Latest / Takin’ A Walk Nashville / Exploring Nashville's Music Scene: Jared Farley on Porter's Call and Artist Support in the Music Industry
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Taking a Walk Nashville. Hi, this is Sarah Harrelson, your
- 0:04Speaker 1: host of Taking a Walk Nashville, and I just want
- 0:07Speaker 1: to start off by saying thank you to our listeners
- 0:10Speaker 1: who have been tuning in. We just hit number five
- 0:14Speaker 1: on the Apple Podcast Top Shows chart in the music category,
- 0:19Speaker 1: which is amazing, So thank you. Give us a follow
- 0:23Speaker 1: or a review if you like what you're hearing. But
- 0:27Speaker 1: today I am here in Franklin with Jared Farley. We
- 0:31Speaker 1: are at the Porter's Call office. Jared is the program
- 0:35Speaker 1: manager at Porter's Call. It's an organization and place where
- 0:39Speaker 1: artists can find support and encouragement with services provided at
- 0:44Speaker 1: no charge to them. So Jared, thank you so much
- 0:47Speaker 1: for being on Taking a Walk Nashville today. Can you
- 0:50Speaker 1: give our listeners a little background on how Porter's Call
- 0:55Speaker 1: was started and what this organization does for.
- 0:59Speaker 2: Our Absolutely i'd love to, so thanks again for coming
- 1:02Speaker 2: all the way down to Franklin. I know it's a
- 1:03Speaker 2: little bit of a hike. We at Porter's Call. We
- 1:07Speaker 2: really love story and so I find the best way
- 1:10Speaker 2: to give some of that description of how do we start,
- 1:13Speaker 2: what do we do, how do we do it is
- 1:15Speaker 2: kind of just by telling a little bit of the
- 1:16Speaker 2: porter's call story, and so we really started with the
- 1:20Speaker 2: one man named Al Andrews in two thousand and one
- 1:23Speaker 2: who saw that though he was a trained therapist and
- 1:26Speaker 2: clinician in town, which meant that when you're a therapist
- 1:29Speaker 2: in Nashville, at least part of who you're going to
- 1:31Speaker 2: see or artists, he found that there was no shortage
- 1:34Speaker 2: of reason why they would need help, encouragement support because
- 1:37Speaker 2: of the lifestyle that they lead, the specific challenges that
- 1:40Speaker 2: come with being an artist, the way that he was
- 1:43Speaker 2: able to provide that within a clinical setting. He just
- 1:46Speaker 2: felt there was a big gap, There was a big
- 1:48Speaker 2: ask to try to get artists to come and adopt
- 1:50Speaker 2: that model, and so he had the idea of trying
- 1:53Speaker 2: to end the support from the industry. He got the
- 1:56Speaker 2: buy in from some labels in town, and he wanted
- 1:59Speaker 2: to try to fill in the gap. He wanted to
- 2:03Speaker 2: care for artists emotionally, mentally, even spiritually if they wanted
- 2:08Speaker 2: or needed that, because the lifestyle that they lead, how
- 2:12Speaker 2: nomadic it is, the isolation having to deal with fame
- 2:15Speaker 2: and shame, the financial volatility, the normalization and access of
- 2:19Speaker 2: addictive substances and processes, it's just his rife with reasons
- 2:23Speaker 2: why people would struggle with anxiety and depression and all
- 2:26Speaker 2: these types of diagnostic disorders. But he wanted to take
- 2:30Speaker 2: a little bit of a more kind of comprehensive approach
- 2:32Speaker 2: to it and not just work through kind of a
- 2:35Speaker 2: diagnostic lens. And so he set out to do that,
- 2:37Speaker 2: and it is almost next sure will be our twenty
- 2:39Speaker 2: fifth year in doing this, and so one of the
- 2:42Speaker 2: most foundational things I wanted to do. Though, he noticed
- 2:45Speaker 2: when working with artists in particular in the industry, not
- 2:47Speaker 2: just people in music, but specifically artists. When you're an artist,
- 2:52Speaker 2: it's really easy to be in really transactional spaces with
- 2:55Speaker 2: people because a lot of them you employ, and then
- 2:58Speaker 2: there's a lot of people that want to there's kind
- 3:01Speaker 2: of always angles that people can take in social relationships
- 3:04Speaker 2: around artists, and so al wanted to provide this service
- 3:07Speaker 2: for free, and that did two things. One, it meant
- 3:10Speaker 2: people that otherwise couldn't get access to the help that
- 3:13Speaker 2: he would provide could because there was no cost barrier
- 3:16Speaker 2: to entry. But more importantly than that, it directly dealt
- 3:19Speaker 2: with that transactional nature of these artists. For some of
- 3:24Speaker 2: them finding the first time in their story where where
- 3:27Speaker 2: they didn't have to give something back to al they
- 3:31Speaker 2: just got to come and receive. And we've been doing
- 3:33Speaker 2: this now for, like I said, almost twenty five years.
- 3:37Speaker 2: Alice now retired, but we've got two of our other
- 3:40Speaker 2: longtime folks who have met with artists. We call ourselves porters,
- 3:44Speaker 2: which is really not a very commonly used term these days,
- 3:48Speaker 2: but it really speaks back to this old tradition where
- 3:52Speaker 2: a weary traveler could come to a monastery and they
- 3:55Speaker 2: could find safety, shelter and provision free of charge, and
- 3:59Speaker 2: they didn't have to be a person of faith. They
- 4:01Speaker 2: just needed somebody to care for them. And there was
- 4:03Speaker 2: a man who would be stationed along the road and
- 4:06Speaker 2: his title was a porter, and it was his role
- 4:09Speaker 2: to just meet the needs of the weird traveler however
- 4:11Speaker 2: he could. And when now heard that description of a
- 4:14Speaker 2: porter from his wife Nita, he was like, that's exactly
- 4:18Speaker 2: what I do for people who are not just kind
- 4:21Speaker 2: of metaphorically on the road of life, but who are
- 4:23Speaker 2: quite literally sometimes pulling up to our office out of
- 4:26Speaker 2: a van because they've just been on the road. So
- 4:29Speaker 2: we have a really unique approach because we serve a
- 4:31Speaker 2: really unique kind of demographic of people.
- 4:34Speaker 1: So yeah, and who is that demographic? Is it just
- 4:37Speaker 1: touring artists and signed or independent that are eligible for
- 4:41Speaker 1: these services.
- 4:42Speaker 2: Yeah, So we honestly, if it were up to us,
- 4:45Speaker 2: I don't think we would have any limitations on who
- 4:46Speaker 2: we could see because we recognize that the entire industry
- 4:49Speaker 2: needs help and care. It can be really brutal. So
- 4:53Speaker 2: anybody's listening that is wondering if they feel crazy for
- 4:56Speaker 2: the industry being brutal, it is brutal. Yeah, So we
- 5:02Speaker 2: do recognize there's so currently there's five five of us
- 5:05Speaker 2: that porter full time, so those people actually sit behind
- 5:08Speaker 2: closed doors and work with artists. I'm right now, I'm
- 5:10Speaker 2: sitting with you. I have spent an entire day just
- 5:12Speaker 2: behind closed doors with artists, helping navigate their struggle. They're
- 5:15Speaker 2: paying their story. Because there's only five of us, and
- 5:19Speaker 2: only two of us are behind closed doors full time
- 5:21Speaker 2: with artists, that just means we just can't see everybody.
- 5:25Speaker 2: And so we do have some eligibility requirements because we
- 5:29Speaker 2: find that when you are an artist that is recording
- 5:34Speaker 2: and producing and then having to then tour your own music,
- 5:38Speaker 2: the stakes are really high when it's your music and
- 5:42Speaker 2: when you're really giving it a go. If it's not
- 5:43Speaker 2: a side project but it's your full time, that's always
- 5:46Speaker 2: going to almost always going to require travel, touring, all that,
- 5:52Speaker 2: and so that also comes with unique struggles. And that's
- 5:54Speaker 2: really who we've worked with really closely for the last
- 5:57Speaker 2: kind of two decades. And so the eligibility parameters are
- 6:02Speaker 2: just kind of in a nutshell, and these are laid
- 6:05Speaker 2: out with more detail on our website, But twenty shows
- 6:09Speaker 2: in the calendar year, so twenty public performances of your
- 6:12Speaker 2: own materials, so not you covering somebody else's, but music
- 6:15Speaker 2: where you've invested kind of your heart, your story into.
- 6:18Speaker 2: I'm trying to think off the top of my head
- 6:21Speaker 2: if there are any other parameters around that. And then
- 6:24Speaker 2: we also recognize not if you're not the artist, but
- 6:27Speaker 2: if you're if you're the partner of an artist, if
- 6:30Speaker 2: you are a romantic partner and you're really committed, that
- 6:34Speaker 2: comes with unique struggles as well. When your significant other
- 6:38Speaker 2: is a way for you know, one hundred and hundred
- 6:41Speaker 2: and fifty two hundred show days a year, you can
- 6:44Speaker 2: be kind of almost in like bachelor bachelorette mode or
- 6:48Speaker 2: single parent mode, and so we recognize that comes with
- 6:50Speaker 2: unique struggles as well, and so our eligibility has always
- 6:53Speaker 2: extended to the artist and to the artist's significant other partner.
- 6:57Speaker 2: You don't have to be signed. You can be independent
- 7:00Speaker 2: as long as you're doing at least twenty shows each year.
- 7:03Speaker 1: So yeah, I think that's great, and I think it's
- 7:05Speaker 1: great for artists to know that there are services with
- 7:09Speaker 1: no strings attached for them. They don't have to recoup
- 7:12Speaker 1: of balance. And there's so many artists nowadays that are
- 7:14Speaker 1: road warriors because you know, that's where you make the
- 7:17Speaker 1: majority of your income, and a streaming world is you know,
- 7:21Speaker 1: we're all human and we face sickness and challenges. So
- 7:26Speaker 1: if something comes up, especially health wise, you're missing out
- 7:30Speaker 1: on show dates, you're missing out on income, and.
- 7:32Speaker 2: You don't have a PTO bank to fall back on,
- 7:35Speaker 2: you don't have maternity leave, paternity leave, bereavement, all that
- 7:40Speaker 2: kind of stuff. And that's also where we love to
- 7:42Speaker 2: partner with existing organizations like Music Cares, Music Health Alliance
- 7:45Speaker 2: because we recognize, well we do kind of fit a
- 7:48Speaker 2: very kind of small niche of care for artists that's
- 7:52Speaker 2: really tailored and specific to their struggles. Also recognize sometimes
- 7:56Speaker 2: like sometimes you just need dental work, you know what
- 7:59Speaker 2: I mean, Like I'm not gonna be able to help
- 8:01Speaker 2: with a root canal, but let me get you connected
- 8:03Speaker 2: with an organization that already has a team, a passion
- 8:06Speaker 2: funds to help supplement some of those things. So we
- 8:08Speaker 2: really see, like to care for any human just requires
- 8:13Speaker 2: there's a huge range of need that no one organization
- 8:18Speaker 2: entity are going to cover, and so we like to
- 8:21Speaker 2: see we are this kind of tailored mental, emotional, social
- 8:27Speaker 2: support that a lot of artists need. And then we
- 8:30Speaker 2: love to also kind of be in some ways the
- 8:32Speaker 2: gateway for them to also get with those organizations so
- 8:35Speaker 2: that they can get additional.
- 8:37Speaker 1: Care that they want. Yeah. Yeah, And I love that
- 8:39Speaker 1: it's tailored to their needs because there's so many resources
- 8:42Speaker 1: out there, some that musicians may know about, maybe they
- 8:46Speaker 1: don't know about, but it can be overwhelming when there's
- 8:48Speaker 1: so many resources to dig through, you have to figure
- 8:52Speaker 1: out if you're eligible or not. It takes a lot
- 8:54Speaker 1: of time and research to figure out which resource is
- 8:58Speaker 1: the best for you. Yeah.
- 9:00Speaker 2: And one of the reasons that we feel really confident
- 9:04Speaker 2: about what we provide is because we've been doing it
- 9:08Speaker 2: for a really long time. This is not like we're
- 9:10Speaker 2: not a new thing. Like this is long before there
- 9:13Speaker 2: was ever even really conversation in the industry about mental
- 9:18Speaker 2: health emotional wellness. I mean this is two thousand and one,
- 9:22Speaker 2: you know, when when Al Andrews first started this, and
- 9:25Speaker 2: so we we have a long history that we get
- 9:29Speaker 2: to rely on and pull on, and we've got we're
- 9:32Speaker 2: lucky to have a good buy in from for even
- 9:34Speaker 2: a number of people in the industry. We've got label
- 9:37Speaker 2: execs that are on our board or have been on
- 9:40Speaker 2: our board, and we've we've got buy in from management
- 9:43Speaker 2: companies and booking agencies and all that because they recognize
- 9:47Speaker 2: when when artists are healthy, that also makes for good
- 9:50Speaker 2: business too, like it does actually aid them and what
- 9:53Speaker 2: they do. We really hone in on this idea of
- 9:56Speaker 2: you know, all of our artists are in somewhat shape
- 9:58Speaker 2: or form. Storytellers play music. We were talking just before
- 10:03Speaker 2: we went live that you know, you have a round
- 10:06Speaker 2: coming up even that you're going to play at and unfortunately,
- 10:10Speaker 2: a lot of times the environment that you're expected to
- 10:12Speaker 2: do that if you're going to make a living at
- 10:14Speaker 2: it really it kind of requires you in telling those
- 10:17Speaker 2: stories actually lose touch with your own story along the
- 10:19Speaker 2: way because of the cadence or the pace at what
- 10:22Speaker 2: you're expected to do this creative thing. So we like
- 10:25Speaker 2: to provide a space where people can come off the road,
- 10:27Speaker 2: come out of Music City, come on down to Franklin again.
- 10:30Speaker 2: I know it's a hike, but provide a space where
- 10:33Speaker 2: they just get to be human again.
- 10:35Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think that's so important, so they're not
- 10:38Speaker 1: stuck in what feels like a constant machine having to
- 10:41Speaker 1: go on the road, write songs, produce, make music. I
- 10:44Speaker 1: think so important. I was reading some of these stats.
- 10:49Speaker 1: I want to read some of these off that I
- 10:52Speaker 1: was seeing, because you do have a lot of sponsors
- 10:54Speaker 1: from labels organizations that provide the funding for these services.
- 10:59Speaker 1: And because of this, you have two hundred plus new
- 11:02Speaker 1: eligible clients reaching out per year. A million dollars have
- 11:07Speaker 1: been saved by artists and their partners and costs associated
- 11:10Speaker 1: with mental health support. It's so important. And seventy five
- 11:14Speaker 1: thousand dollars provided through your Artist Community Fund to cover
- 11:19Speaker 1: emergency situations through the ACM Lifting Lives. So that's amazing.
- 11:26Speaker 2: Well, and I think on there and even says that
- 11:28Speaker 2: there's a percentage of our of the artists that we
- 11:31Speaker 2: see that make significantly less than you know, aless artists.
- 11:36Speaker 2: Right They're they're making you know, between fifty and seventy
- 11:40Speaker 2: five thousand dollars a year and sometimes with a spouse
- 11:43Speaker 2: or with kids or family, just expensive just living in
- 11:45Speaker 2: Middle Tennessee these days, that is not a ton of money.
- 11:49Speaker 2: And therapy can be really expensive. Treatment can be really expensive,
- 11:53Speaker 2: and there's all kinds of reasons why not to get help,
- 11:56Speaker 2: and we just never want money to be kind of
- 11:59Speaker 2: a determining factor that and so we rely heavily, not
- 12:02Speaker 2: heavily exclusively on the generosity of people in our community
- 12:06Speaker 2: that want that are kind of our mission with us,
- 12:08Speaker 2: that they don't want to live in a world where
- 12:11Speaker 2: you know, the beauty and art of music is lost. Yeah,
- 12:16Speaker 2: and so we want to make sure that the artists
- 12:18Speaker 2: that's helping to create that that they don't lose themselves
- 12:22Speaker 2: along the way to right.
- 12:23Speaker 1: Yeah, there's definitely a lot of financial struggles with artists
- 12:28Speaker 1: who maybe just got signed that are trying to make it.
- 12:32Speaker 1: Publishing deals you get, you know, lower advances now, so
- 12:36Speaker 1: a lot of artists are going out on the road
- 12:38Speaker 1: to make their money, and so a lot of musicians
- 12:41Speaker 1: baddling not only financial struggles, but it even says on
- 12:45Speaker 1: here seventy three percent of independent artists reports struggling with
- 12:50Speaker 1: mental illness. So I think that definitely goes hand in hand.
- 12:54Speaker 1: Can you provide some examples of some artists who have
- 12:58Speaker 1: really benefited from the service as a porter's call?
- 13:01Speaker 2: Yeah, and these are all on our website. So this
- 13:04Speaker 2: is a you know, we we do. We do hold
- 13:06Speaker 2: a confidentiality so it's one of the things that we
- 13:09Speaker 2: we we kind of bring over from the clinical model,
- 13:11Speaker 2: which all of our porters are trained in. Like I
- 13:13Speaker 2: went to Treveca Go Trojans, so I was a licensed
- 13:17Speaker 2: manage of family therapist. But but there's test motives on
- 13:20Speaker 2: our website, so I know Hayley Williams from Paramore has
- 13:23Speaker 2: a quote on there. I think Hillary Scott looks like
- 13:27Speaker 2: Thomas Comic are, Yeah, and so there are that that's
- 13:31Speaker 2: a that's a big way too. While artists don't ever
- 13:34Speaker 2: give directly for anything they receive and if they come
- 13:36Speaker 2: in for We've had some artists coming in for ten
- 13:38Speaker 2: to fifteen years different stages of their career, different stages
- 13:41Speaker 2: of their life. They might not darken our doorstep for
- 13:45Speaker 2: a year and then something might happen and they kind
- 13:47Speaker 2: of circle back in, and so we kind of take
- 13:49Speaker 2: this longer, kind of longitudinal approach with artists, and sometimes
- 13:54Speaker 2: even though they have not given anything financially, they some
- 13:58Speaker 2: of them get to a point where they do want
- 13:59Speaker 2: to give financially as a donation, and so that's not
- 14:03Speaker 2: uncommon for that to happen, and that helps us keep
- 14:05Speaker 2: our doors open as well. But it doesn't matter if
- 14:08Speaker 2: you're busking on Broadway or selling out Bridgetone, Like, we
- 14:12Speaker 2: don't really have any any investment in your career other
- 14:15Speaker 2: than are you are you well doing it? We definitely
- 14:19Speaker 2: have had some of those larger artists come in, but
- 14:21Speaker 2: I would say probably the vast majority of artists that
- 14:25Speaker 2: at least I see and I know a lot of
- 14:27Speaker 2: the folks that come in here would would not be
- 14:29Speaker 2: ones that are going to be, you know, top Spotify streamers,
- 14:33Speaker 2: but they are. They're putting their heart and soul into
- 14:37Speaker 2: what they do and they need a place to come
- 14:39Speaker 2: and process what that's like when it goes well and
- 14:41Speaker 2: they accounter fame or success or whatever that might look like.
- 14:44Speaker 2: And when it doesn't go well, which is really often.
- 14:46Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think that's very important. You mentioned about
- 14:51Speaker 1: a writer's round. There is a monthly writers round hosted
- 14:55Speaker 1: here in East Nashville. It's held on the third Tuesday
- 14:58Speaker 1: of every month at Prospect House. You can find it,
- 15:02Speaker 1: i believe, through event Bright tickets for it. It's a
- 15:06Speaker 1: house show. They charge I think a ten dollars cover,
- 15:09Speaker 1: which benefits Porter's call. I'm going to be playing at
- 15:12Speaker 1: the one on January twentieth. If people are in town
- 15:17Speaker 1: want to come out and support. I think it's great
- 15:20Speaker 1: that there's so many organizations around town supporting the cause.
- 15:24Speaker 2: And what's beautiful about that too, is we never have
- 15:27Speaker 2: really taken the approach of promotion. We've always taken the
- 15:32Speaker 2: approach of attraction. Like how when he started, just kind
- 15:36Speaker 2: of leaning into almost a stubborn belief that the right
- 15:41Speaker 2: people will kind of come around, and that's shown to
- 15:45Speaker 2: be true for the last twenty something years. Is we've
- 15:50Speaker 2: never taken out ads or we all have billboards as
- 15:54Speaker 2: you're driving into town. In fact, I was a practitioner
- 15:57Speaker 2: in town. I was a musician in town. And for
- 15:59Speaker 2: over a time had lived here and had never even
- 16:01Speaker 2: heard of this place called Porter's Call until I got
- 16:04Speaker 2: a call one day where the founder had met with
- 16:08Speaker 2: the founder of another organization that was a part of
- 16:10Speaker 2: at the time, and basically they Porter's Call was trying
- 16:14Speaker 2: to I was about to retire and they were looking
- 16:17Speaker 2: for another porter and they had kind of gotten my name.
- 16:21Speaker 2: But it's just even in this town, I had never
- 16:23Speaker 2: heard of it, you know, And I know that there
- 16:25Speaker 2: are people that will probably listen to this who maybe
- 16:28Speaker 2: they've been in town for a long time or maybe
- 16:29Speaker 2: they were just getting into town, but would definitely benefit
- 16:32Speaker 2: from just just knowing that there are spaces here in Franklin.
- 16:38Speaker 2: But there's also spaces even in the industry where where
- 16:41Speaker 2: it's not always transactional, like they are places that you
- 16:43Speaker 2: can go to that they're less interested in anything you
- 16:47Speaker 2: do create or produce, they're more interested in who you are.
- 16:51Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think it's great, a great resource resource
- 16:57Speaker 1: for artists. What about musicians, are they eligible for this
- 17:02Speaker 1: service or where would you recommend any touring musicians?
- 17:07Speaker 2: Yeah, So it's a great question because when we get
- 17:09Speaker 2: often we also we we always hear where's where's the
- 17:12Speaker 2: porter's call for you know, songwriters, where's the porters call
- 17:16Speaker 2: for the higher guns or for the crew we we
- 17:20Speaker 2: we don't like there there are services out there. Because
- 17:24Speaker 2: of our eligibility requirements, we aren't able to see anybody
- 17:27Speaker 2: that's not really like the the the artist or the
- 17:32Speaker 2: partner of an artist there. But there again, are tons
- 17:35Speaker 2: of organizations. There's uh, I know back Line is one.
- 17:39Speaker 2: There are again, I don't know. It's the end of
- 17:41Speaker 2: the day right now, so my my brain is fried,
- 17:43Speaker 2: so I'm trying to think of other but there are
- 17:45Speaker 2: definitely resources and and if you don't know what those
- 17:48Speaker 2: are and you call in and you're wondering, am I eligible?
- 17:51Speaker 2: And uh, we have a hostility coordinator. Her name is Mara,
- 17:54Speaker 2: and she's incredible and she will she will help. If
- 17:58Speaker 2: we're not the spot, that's fine. We're not for everyone,
- 18:02Speaker 2: but will know who to get you to to make
- 18:05Speaker 2: sure that you get the support that you need. So
- 18:08Speaker 2: that being said, if you are maybe a higher gun
- 18:12Speaker 2: or a studio musician, and maybe that's what you're doing
- 18:15Speaker 2: as you get your artistry built up, then that's a
- 18:17Speaker 2: different you know, that's a potentially different story. But yeah,
- 18:21Speaker 2: The reason for that is because one of the I
- 18:25Speaker 2: found one of the biggest stressors and unique stressors in
- 18:30Speaker 2: working with who we've worked with for so long is
- 18:32Speaker 2: the travel component. This kind of constant departure, re entry
- 18:36Speaker 2: from life, from family, from friends. That is one of
- 18:42Speaker 2: the things that most people that don't spend their entire
- 18:48Speaker 2: day with artists, it's kind of hard for them to
- 18:51Speaker 2: wrap their mind around what like that dynamic and what
- 18:54Speaker 2: that's like and how to navigate it and the pains
- 18:57Speaker 2: that come with that. And so really, when you find
- 19:00Speaker 2: you're an artist and you're you're having to go on
- 19:03Speaker 2: the road and that comes with those unique things, that's
- 19:06Speaker 2: really who we've worked with and specialized with.
- 19:08Speaker 1: For a long time. So yeah, and that makes sense.
- 19:11Speaker 1: You know, there's a lot of hired musicians that go
- 19:14Speaker 1: on the road all the time, but when you're the
- 19:16Speaker 1: signed artist or sign van, you know, you have a
- 19:20Speaker 1: lot of commitments with your label and that's usually a
- 19:23Speaker 1: heavy touring schedule. You have a lot of money to
- 19:27Speaker 1: recoup what and if you're the hired musician, you're not
- 19:31Speaker 1: really attached to that contract like ye artist is. But
- 19:35Speaker 1: I think it's definitely important for hired musicians to have
- 19:40Speaker 1: these resources too. But I think the great thing about
- 19:42Speaker 1: Porter's Call is this organization provides community and awareness. So
- 19:48Speaker 1: if you're a hired player with an artist who has
- 19:52Speaker 1: been affiliated with Porter's Call and you're struggling, maybe you
- 19:55Speaker 1: have a conversation with them and they lead you to
- 19:58Speaker 1: an organization like Music Health Alliance. So I think it
- 20:01Speaker 1: can only bring awareness to anyone in the music industry
- 20:05Speaker 1: who needs help.
- 20:06Speaker 2: Yeah, And it's what's funny because we've worked sometimes with
- 20:08Speaker 2: people that started out as a hired gun and then
- 20:11Speaker 2: became an artist themselves, or it was the other way around,
- 20:14Speaker 2: And this isn't maybe everybody's experience, but it's not all
- 20:16Speaker 2: that uncommon when I sit with somebody who is who
- 20:19Speaker 2: is in the hired gun spot, who is also an
- 20:21Speaker 2: artist over here, who says, oh, man, it's really nice
- 20:25Speaker 2: to just go on the road and to not have
- 20:26Speaker 2: to be an like I just get to show up
- 20:28Speaker 2: and do my thing, because there's it's it's not a
- 20:30Speaker 2: better or worse, it's just a different type of pressure.
- 20:34Speaker 2: It's a different type of it's a different experience. And
- 20:37Speaker 2: I think most people that are in the industry that
- 20:40Speaker 2: do it have to some degree felt that difference of
- 20:43Speaker 2: like when when you're an artist versus when you are
- 20:47Speaker 2: on the road with an artist. Again, that's not everybody's experience,
- 20:51Speaker 2: but there's just it's just a different it's just a
- 20:54Speaker 2: different kind of of thing. And when we set out
- 20:57Speaker 2: to do this, it was it was it was it
- 20:59Speaker 2: was to make the biggest impact we could. And we
- 21:01Speaker 2: found when working with the person that is the artist,
- 21:04Speaker 2: that is a kind of the head, that the impact
- 21:06Speaker 2: that that can have on the entire team around them
- 21:08Speaker 2: can be really strong as well.
- 21:10Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely so if someone's listening and they want
- 21:14Speaker 1: to support Porter's Call, or maybe they're an artist themselves
- 21:19Speaker 1: and they are eligible for these services, they feel like
- 21:22Speaker 1: they need to talk uh to someone because they're struggling
- 21:27Speaker 1: where they Where can they go to find Poor's Call
- 21:29Speaker 1: and connect with you.
- 21:30Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, our website's going to be one of the
- 21:33Speaker 2: easiest we have. We have some stuff on socials as well.
- 21:36Speaker 2: I know, we have an Instagram page that you can
- 21:38Speaker 2: that you can find and right on there, there's there's
- 21:41Speaker 2: a link if you want to if you want to
- 21:43Speaker 2: get in on what we're doing and you want to
- 21:45Speaker 2: support it, there are all the ways to give right there.
- 21:48Speaker 1: Uh.
- 21:48Speaker 2: And most importantly I would say, if you're if you're
- 21:51Speaker 2: hearing this and you're in the struggle, you are, I
- 21:55Speaker 2: think exactly where you're supposed to be at hearing this
- 21:57Speaker 2: whenever you hear it, And so please just know the
- 22:01Speaker 2: hardest step that you can ever take is that first
- 22:03Speaker 2: one of reaching out, and if you do, you'll be
- 22:06Speaker 2: met with Mara, who is an absolute wizard at what
- 22:09Speaker 2: she does. You can call her office. You can also
- 22:12Speaker 2: see the eligibility stuff online and you can do all
- 22:15Speaker 2: of your internet sleuthing and check us out on our
- 22:17Speaker 2: website and see who's eligible, why do we do what
- 22:19Speaker 2: we do, and all that informations on there.
- 22:21Speaker 1: That's great, Jared, thank you so much for being on
- 22:25Speaker 1: taking a walk Nashville today. This is quiet in I
- 22:29Speaker 1: always ask my guest at the end, but since we're
- 22:32Speaker 1: on taking a walk Nashville, do you have a favorite
- 22:34Speaker 1: place to take a walk in Nashville or even Franklin?
- 22:38Speaker 2: Ooh gosh, Well, I like to think of myself as
- 22:42Speaker 2: kind of the walking porter because if it's not freezing
- 22:45Speaker 2: outside as not raining, I really like to walk with
- 22:47Speaker 2: my people. And there's a park right next door called
- 22:50Speaker 2: Pinkerton Park. That's really like, I really enjoy walking that.
- 22:54Speaker 2: But my answer would have to probably because where I
- 22:58Speaker 2: proposed to my wife will be Percy Warner Park.
- 23:00Speaker 1: Phil great answer. Yeah, that's my favorite part to go
- 23:03Speaker 1: to as well.
- 23:04Speaker 2: It's so beautiful, so yeah, it's got some good memories too.
- 23:07Speaker 2: So if you're ever in town you need a great
- 23:09Speaker 2: place to walk, can't go wrong with Percy One.
- 23:11Speaker 1: Yeah, it's always a popular answer on our show. Here
- 23:14Speaker 1: we Go, Jared, thank you so much again for being
- 23:18Speaker 1: on the show today, and I hope our listeners will
- 23:21Speaker 1: go and check Porter's call and support them.
- 23:24Speaker 2: Thanks.
- 23:26Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Taking a Walk Nashville with singer
- 23:29Speaker 1: songwriter Sarah Harrelson, and check out our other podcasts, Music
- 23:34Speaker 1: Save Me, Comedy Save Me, and Taking a Walk. Available
- 23:38Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
- 23:41Speaker 1: your podcasts.