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

Christian, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

My parents worked hard my whole life and they instilled that work ethic into me. They also never pushed me into a career path that I didn’t want to go down. I would play my guitar for hours after school. Learning as much from YouTube as I possibly could. They allowed me to do that all I wanted and go down this musical path that isn’t always encouraged. Specially in a small town. They knew that’s what I wanted to do and they encouraged me and also supplied me with what I needed to do it. Which was basically a guitar, amp, and internet connection.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a guitarist from a small town in Oregon called Grand Ronde. Not much of a music scene here so getting into this industry wasn’t and still isn’t the easiest. It takes alot more then just being good at an instrument (which I’m still working on everyday).
You have to set yourself up ahead of time to be able to spend sometimes years working to get ahead. For me I worked at a lumber mill for 8 years while doing gigs on the weekends before I finally went self employed full time. I’ve been smart with my money and I do my best to not make stupid decisions to get myself in a rut. That’s a big part of succeeding in any industry I think.

I use to do alot of fill in gigs and mostly just live music, but lately I’ve been trying to do more writing and recording as well as live music. I’m not the best guitar player, in fact I’m not even close, but I think what sets me apart from alot of people is my work ethic. I work hard and I come prepared. Whether it’s live shows or studio or anything I do.

Right now I play for a band called The Boondock Boys that I started with the lead singer, and a powerhouse vocalist named Jacquie Roar who was a finalist on “The Voice”. I also have a few side projects going with A vocalist/piano wizard named Brady Goss, and Todd Hoffman from the show “Gold Rush”. And I occasionally get to play live with Hailey Verhaalen, Kurt Van Meter, and Jackson Michelson all great artists and good friends of mine.
I think overall I’m most proud of how far I’ve come being from such a small town. All the people I’ve got to meet, the places I’ve got to go, and the big shows I’ve done, all because of music.
Also I want to mention, I do guitar giveaways for kids. I get old guitars people don’t want anymore donated, I have them fixed up, and I give them away to kids at shows. I’ve loved doing that over the years and I’m extremely proud of that.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The main goal for me is honestly to just be able to do what I love and live off it financially. It could always be a struggle, but in the end it’s worth it I think.

I also love doing the guitar giveaways for kids. A huge goal for me is to get to where I can give away brand new guitars to kids at every show.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

In the music world, definitely going out to live shows and supporting artists in person. I know that’s hard for alot of people to do, but that makes such a big difference for artists.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pondchristian/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1A8ZVD8wyu/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@christianpond5211?si=GLa8FLbHpEhFERcv