We recently connected with Jon Yerby and have shared our conversation below.

Jon, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

The life of an Artist can be as unpredictable as it is fulfilling. Periods of hyper activity/creativity/boon followed by deserts of time in between, perhaps caused by markets, pandemics, injuries, or anything else.

I am fortunate to have lived in a variety of places here in the US and Europe – Germany, Scotland, Houston, Denton, Austin, Boston, Tallahassee, Seattle, Salt Lake City, and now Cedar City, Utah. Of course these environments are all unique to an artist, ranging from being a small fish in an ocean to a large fish in a smaller pond. It all comes down to the “Hustle” – sometimes you chase the work, and sometimes the work chases you, and sometimes it is hard to find anything to chase at all, if that makes sense. Currently, living in a small, rural town presents many qualities that I absolutely love – no traffic, reasonable living costs, beautiful nature, access to the outdoors, etc., but at the same time, within the realm of my vocation as a classical guitarist, it can be quite lonely, but stay with me – everything in life can be turned in to a positive if you just alter your approach.

A bit of backstory –

I attended a small, private high school in Texas, and I was the only person in my graduating class to pursue the life of an artist (there might have been 1 or 2 others in my graduating class of 55 students). My friends from that time graduated to become doctors, lawyers, bankers, business owners, etc., and I often compare myself to them, and perhaps not always in the healthiest way – financial success.

It is most often during idle times that my mind wanders in this direction. Besides playing the guitar well, I have a wide skillset – a knack for marketing graphic design, photography, video editing, public speaking, and leadership roles (I ran an arts non-profit in SLC for 4 years), etc.

No matter where my musings and daydreams take me, I always come back to music. This is what I know best, the medium through which I can best express myself, and something towards which I can channel my other skills.

As a result of moving around to different countries when I was young I have always been good at adapting to my environment. I was born in Germany and after 8 years moved to Scotland, after 6 years moved to Houston, TX, and on and on from there.

During the Covid pandemic we were all stretched to the limits of our adaptability. My wife (professor of Dance) and I found ourselves teaching our classes and lessons remotely as we were all forced to do for a time. This requires additional skillsets – cameras, lighting, editing, microphones, etc.

I played virtual concerts from my living room, the first being for the Seattle Classical Guitar Society, a concert which was supposed to be live until the pandemic hit. Performing live to a camera is definitely an odd experience. Backstage nerves in the green room of a concert hall become nerves caused by camera setups, making sure batteries do not die, mics are placed appropriately, etc.

What I gained from this bizarre time and experience is the ability to use video as a medium for performance and teaching. This has encouraged me to create a YouTube channel where I can share my artistry to the entire world – I can reach students in places never before possible. I can break past the financial wall of hourly lessons/live concert performances.

I have decided that the digital world is going to be a major part of my way forward. I can use all of those aforementioned skills to this end – marketing, video production/editing, public speaking, etc. In fact, the act of writing this all down is reinforcing my resolve to pursue this new direction.

In conclusion, yes I think I could have pursued a number of career options, and I realize this is a blessing. To be able to live as an artist is a gift and privilege. Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

– Robert Frost

Jon, 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?

Sure! My family and I currently live in Cedar City Utah, where my wife Alexandra and I teach at Southern Utah University. We love it here, the outdoor access and beauty is absolutely incredible. I am a father to a beautiful 18 month old girl, Hannah, husband, musician, educator, and entrepreneur. My formal training is in classical guitar – I was fortunate to study with some of the greatest musicians in the world during my formative years. I enjoy playing all kinds of music and believe that to be an effective musician one needs to explore all sorts of music, not just one genre.

My first love is performing, collaborating, and working with other artists. I also love teaching and the entrepreneurship required to succeed in this field.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I started college in the year 2000. At this time, classical guitar programs could be found at many Colleges and Universities across the country, headed by full-time, tenured faculty. Over the next couple of decades the university system started to adjust their business model – hiring part time adjuncts in place of full time faculty. The reason for this are varied, but most often comes down to economics. What this meant for me and my cohort was a rapidly decreasing number of full time positions in the field of classical guitar.
My plan to maintain an international performing career while having a full-time position at a university somewhere as my day job required some adjustment – improvise, adapt, overcome.

I shifted a large part of my efforts into the private sector planning to build a subscription based instructional platform available to guitar students and enthusiasts across the world. This ultimately will allow me to share my craft with exponentially more people, work from home, and maintain a performing career.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

I think NFT’s are revolutionizing digital ownership of creative work. While we mostly hear about NFTs as digital graphic elements, they can also be audio recordings, videos, etc.

In the distant pass a vinyl record for instance could have substantial value if it was a limited edition, signed, unopened, etc, and they still do. Rarity drives value, and people like the idea of owning something unique that no one else has access to.

NFTs make this possible for digital assets. The blockchain technology behind it is also incredible and in my opinion will have an increasing presence in our world.

Artists can sell unique recordings of live performances as an NFT for exponentially higher prices than a standard MP3 or streaming service could generate.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.JonPaulYerby.com
• Instagram: @JonPYerby
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JonPYerby
• Linkedin: Jon Yerby
• Twitter: @JonPYerby
• Youtube: UCv5hygu8kUvPj021yeupDQA
• Other: JPYerby@gmail.com

Image Credits
Headshot by Barbara Gracner @BarbaraGracner