We were lucky to catch up with Louis Newsom recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Louis thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

When I was a young musician, I just wanted to play. I didn’t care how much I was getting paid. I didn’t care where I played and I was too young to know when someone wasn’t treating me respectfully but thanks to my father who taught me how to not just be a musician, but Communicate with a business mindset, and to make my presence known and mean what I say it prepared me for those uncomfortable conversations. I may have to have with different clients that request my services.

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

I’m a musician who does a little production on the side. I’ve been a professional drummer for a little over 20 years. I’ve been blessed to travel around the world with very notable artist such as Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, Johnny Gill, Jagged Edge, 112, Lizz Wright, Raheem Devon, Leela James, and many more. I’ve been skilled to solve musical related issues in certain entities. I am most proud of being able to have great relationships with all the different artist I’ve worked with. Being raised to have with dignity by my parents and not falling in with the negative things that may misrepresent me and my talents. I’m a diligent loyal, hard worker. I put the time in my craft so that my presentation will be upstanding for the next journey.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

For me, it was being seen by the right people also knowing good people in good places. Before social media came on the scene thats all I had to go off of because in my field of business it’s all about who you know on top of my character meeting that good standard level as well. Now with social media being used as frequently as it is today I make it a point to only use it as a tool for business as much as possible.

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

There was a time around the beginning of my career where I was the drummer on a major stage play tour with high class cast members. Around the middle of that tour we were scheduled to play the Kodak theater in Los Angeles, which was the biggest show of that tour. Also, very well known actors and actresses were coming to the show. The day before that show my drum kit was smashed in the semi truck during it’s transportation. When the music director and stage manager were notified about the incident, they were upset at me because of how much it would be to replace my drum kit, and I mean the music director really let me have it as if I destroyed my instruments myself. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why I was catching so much flack about something that was out of my control to the point where I had made up my mind to call home for my father to get me from the airport because I was going to quit the tour and fly home after I would play that show but a good friend of mine that I had known for years made me call my father back and tell him not to pick me up from the airport the next morning. My friend knew that I was in the right and talked me out of making a big career mistake by quitting. So I stayed and what I forgot to mention was that I happened to be with a very well known Drummer, who was endorsed with that Drum company I played which happened to be in the Los Angeles area. She made a call to the company and they instructed her to go over to the Guitar Center on sunset Blv and pick up a drum kit to borrow for the show that night. Not only that but the company replaced my drums that got smashed in the semi truck. I truly believe that my career would’ve taken a different path if I would’ve just given up at that moment, but I was resilient and everything worked out for the best. I ended up finishing the tour and getting a call back to do the next tour that was starting a couple of months later.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.louisknewsom.com/
• Instagram: king_louis_07
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1REZLjuDgS/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@styx236?si=UjG_jwfVCD8_Gt5x
• Other: My record “Louis Newsom-94” is on all streaming platforms

Image Credits

Aric Thompson