We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kevin Gruen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kevin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Have you been 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? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
My journey towards becoming a full-time singer-songwriter started at a very young age. During my younger years as a child, much of my family were musicians and it seemed to come natural that I was brought up learning guitar, piano, drums & organ from family members as young as 5 or 6 years old when I first starting getting creative with music. As early as I could remember, I had received a toy drum for a birthday present. I played on the drum so much that I bore a hold through the center of it. Not long after this, my father ended up getting me an electric drum set one Christmas (most likely because he was a drum major in high school). I remember my dad putting on some of the older “metal” tracks to try and learn such as Iron Butterfly’s “In a Gadda Da Vida” and a number of a various Cream and Black Sabbath tunes. Many of my uncles and cousins also played guitar, teaching me some of what they knew.
The musical styles in my family ranged dramatically, varying from a preacher uncle who played acoustic guitar in his church (often accompanied by his son) to some uncles and cousins of mine who would encourage and teach me to play heavier metal and rock n’ roll on electric guitar. At a younger age, I was also influenced by my grandmother who played the piano proficiently and taught me some of what she knew about piano and organ basics, while my mother encouraged me to sing (something she’d been passionate about for a large portion of her life). On top of these various influences, I had a proclivity for writing lyrics and singing early one. This past-time and passion grew and evolved throughout the years as I listened to and was influenced by many different genres of music.
However, it wasn’t until my later teen years that my passion for music expanded from a hobby into a career path. Around the age of 19, as myself and others parted ways after graduating, some of my friends who stuck around wound up starting a band with me. This band’s focus was on reggae, blues rock, ska, punk & classic rock, as this is what we collectively listened to a lot in our late high school/early college years. After the short-lived band attempts split ways, however, my passion for songwriter grew, being influenced by some of the more obscure songwriting giants such as Frank Zappa while holding onto some of the classic influences such as Led Zeppelin and Johnny Cash. With this slew of influences combining, I wound up leaning into a blues rock infused eclectic western & folk rock sound all sewn together by my signature songwriting and voice that I’ve developed up until this day.
The year 2020 was finally the year that I decided to take a chance on my music career. At the age of 23, I decided that risking it all for my art was worth the sacrifice. 2020 was a year that I had initially taken a semester off of college for house hunting while working full-time doing kitchen jobs and carpentry side work. As I had begun going to open mics the previous year before the pandemic, I had made many connections in the local music scene around the St. Charles & St. Louis areas. During this timeframe and the pandemic of 2020, the housing market soared and my full-time kitchen job laid off all of it’s employees. With the free time that’d previously been occupied with 2-3 jobs and full-time college, I decided there was no time like the present to pursue my burning passion for songwriting. I would spend the rest of the year pursuing full-time gig work as a musician. My first solo show was in the month of May 2020. As I picked up momentum, the gigs I would do went from once a month to once a week to 4-8 shows weekly. All while pursuing a full-time music career, I had also recorded, mixed & mastered my first full-length home album “Reflections” that was released on Jan. 1st, 2021. In February of 2021, I was able to finally go full-time with the music career, quitting my day job in exterior carpentry work to pursue a life-long passion and work for myself!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Since going full-time, I’ve had nearly 300 shows per year and growing while doing singing telegrams as a side gig. Most importantly, I’ve spent the past couple years writing and producing my most recent project “Old Time Feeling”. With much better quality than previous projects and produced in professionally-operated music studios across the St. Louis area, the current and coming project is one to be excited about with an ode to a very rock-a-billy/alternative/Western/Outlaw style of music, combining many of my favorite musical elements. As of the closing of 2023, the first three songs of the project have been released: “Old Time Feeling”, “Permanent Vacation” & “Lost in the Desert”., all while performing 275 shows across 10 states throughout the year. The remainder of the project will be released in the year 2024 with many more announcements coming to a head!
My main primary influences have varied over the years quite a bit! From old blues rock such as Jimi Hendrix, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley and Howling wolf to 60s-70s classic rock such as Led Zeppelin, Rush, Pink Floyd, The Beatles & Frank Zappa, as well as, old outlaw country and western including Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, & Willie Nelson, with strong influences from even some contemporary singer-songwriters such as Tyler Childers & Billy Strings. I’ve always had a passion for musicians who seem to go above and beyond for the sake of the music and not just for the marquee lights, record labels & pop listeners. As a full-time musician, it’s very important to find this balance between releasing palatable music for a wide audience and staying true to the music which you really enjoy writing and performing.
Therefore, my over-arching goal for years to come is to provide a sound in the contemporary musical world that has been lost or perhaps has not been found. The more I’ve reached for these elements that tend to make my songwriting different, the more reception I have had for those songs which I’ve written. I believe that music, such as many other arts, is not a competition. On the contrary, every singer-songwriter has something unique to contribute to evolve the sound of modern music & it is our responsibility to do so!
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Instead of spending a high dollar on world-touring superstar act, spend that same time and money going to see local musician and creativities. The power which an audience has over the chances of local musicians being re-booked or booked at local venues cannot be understated! Buying concert tickets, merch & spreading the word of your favorite local artists is the number one way in which your local artists thrive. The audience are at least half of every one of my shows & I do my best to make sure they know how appreciated and important they are to the continuation of my career. Everything I continue to do is a result of extensive networking & word of mouth communications!
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Never settle for less than what you’re worth. When you say no to one opportunity you indefinitely say yes to another, perhaps greater opportunity. By serious local artists & musicians alike knowing their worth, we collectively scale and build a market in which we can be fairly compensated for our hard-earned time. A common misconception which people outside of the artist world do not understand is how much time commitment & work artists invest. Many casual crowd-goers will make misconceptions thinking musicians are “playing around up there” or “should get a real job”. These kind of assumptions de-value the importance of art & music in our ecosystem. Rather, it’d be more beneficial to musicians to adopt an abundance mindset to release that the opportunities that present themselves are not a zero sum game. The more a musician leans into what makes them unique & special, the more unique and special opportunities present themselves.
Contact Info:
- Website: kevingruenmusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gruenkevin/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Kevin-Gruen-Music-100028371715497/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ7GSuDdRALYmsiREheafeA
- Other: linktr.ee/KGruenMusick
Image Credits
I’ve paid for all of these images and have ownership.