We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bobby Mertz. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Bobby below.

Hi Bobby, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I think the biggest risk I ever took was, like many, packing up everything I owned and moving to Nashville to pursue music. Nobody has any guarantees here… One day you’re sitting on top of the world, and the next, you’ve reached your lowest low… It is such a roller coaster, but more so an amazing experience that often goes unexplained…It’s like something everyone chasing the dream here understands, but can’t really put into words… I remember getting a call about needing to be in town to play here from a very high profile artist. I made a few trips to town to check it out and scope out the scene. The next thing I knew, (within weeks) I was living in an apartment on the southern part of town while my wife was back in PA holding down the fort. Fast forward a few months…our old house was sold and we were in a giant truck with everything we had moving into the great unknown…riskiest thing I have ever done, but the rewards, looking back now, far outweigh all of the anxiety and fear I faced.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have loved music as far back as I can remember. The drums specifically…something about not only hearing them, but how you “feel” them at the same time. I took lessons through my public school and played in all the Jr High & High School band programs. I took a break while serving in the US Marine Corps, and got back into the swing during my service as a State Trooper in PA. I began to play in several local and regional bands in the area until I decided this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life… Made the move to Nashville where I started at the bottom and networked my butt off…night and day, week after week. Not long after I got to town, I got a call to go work for Kenny G as a drum tech. That has evolved over the past 8 years to Tech, Merch, Day-to-Day with Kenny personally, Advancing shows, and Tour Managing….As of lately, all of the above. I love that I get to travel the world with Kenny and the band, but at the end of the day, my true love is sitting behind the kit and playing…
I am always looking for new artists to tour with and I have a home studio that I work out of in Hendersonville. I think my best trait is my attention to detail. I always show up knowing ALL the material and being over prepared for any gig. I am very professional and yet an easy hang…and always enjoy making it fun. I work well with everyone and I always have my instrument in top working order….cleaned, tuned, and sounding great!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Quite simply….being employed! I’ll elaborate a bit…. Fame and fortune come and go for some. That’s NOT why I got into this crazy business. It’s constantly being asked to go out on the road and work with people. It’s being one of the first phone calls made when someone needs a drummer. It’s being thought of by artists because they know you’re dependable and will do a great job even when the circumstances are against them. They know you will make them laugh when they’re not having a great day, or when the drive is long, or when they face mountain of problems…. To this very day, I still get calls from Kenny G to go tour in between and around my playing gigs. They can hire any number of people who will do an OK job… but he always calls me first because he knows everything will be handled just so and that it will be fun. THAT is a great feeling when the top selling instrumentalist of ALL TIME feels that way about you…That’s rewarding….
I don’t NEED the world to know my name and live like a rockstar….. I just love the steady stream of calls to keep me working….because it’s fun!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

My resilience comes from God alone! There have been countless times that a gig will come to an end for whatever the reason… In those moments, it feels like the whole world is crashing,, and nothing else matters….Faith and trust in God is the only way to keep moving forward. It’s knowing that God knows better than we do and that everything happens for a reason….And we have to trust in that, and start over, and keep on moving ahead. I’ve been let go or not hired or skipped over and passed up more than I want to admit….and for a variety of industry reasons…. You just have to go back and find the reason you started this journey in the first place and pick it up from there….   

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @bobbymertzdrumz
• Facebook: @bobbymertz
• Twitter: @bobby_mertz
• FB Page: @Bobby Mertz Drums