they're all three sixty deals.
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  Right?
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  They want some of everything that you do Yeah.
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  Because nobody's paying for music specifically.
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  Right?
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  So the only way to really do it and to to feel good about it, you know, for me and for guys
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  like me and you, I think I could speak for both of us here, is to do it independently, to treat
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  your band like a business from the get go, to continue to build yourself as an artist and as
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  an original artist, first and foremost.
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  That doesn't mean that you can't play covers, but you need to be the artist and not just a
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  band that plays other people's music.
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  I I just think that there is less and less room for people like that because you have bands
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  that are at the top.
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  You know, some of these tribute acts are already out there doing it, and they're
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  probably way better than you and your buddies.
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  Yeah.
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  Oh, yeah.
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  And and that's the thing out here in Nebraska.
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  It's it's hard.
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  Like I said, I've I've I put something out at least once a year trying to look for band
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  members, but, nobody wants to take on an original project.
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  And I'm like, man, I've sold thousands of CDs of my music and and those kind of things.
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  And I think I got some really good songs that touch people's lives.
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  And, man, if I had a band behind me, I think it'd be great.
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  But, I gotta say since I got back into this a few months ago, just me and my guitar and my
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  songs, and I haven't had to play a single cover song.
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  So That's beautiful.
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  It's been awesome.
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  Yeah.
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  That's beautiful.
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  Shifting.
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  And, thankfully for us that, I think there's a hunger for original music.
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  I think there's a hunger for connection with artists.
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  You don't need a million followers and a million fans anymore.
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  You know?
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  The the thousand true fans method, I think, is pretty well spoken at this point.
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  If you've got a thousand people out there in the world that love you and love your art and
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  are willing to support that art, you can make a living in this.
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  Now we all have different lifestyles that we may be, you know, trying to maintain.
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  Someone who's 22 and single and, you know, can sleep in their car on tour and do all those
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  things is obviously in a lot better situation than someone who has, you know, a wife and
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  family at home, a house to maintain, and all those things.
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  So, yes, there are limitations to it still, but there's plenty of money to be made, especially
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  in the Midwest, in just performing.
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  Yeah.
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  Like I said, I've been doing really well.
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  I've got one bar I wanted to shout out here in Lincoln, which is really shocked me, actually.
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  I know some people from there have been to that bar, but it definitely does not have a country
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  vibe whatsoever.
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  And but one of the bartenders decided to talk to the owner and try to get me in there because
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  they didn't have a lot of live music, and I've been asked back three times already.
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  It's called One More Bar here in Lincoln.
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  And just a little strip mall, just a little neighborhood bar, and it's just super cool to
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  get in there.
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  And we've got places like tanks down in the rail yard here in Lincoln that they have a
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  singer songwriter and I have been able to do.
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  Thanks to Todd and Drew over there.
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  The dog house
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  park.
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  Hold on, Nathan.
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  You're alright.
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  Well, I've been trying to crack that little scene down there, man.
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  I mean, obviously, you have you know, Nebraska is down there, a a huge market of young people.
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  And I think a lot of them Midwestern kids, right, that grew up going to street dances and
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  things like that.
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  Yeah.
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  And I think there is a hunger, especially in this Midwest and in that younger community, for
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  live music.
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  And unfortunately for them, a lot of their peers don't play instruments and don't do those
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  things because the culture kind of shifted and went away from traditional music, not just in
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  there, but the traditional way of making music as well.
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  Yeah.
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  Anything, well, the AI thing is really kinda bothering me at this point, but, you know,
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  that's just that's a whole another egg you're gonna crack.
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  But, yeah, it's just being original for me.
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  It's always been that way.
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  And and the reason I I got back into this, you know, I basically took a ten year hiatus.
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  My last studio album was, 02/2015.
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  And, you know, I listened to the voices that said, you're you're not gonna be able to do it
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  without doing cover music.
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  You know, people aren't just gonna listen to a guy with a guitar telling stories they've never
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  heard, and and I listened to that.
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  And then my grandson came around, and he got dropped off on our doorstep.
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  And two years later, we adopted him.
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  And so he's he's about eight and a half now, and he's doing he's a level two brown belt in
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  Taekwondo.
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  He has also just started competitive gymnastics, and the kid is just unreal.
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  But when he got dropped off right before his second birthday, he was he knew maybe two
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  words, and we were able to adopt him.
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  And I kinda got out of it and used it as a crutch and as an excuse that I had to raise
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  him.
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  So, you know, the music didn't matter.
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  I had to do this.
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  And this past year, man, I had this job that was just dragging me down.
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  And I looked at him and I thought, I'm pushing him to do his best and and chase things and
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  work hard.
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  And I said that's but I'm not doing that.
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  I said, I I have I have music and I gave it up and why?
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  So I quit that job and I started booking shows again.
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  And I was able to when we first got him, I had a show booked right after that and we're like,
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  we'll just bring him with us and he's two years old sitting on a tailgate listening to me sing
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  and he hasn't seen me sing live since.
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  And just this year, I booked a show out at Country Drive.
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  That's another good one in in Ashland.
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  It's right off a golf course.
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  I got some friends in Ashland.
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  Yeah.
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  They had this it's a beautiful venue, man.
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  It's right on the golf course, but they got this huge building, this great stage.
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  And I was honored to go out there and actually open for one of the number one Johnny Cash
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  tribute bands.
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  So that was super cool.
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  But after I decided to do the music, I finally came up with the song that told the story about
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  how we got Jax.
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  And I was able to get him on stage and sing it, and it was just quite a quite a moment for for
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  me and for him and just kinda full circle.
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  And, man, it was awesome.
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  So I'm I'm really doing a lot of this for his benefit.
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  Now the money is gonna have to keep coming or else, know, I got my transmission going out in
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  my car and, you know, all that stuff that traveling musicians have and, you know, split
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  time.
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  I've got, you know, we've got split custody.
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  So it's, it's kind of a grind, you know, when I have them every other weekend.
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  So trying to book shows and stuff like that has been you know, it's tough, but this is what I
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  wanna do.
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  And there's no place I feel better than that three square feet on a stage to be able to sing
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  my songs.
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  That's that's just what it's about for me, and I want him to see that.
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  So
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  That's beautiful, man.
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  Shout out to Jax.
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  He sounds like an impressive young man.
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  He is.
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  That's our future.
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  Right?
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  And exactly what you have done and taken upon yourself is that if we don't live in as example
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  to these young people, and and you can talk about it and they find it on the Internet, oh,
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  chase your dreams, and you can be anything you want, and you can do these.
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  But when you look to your elders and you see them not doing that, it it it kills the belief
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  in that.
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  Right?
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  And similar story, Nathan.
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  I was working in a factory, you know, eighteen months ago, welding, hating my life.
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  It wasn't who I was put here to be.
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  I had pretty much, you know, abandoned music totally.
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  I was playing on some weekends and things like that, but it just wasn't it.
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  I've been very grateful to not just have music, but now podcasting as well.
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  But but that's because I can't evolve into this.
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  And in eighteen months, we've built ourselves up to being an award winning podcast network.
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  We're able to empower other creatives and to bring them onto our network, other creatives
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  like yourself that are being guests, that are raising the the platform that they have built
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  and doing this all together.
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  So I'm very grateful, but it would have never happened if I kept giving someone else fifty
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  hours a week of my time.
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  Right.
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  And does it take adjustments of lifestyle?
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  Does it take sacrifices?
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  Yes.
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  Of course.
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  But what was I sacrificing to go to that job every single day?
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  It all your time, man.
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  Your time and and your your soul.
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  Right.
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  Pieces pieces of what's inside of you or dying.
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  Who you are.
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  It's you know?
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  When when it's just I know you feel it too, but when you're talking about your music and and
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  what you create, it's just it's a whole different thing, man.
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  You can't people people outside of it, it's hard for them to feel I mean, I got stuff going
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  all over my head all the time, but when when you can condense it and put it in a three
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  minute song that tells a story of someone's whole life, and, I mean, that's just that's
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  magic, man.
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  It's awesome.
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  Truly is.
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  Truly is.
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  Nathan, love the backstory, man.
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  Can't wait to meet you and down there.
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  What are you working on now?
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  You got another album that's coming out soon or one you just released?
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  Well, like I said, I've been out of the game for ten years.
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  I don't think anybody even buys CDs anymore.
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  I'd sure love to put one of those out, but, I mean, I've got so much music that's not
• 12:24
  recorded.
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  And I think some of my best songs are not on an album anywhere, but I do have you know, you can
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  go to iTunes or any of that stuff.
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  There's three albums, I think, on there.
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  But, yeah, right now, I'm just trying to build the network back up to where I can consistently
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  get shows, get out, sing my music.
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  I'm writing again, which is awesome.
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  Been writing some new songs.
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  One of my favorites right now is, god and gasoline.
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  That's a pretty cool song.
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  A little revved up.
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  Get god in there anytime I can.
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  So, yeah, if I can get this thing built up, I'd love to put some more music out.
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  Selling T shirts again.
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  My ten year anniversary of the what I love and what I do album, so I put that T shirt out
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  again.
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  We're doing that.
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  So just anything I can do to get the music out there.
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  And, like I said, my first album was called My Own Name, and it was also my first tattoo.
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  Got a lot of those since.
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  But now it's more about just getting my songs out there.
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  It's not even really about me.
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  It's about other people appreciating it, you know, like I do.
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  Amazing, man.
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  Well, I know you got a sleepy Frenchie at your feet.
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  I can hear
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  Can you
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  hear him?
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  Oh, yeah.
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  I just that puts a big smile on my face, man.
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  I'm such a such a big dog person.
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  I like cats too, but a a squishy faced dog will always have my heart.
• 13:50
  Nathan Wade, why don't you tell everybody where they can find you online once for me, and,
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  yeah, I'll let you get out of here.
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  Sure.
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  Basically, I'm just rolling off Facebook right now.
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  So it's just Nathan Wade country.
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  You can look me up, give that a like, be my friend.
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  Again, you can find my music at Nathan Wade Country on YouTube, iTunes, CD Baby, all that
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  stuff.
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  I've heard Spotify is kinda going out the window.
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  So I actually pulled up a couple of my songs on Spotify the other day, and it was playing the
• 14:21
  wrong song.
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  I have a lot of my friends who are independent artists who were posting a lot about how they
• 14:27
  they took their albums down out of nowhere because they're saying that it it, they thought
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  it might have been AI generated.
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  And these are, like, real deal artists.
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  Oh oh, like the pop music that's that we're hearing on the radio?
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  The Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  It's it's just terrible.
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  I I can't I can't listen to the radio.
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  Hey.
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  You know what?
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  You're you're on it, man.
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  You you are on it.
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  You're doing the right thing.
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  I will tell you right now, people do buy CDs, but it's just different.
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  They're not buying it to consume it.
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  They're buying it because they know that supports an artist.
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  I'm I'm gonna put I've been working on an album myself with songs that, haven't seen the light
• 15:02
  of day in in a decade or more.
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  And, I'm thinking about just taking it straight to vinyl like some of my friends back here
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  behind me have.
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  And
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  That is the new thing, man.
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  We're back to records.
• 15:13
  Well, it's visceral.
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  Right?
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  And I think I think it matters, and and I think people understand it.
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  I think they they realize that the sound quality is way better.
• 15:23
  I think we're all sick and tired of renting music Gener yeah.
• 15:26
  Generated.
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  Spotify.
• 15:27
  Yeah.
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  Generated crap.
• 15:29
  You know?
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  It's I don't know.
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  For me, like, yeah, I'll sit in a bar.
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  I'm not I'm not a guitarist.
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  I say I'm a singer, songwriter, guitar ish.
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  If I can get enough of the chords together just the right way to play my music, you know, it's
• 15:42
  like Harlan Howard.
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  It's, you know, three chords and the truth.
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  That's it.
• 15:47
  Well, Nathan Wade, thanks so much for sharing your story with us today, and thanks for being
• 15:52
  part of the scene.
• 15:53
  Absolutely, Bubba.
• 15:54
  Appreciate it, man.