We recently connected with Reed Foley and have shared our conversation below.

Reed, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I think the biggest risk I ever took in my life, was making the decision to finally moved to Nashville. I’ll never forget, coming off stage after a performance in my hometown and having a gentleman look at me and tell me that I needed to move the music city.

It wasn’t the first time I’ve been told that and it wasn’t the first time I was really considering pulling the trigger. What was uniquely different about that conversation was as I started to walk away he grabbed me by the arm, looked me in the eye, and said “you don’t have a chance if you don’t take one”.

I left there that night, determined to make the move and in about three months I had lined it up to start going back and forth. If I hadn’t taken that chance and given up everything, I built back home, I wouldn’t have any of the songs I have today or the career that I love so much.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

The Foley house was always full of music. My dad was an extremely talented singer and guitar player and my mother didn’t go a day without having the radio on. Growing up in Florida we spent a lot of time going to church, and I absolutely loved to play in the band.

As I got older, I started playing in bars and restaurants around town for whatever little bit of money they would pay me. At age 15 I knew I wanted to do this for the rest of my life.

I’ve been lucky enough to have played small-town bars, NASCAR’s events, and everything in between. I’ve gotten to open for Jason Aldean, Tyler Farr, Southerland, & William Michael Morgan and I’ve had songs have been featured in television advertisements promoting major sporting events including the Kentucky Derby. My newest single, “Beer Needs Drinkin’” is up to #54 on the MusicRow chart and we have more music coming out in March.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I’ll never forget the first time I played a show after I had released my first original song and I looked into an audience of faces that I didn’t recognize and they were singing back every word to me.

We write the songs and create this music to try to touch people’s lives. Sometimes we’re sharing our own stories, sometimes we share others’ stories, but music to me helps blur the lines and create a human connection like nothing else.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

My advice for social media is to never forget the “social” aspect of it. I think society is tired of all of the fake, over-edited stuff. That’s one of my favorite things about country music is because I believe it’s music about real life for most Americans. I think whatever you do, when you’re trying to translate that to social media, you need to do it in a way that is genuine to who you are. That’s the number one way to connect with your audience.

Contact Info:

• Website: reedfoley.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/reedfoleymusic
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/reedfoleymusic
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReedFoleyMusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ReedFoleyMusic