We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Donny Van Slee a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Donny, thanks for joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?
I’m happy as an artist but I also have a regular job. I’m a full-time chiropractic physician and a full-time musician. I work as a chiropractor Thursday through Monday and perform live shows, record, write songs, and create social media content when I’m away from the office. It’s common for me to care for over fifty patients a day and then perform at night. This route in life was very unexpected. As the president of the business club in chiropractor school, I was planning on opening an office after graduation. I had an extensive business plan, a prime location picked out in Florida, and all the prerequisites to receive a business loan. Instead, I’m in Nashville working full-time as an associate doctor in someone else’s office in order to pursue my music career. Eventually, I’ll ween off chiropractic and pursue music full-time. However, I’ll always be a chiropractor in some aspect. I’ll use my education to give back to society, rather than to make money. For example, I plan on attending annual chiropractic mission trips which involve traveling to third-world countries, providing free health care to those in need.
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?
Growing up in Hernando County on the central-west coast of Florida, home of the famous Weeki Wachee Mermaids Show, my siblings and I spent most of our childhood fishing, kayaking, playing soccer, and swimming at the beach. Thanks to the countless car rides with our grandparents, I’ve been singing ever since I can talk. We would all sing “I Been Working on the Railroad” every time they picked us up in their car. It wasn’t until 6th grade when my father bought me my first guitar for Christmas that I started taking music more seriously. Since my mother is a lifelong Tom Petty fan, the first song I learned was one of her favorite songs, “Free Falling.” I used to sit in my room for hours and teach myself how to play all my favorite songs by watching countless YouTube videos. Eventually, I learned enough songs to perform full-time at local tiki huts around town. I continued to play shows all the way through grad school. I performed roughly three shows a week while studying to become a chiropractor.
While finishing up school, I completed a road trip to Castle Rock, CO to start a chiropractor internship. During that drive to Colorado, the GPS surprisingly directed my route straight through Music City. For the first time ever, I explored Nashville, TN experiencing all its glory which in turn would change the projection of my life. It was my final semester in school, and as the president of the business club, I had every intention of opening a clinic right after graduation. Instead, while passing through Nashville, I auditioned at a bar and was immediately hired to perform 3-5 days a week at “The World-Famous Tootsies Orchid Lounge.” It didn’t take much convincing to put my office plans aside to do that instead. Two years later, I’m still performing at Tootsies and working 5 days a week at a local chiropractic clinic. The times I’m not performing or working as a chiropractor, I’m writing and releasing my own songs which you can find on all streaming platforms: https://direct.me/donnyvanslee. My musical influences range from country artists like Zach Bryan and Tyler Childers to Islander-beachy artists like Jack Johnson. So, you’ll hear a mix of these two styles throughout my songs.
My mission in life is to use my platform as an artist to spread awareness about the life-changing effects of chiropractic. There are a lot of misconceptions about chiropractic care, so I made it an obligation to educate and inform the masses. Once I’m a full-time touring musician, I plan to continue practicing chiropractic by attending annual mission trips to third-world countries, providing free health care to orphaned children. The organization I’ll be doing these trips through is called ChiroMissions: https://www.chiromissions.com/upcoming-mission-trips. Feel free to donate to the cause.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
The lesson I had to unlearn in life is that childhood dreams are more achievable than people think. Growing up in a small town, I learned it was normal and responsible to go to school to get a good education that will amount to a reliable good job in the workforce. I played a lot of soccer while I was in school, so I know a handful of players who could have played professionally that are now attorneys and commercial pilots. They have amazing careers, but I guarantee you they occasionally have their “what if” days. Nevertheless, I got an education too, but I also have this dream of becoming a full-time touring musician. It wasn’t until I moved to Nashville and became surrounded by other touring musicians that I realized my dream was more achievable than I thought. It all boils down to believing in yourself, consistently working hard, and trusting the process. After two years in Nashville, I can confidently say that I’m light years ahead in the music industry than I ever thought was possible. Childhood dreams are definitely more achievable than people think.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding part of being an artist is when people message me and tell me how much they love my music. I think it’s so cool to get those messages of people just genuinely vibing out to the songs I put my blood, sweat, and tears into. It’s also really cool when people send videos of them playing and singing your songs. That’s the ultimate compliment because I know how many hours are spent learning a song. The last thing that’s really rewarding is when I’m singing one of my songs at a live show and people are singing the lyrics back to me. The first time that happened, I was absolutely blown away and didn’t know what to do with myself. It’s literally watching a dream unfold right in front of you.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://donnyvanslee.com/
- Instagram: donnyvanslee
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donnyvansleemusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/mrdonnyvanslee/videos
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@donnyvanslee Links to everything else: direct.me/donnyvanslee
Image Credits
All my photos