We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jutt Huffman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jutt below.
Jutt, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
First of all, thank you for the opportunity to share my story. The easy answer is: yes, I have been making a full-time living all by playing music for the past twelve years. It all began when I was thirteen years old. It initially began as a hobby and I quickly learned how much I loved playing the guitar. I made it a point to practice at least two hours a day, sometimes way more than that. My dad taught me the basic chords and I learned the rest of it by ear. By the time I was sixteen, I started playing in front of people. I would play for my friends and family. By twenty I was getting booked at venues. My first paid gig was at a smokey dive bar where I was just going to be playing the guitar for a singer who would lead the show. I got there and set up, and the guy ended up no-call, no-showing on me. I had to play the entire gig by myself. At that time, I only knew about seven songs that I could play and sing at the same time. I ended up singing the same seven songs for the bar three different times, and to my surprise, they loved it!! I made more money that night than I ever had in my entire life. At twenty-three years old, I had the opportunity to move to Nashville where I was able to perform full-time and really soak in the life of a professional musician. I moved there with my few belongings and my two guitars in my Saturn. I slept on a couch for $500 a month and began playing whatever gig I could get. During the winter of my 6 months in Nashville, I was working for an insurance company during the day, and playing gigs at night. Turns out, the rockstar life at night outweighed the boring day job life. I lost the insurance job and made the decision to become a full-time musician at twenty-four. I spent the next ten years paying my dues to the honky-tonks of Lower Broadway. I encountered so many talented people, got to collaborate with some of them, wrote songs, produced my first self-titled album, and really honed in on my development as a singer/songwriter, entertainer, and guitarist. “Covid” shut the city down when I was thirty-three years old. I ended up doing some random construction jobs just to help out and realized I needed to get out of Nashville. I toured to South Florida and quickly realized that there was still opportunity there. I remember going into a bar full of people, with live music, thinking “this is the best place on Earth”. So, I moved to South Florida where I could still perform full-time. Now, I play about 200 gigs a year. I spend the summer months touring up north and spend the winter playing at ocean bars mostly!
Looking back, I definitely could have sped the process up. Would I change it? Absolutely not. The setbacks and failures that I did experience made me the artist I am today. I can proudly say that I have paid my dues, worked hard to get to where I am, and can’t wait to see what the future holds.
Jutt, 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?
My name is Jutt Huffman. My real name is actually Justin Huffman, however, I had to start going by a nickname because I ran into another musician in Nashville that was also named Justin Huffman. I met him before a gig at Bootleggers and he told me that he kept getting booked for gigs online by people who thought that he was me. So, for better PR, I just began going by Jutt Huffman, the one and only.
I was originally born in Ohio. I can simply describe myself as coming from a blue collared life. I grew up in a small town basically in poverty. My dad played guitar and my brother played drums. Guitar and wrestling kept me out of trouble enough to where I made it to the state finals and nationals in wrestling. Growing up with just my dad and brother, I learned discipline, hard work, and loyalty were some of the most important qualities. I was also taught to stand for freedom. I am a man that has a strong faith in God and truly believe that He has gotten me to where I am today.
At this point in my career, I offer a high energy live performance that combines rock and roll, country, and original music together. I am a country artist but I do many genres depending on what I am hired to do. I have many different types of shows and really make each show unique by going off of the audience. This is what truly sets me apart. I have about 2000 songs in my repertoire and I rarely ever have a set list. For bar gigs, private shows and corporate events I save a part of the show for song requests from the crowd and have a very high percentage of knowing the song and being able to play the song well and sometimes even put an artistic spin to it that can be icing on the cake to the audience. For festivals I bring my best work as a musician, singer, songwriter and entertainer and leave it all out on the stage. I travel all over the country playing, either solo or up to a seven member band. When I am hired for events, the talent/entertainment value is the highest caliber for the most affordable price on a national level. I live for this!
What am I proud of you ask? I’m not fond of the word proud and do my best to live an egoless life. I feel like I have worked hard to get to where I am, but it has all been a complete blessing. I feel BLESSED that I am artistic, musically coordinated and have a good ear and voice. There is a really cool high that you get as an artist performing… It’s hard for me to describe, it’s almost like I have an “out of body experience” when I am playing sometimes. The connection with the crowd and the energy that they give to me is such a great buzz and I do everything I can to give it back to them. Those are the moments I live for! If I keep out-doing myself and advancing my voice, writing techniques, guitar skills, and entertainment value something bigger has to happen and for that I am blessed.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Pivoting to me is called “jumping off the cliff”. I believe that in order to get the highest reward, you have to take the highest risk. I don’t really gamble much or play the lottery because I feel like I’m already gambling so much with my life by pursuing music to the fullest. Being a full time independent artist is not only a lot of work, but is a huge risk. The “normal” life of a 9 to 5 and retirement, benefits, steady income, vacation time, sick days, dealing with a boss doesn’t exist for me. As a sole-proprietor in the music industry everything is backwards from society norms. When most people are clocking out and heading home for dinner or to the bar for cocktails, the musician is heading to gig to set up and sound check, performs til late at night, networks afterwards and then comes home when most people have been sleeping for hours. Mondays are the day of rest and the weekends are prime time work days. If I don’t book my gigs way ahead of time, I will be gig-less and have to panhandle. If I want to go on vacation I have to do the work to book a gig where I want to vacation. If I get sick I have to just deal with it. The show must go on!
When I did my first pivot I failed miserably. I had always had a day job since I was 13 years old and I decided to switch from the “normal” life to a full time musician. I didn’t have enough gigs to support myself, maxed out my credit cards, and after 6 months I ended up having to go back to a nine to five in some serious debt for a couple of years. I was 21 years old and it was a rude awakening to the real world.
Next time I had to pivot was different and I was already doing the overtime gigging in the evenings. My day job unexpectedly got rid of me so I was faced with a choice to try to do music full time again or take the easy way out and get another day job. I chose to “jump off the cliff” as I say, and try again. That pivot lead me to performing 300 shows a year cutting my teeth in Music City. It was a wild sensation of freedom and fear of not having consistent income. I think failing at something once and then trying it again is very tough mentally but a lot of times is the only way to do it. Failure = Success.
When Covid happened I was left with another ultimatum and pivoted to South Florida where I had few gigs, no reputation, and something to prove. Most of my gigs have been booked from word of mouth. I was blessed and lucky to have made a few really good friends that helped me a little with booking and the rest is history. Now I’m doing better than I was in Nashville and only doing about 200 gigs a year!
I just bought a 35 foot bus for my latest pivot. I’m right in the middle of it planning a tour for next summer to support my new album “Crazy Dream” that drops in the Spring of 2024. This is a whole different ball game financially, strategically, and logistically. I’m touring from West Palm Beach straight up the A1A all the way to Maine, then west through the Allegheny Mountains, past the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi River, to the Gulf and back to West Palm. I’m overwhelmed with it at the moment and looking for any help I can get booking it. If you are reading this and want to help, please reach out and lets make something happen!
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
I think the best way for society to support artists is find the artists that you like, follow them on their socials, download all of their songs online, preferably iTunes or Amazon (They pay the artist the most), add the songs to your playlists and share the songs with your friends. If an artist you like has merch for sale, buy it! Whenever I go out and see an artist that is working hard and passionate I buy whatever they have. I don’t even own a CD player but I buy their CD and then I stream their music online. It helps.
Furthermore if you really want to help, reach out to the artist and ask how you can help. Become part of the street team! Every artist is unique and has different needs. If the artist is performing near you it’s always great to show up and support and bring as many friends as you can, you never know who it can help. I think one of the coolest things about being a musician is the energy is give-and-take. I’ve had many times where people have talked to me after a show and tell me how a certain song got them through a tough time or how they have been depressed and my music cheered them up. There are other days where I am down and a high spirited crowd pulls me out of it! Music is a beautiful thing!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jutthuffman.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jutthuffman/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JuttHuffman
- Twitter: twitter.com/jutthuffman
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/jutthuffman
- Other: https://linktr.ee/jutthuffman
Image Credits
All pictures taken by: Adam D. Photography instagram: @adamd.photo