We recently connected with Eugene Gardner and have shared our conversation below.
Eugene, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
One of the hardest things about pushing to make a career out of music is that you still need to find time to become a better musician. Not getting better at booking, or promoting, or networking, or “content creation”, but actually spending time with your instrument and pushing the boundaries of what you can create.
I took a winding road to bluegrass mandolin. I’d been playing percussion my whole life in an academic setting, and singing and playing guitar in bands since I was a kid. But bluegrass mandolin didn’t hit me until my early 20’s. The discipline required to pull tone out of that thing drove me crazy. I loved the sound, but it took a lot of dedicated practice time to even start to sound like I knew what I was doing. After almost 20 years of making music, I was back to being a beginner.
I built up a library of mandolin books, put together 10-hour long mandolin playlists, and eventually started taking online lessons from one of the best Monroe-style mandolinists in the world, Mike Compton. I transcribed as many solos as I could, and wrote as many songs as I could. I went to live shows to see great mandolin players in person. I started going to bluegrass jams around New York and falling flat on my face. Slowly but surely, it did come together, but it’s a lifelong journey.
I’ve been doing the same right-hand warmups on mandolin, every single practice session, for the last 5 years. I still sacrifice time that I could be writing songs and playing guitar to make sure I’ve done enough mandolin work to keep up. In a style that emphasizes speed and improvisation, it always feels a little like playing catch-up. But the shows have gotten better and better, and I’ve been lucky enough to share the stage with some truly remarkable mandolinists. As much as all of the other aspects of being a professional musician can take over your life, at the end of the day it’s about being the best musician you’re capable of being.
Eugene, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’m a bluegrass singer-songwriter living in the Hudson Valley in New York. My band, Eugene Tyler Band, has been together almost 10 years. It’s a trio, with me on vocals/guitar/mandolin/tenor guitar, Daniel Tyler on banjo/guitar, and Marc Jaffee on upright bass/vocals. Together we’ve toured across the country and released 3 studio albums, 2 live records, and a few EP’s. Daniel and I started playing together in high school, and Marc produced our first record before joining the band full-time. Our newest release, “Low It Goes” is the best thing we’ve ever put together. It’s the first time a record has just had the three of us on it, and it’s the closest you can get to hearing us play live. The songs are some of the most personal I’ve ever written, and it just might be the saddest record we’ve ever made.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
This is an easy one to answer because it hasn’t changed since day 1. Really, I just want to write songs, and I want as many people to hear them and connect with them as possible. The way my favorite songs make me feel, that’s what I want someone to get out of mine.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I’m a music teacher during the day, but before 2020 I was a talent buyer in NYC. The pandemic was the spark for the change, but it took a long time to settle into this. I worked a lot of different jobs over those few years, none of them any good for someone like me. When I started teaching again, I found it was more rewarding than I remembered it being during my college days. A switch had clicked. Both jobs are music-adjacent, but working with kids is definitely not the same as working with high-strung booking agents and venue managers. The social dynamic is completely different, the hours are different, and the goals are different. The biggest advantage is that, as a creative, we’re always looking for a job that gives us the time to create. Teaching has done that for me. Changing careers, I have the most balance I’ve ever had between my work and my art.
Contact Info:
- Website: eugenetylerband.com
- Instagram: @eugenetylerband
- Facebook: facebook.com/eugenetylerband
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAkEw_JTHZE163GG-wbgHQA
- Other: eugenetylerband.bandcamp.com