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

Julie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

It was my husband’s idea to open a space next-door to the guitar shop and have a venue/show room space. He introduced the idea to me of creating a show that is part storytellers, part MTV unplugged, part inside the actors studio… If you remember that show it involved an intricately woven interview by James Lipton. We’ve been running the show for a little over a year now. During 2020 we ran it as a live stream only, like a lot of people did. It’s been an incredible experience to see the transformation from a simple idea to an almost full-time job. Artist seem to really enjoy the opportunity to highlight themselves in this unique way. And, audiences seem to enjoy the different aspect, then going to a noisy club where the music is secondary.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

From a young age, I have always been involved with music in someway, so it gives me experience and background as a musician/performer myself. I feel that that helps me to understand the people that I’m working with. Also, I’ve been in the situation in the past that has given me experience in the business side of the industry. For example, I interned at a radio station years ago Where I learned a very valuable lesson from the program, Director. On more than one occasion, he would say to the staff “music should be fun”. He was absolutely correct, and I’ve never forgotten that. No matter what type of work you’re doing at a company, if it is a business, that centers itself in music, or in the culture of music, it should be perceived as fun. Music is a universal language, and it should bring people together, not apart. I also had the pleasure of working at Disneyland, the happiest place on earth, in Anaheim, California, as a performer. I remember at the orientation, how they instilled in me the fact that I was one of the privilege few that got to work for a company so famous as Disney, and not to take that for granted.

With musicmakersstage being a part time, venue, part time is a showroom, we decided that the standard and bar was at a different height than other clubs. We are a listening room. We had the chance to do some thing, unique, to create an intimate experience if you will. We look for artists that will bring a different flavor to the show, and also artists that are not intimidated to be interviewed on stage, and/or, share, personal information about their craft & experience etc. we’re also wanting to move into offering VIP experiences.

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

I think our resilience story involves our entire time in Nashville. It is a beautiful, wonderful music town, but it is also a difficult town to be in at times. Also, being in somewhat of a saturated market, you really have to set yourself apart. My husband has had to do that with his guitar building, and I’ve had to do that with the music venue and songwriting because Nashville is so thick with music, musicians, venues, etc. you have to work hard at setting yourself apart. In order to gain traction, and/or be noticed, you need to bring something different to the table.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

In Nashville, we’ve had to be abreast of different businesses, coming and going, staying the course, and also getting involved in city, government and community affairs. During the pandemic, many people and businesses pivoted as we did. We conducted a live stream weekly, we also limited the number of people in our business being a small building. We reached out to customers/friends, and it was heartwarming to see the community support us. Going through change is not easy, personally, or professionally, but it sure helps to have friends and neighbors at your side going through it together.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.musicmakersstage.com
• Instagram: @musicmakersstage
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicmakersstage
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/delgadoguitars

Image Credits
Brett Berwager Julie Delgado