We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jimmie Bishop a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jimmie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I learned to do what I do through trial and error, years of dedicated practice, consistent repetition and not giving up. The first thing I learned was songwriting. The church I grew up in hosted a rap workshop during one of the Vacation Bible Schools while I was in 11th grade. I learned the basic fundamentals of counting bars, songwriting, how to rap on beat and perform. That initial class was a drop in the bucket compared to the now 8 years I have spent honing my craft, writing and working on hundreds of songs to reach my 10,000 hours. There is no substitute fir hard work. I got great at songwriting by spending years writing bad songs and learning from each one. I got great at engineering by messing up a lot of mixes and learning from each mistake. Now, with a solid foundation in artistry, performing, and engineering, I have my sights set on the business and mastering that part of it as well. Knowing what I know now to speed up my learning process I would have reached out to my industry connections sooner instead of being too scared or feeling as if I wasn’t valuable enough to work with them yet. I am exceptionally good at what I do now, better than most. I don’t have the biggest following yet but that will come with more and more years of consistent high level output of art.
My engineering and creative directing skills are the most valuable to me. To be able to do every aspect of the creative process myself and execute the vision in my head, to create something out of nothing has proven my most profitable and greatest skillset. If I can’t get a hold of a videographer, or photographer or studio or producer for a certain project, I can pivot and complete the project myself. Relentless resourcefulness is a skill all entrepreneurs must develop if they want to reach the heights of success they dream about.
Fear was my biggest obstacle to learning more. Fear is a great motivator but will also paralyze you. It might propel you forward for a time but will keep you stuck at a certain level at some point. You won’t truly be able to break through or reach new levels if you don’t let go of your fear and leave your comfort zone.

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 am an Artist, Producer, Audio Engineer, Educator and Creative Director within Arts, Media & Entertainment for a company I started with longtime friend Zachary Jenkins called Inland Epic House. I got into my industry first as an artist: writing songs, releasing songs and performing them wherever I could. That developed later into executive producing my own projects and with each one the brand began to grow. Our platform is based on inspiring people to pursue what they are passionate about, and keep them motivated along that journey. At our core, everything we release is uplifting, positive, vibrant and in communication with the human experience. This allows our art to become timeless and fulfill a deep void in popular entertainment today. We do what inspires us and put out what moves us. We aim to tell unique stories that resonate with people, not ride trends. We offer services such as: audio engineering, studio time, music education, musicianship, live sound engineering, producing (all genres), songwriting (all genres), artist development, branding, events, event planning, video production, storyboarding, film composition and film scoring. We solve the problem of a positive honest brand in music that is not corny but speaks to real people and meets them where they’re at. Our fanbase are mostly people in transitional seasons in their life. People who are doing something they don’t like and wish they could be pursuing their passion, but are too scared to step out on faith. Through our content, products and services, we give our fans and the world the push to believe in themselves and step out of their comfort zone into the life they’ve always wanted. What sets us apart from others is our honesty and positivity. Through our music and content, we are brutally honest. We share our flaws and pains so that others can know their wounds can heal, that their current situation is not “just the way life goes.” but that they can make a change, today, at this very moment, no matter how old or young they are or what they’re past has been like or what they believe they are capable of. I am most proud of our released music, content and merchandise. That is the bread and butter of our business and what we are most known for. I want potential fans or clients to know that we are committed to them first. Our platform is an act of service to be able to positively impact the world and change peoples lives for the better. The bigger we get, the larger the scope of which we will be able to do that.

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

Buy the merchandise! That is the most direct and best way society can support artists. Merchandise is expensive to make and just like any business, the product must be sold in order to turn a profit. Buying an artists merchandise or products helps monetize the artists creativity and keep them going on their music journey. Buying tickets and going to the shows are important too. It is an extremely good luck for an artist to have a crowd of people that know their songs, cheer them on and buy their tickets. It will help them get bigger venues and cultivate better business relationships that way. Streaming the music, engaging with their social media posts, sharing their posts on social media and their music, and adding their music to playlists will tremendously help artists advance, grow and scale. An artist is only as strong as the community around them! Just like any business!

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My goal is to inspire people to pursue what they are passionate about and keep them motivated a long that journey. Everything I release and put out has some sort of message in it. You can always learn something and feel something when you engage with my art. The best description I’ve ever received for my music was that “It makes people smile.” I describe my work as being “hard and human.” Exactly what I thought was missing from popular entertainment. Positive uplifting messages but stuff that’s real and not corny.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.inlandepichouse.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jimmiebishop951/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jimmie_951
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jimmiebishop1634
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0CDRIpZurs1JAQRxmUKe17?autoplay=true

Image Credits
Levi Holloway Films Felisha Carrasco Mia Oates