We were lucky to catch up with Jennifer Foster recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jennifer, appreciate you joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

Robert & I moved to Austin, TX with the game plan to make a full-time living doing music. I had lived in Los Angeles for many years and I always had a side hustle between projects or during projects. Robert did as well. I think it’s healthy to begin your journey working jobs that help you get to where you want to be. I scooped ice cream, worked so many front desks. Rob worked at Starbucks for a long time. It gives you the motivation, builds your work ethic and bit of cash to get you going. Major milestones for me would be when I would book a TV show, or a musical at the Hollywood Bowl, Rob says when he went on his first tour, it gave him a new excitement. Recording my original albums showed me I have what it takes to be a driving force in my own future in music. We don’t feel we would have changed anything or tried to speed up our process. Whatever time it took, was necessary. A major step was also picking up the bass a year ago. Our journey was not glamorous or easy, and we mostly made very little to no money up until now. We are so proud of where we are now.

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?

Robert and I are full time musicians out of Austin, TX. Robert is a self taught guitarist who began gigging up and down the coast of California, playing anywhere that would have him. I dropped out of college where I was studying musical theatre and began diving into my own music and branching into arranging, writing, producing. We met in southern California, moved to Austin, TX 2 years later, I picked up the bass, and we started a killer power trio, adding our drummer, Anthony Corsaro. We go by Shadow Band. What sets us apart is that we truly, to our cores, enjoy what we do. We are honest, driven, full of soul! I I (Jen) feel lucky to have a really solid business backbone so that I can advocate for what our band deserves. I essentially “manage” the band. It’s easy to work for the people and the things you love. Our band will never stop learning, never think “we’ve made it” or feel “too good” to play anywhere. We love playing, and it’s awesome that people enjoy it too.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Having fun. Rob says, “it’s like getting paid to go on a field trip everyday.” I agree. Our life is a nonstop adventure. I love that we show up to a place we’ve never been, meeting 50+ new people every day, play music, and usually go home happy and full of love. That’s just about every day. We are so lucky. I love when I feel I’ve had a good show, the feeling of pride I have in myself. It’s one of the few times I give myself a pat on the back and say, “good job, Jen.” I work so hard and am so tough on myself, the most rewarding validation, is my own. I love hugging the guys at the end of the night, like “good job team, I love you guys, let’s do it again tomorrow!”

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

Happiness! Having fun! Enjoying ourselves. That’s what drives us. We want to be living comfortably, happy, healthy and doing music. Sharing music with family and friends. Positive audience responses. We want to be well respected for our humanity, dignity, work ethic and music.

Contact Info:

• Website: jenniferfostermusic.godaddysites.com/
• Instagram: @shadowbandatx
• Facebook: facebook.com/jenniferandrobertmusic
• Youtube: youtube.com/jenniferfoster

Image Credits
Jeremy Hunt, Chris Meissner