We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rico Acosta . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rico below.
Rico , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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 career as a Professional Musician has taken on many shapes and adapted in different seasons of my life. When I was in my early 20’s I lived in the greatest city in America, Nashville, Tennessee. I started out working in a rug warehouse but was able to leave the 9-5 model about 10 months in and dive head first into music as a “full time” job. It wasn’t as glamorous as it sounds but I made it happen the best way I knew how. I started out in 2013 playing for Singer/Songwriter, Jon Mullins and many other artists who were playing gigs around town, playing at churches, conferences and just getting my feet wet in any opportunity I could. I gave drum lessons to probably 50 students at a local music school and as a freelance musician, that was extremely lucrative & flexible. My focus at that time was becoming a live musician but I did have a few opportunities to play drums on a few records with various artists along the way. About a year in and I was already making more money than my 9-5 warehouse job was paying and I saw that as a win! From 2015-2017 I traveled the east coast in a van playing with Christian Artist, Josh Gilbert and was eventually peer pressured into becoming a coffee drinker lol. Also in 2015 I was given the opportunity to run front of house for the Christian band, Calling Glory for a couple dates in Illinois which sparked some amazing friendships with those guys. Later that year, their drummer decided to step away from band and in the words of lead singer, Dana Potvin “Rico was the first person I called.” We made a few records with Grammy award winning producer and Songwriter, Seth Mosley in which a few of them was listed on a Grammy Ballot (didn’t win or come close lol) and were also played nationally on Christian radio. We even shot a music video for our radio single, “Child of Heaven” on top of a high rise building in downtown Nashville. I married my amazing wife, Adrienne in 2018. To answer your question, YES she is also an artist. My career shifted from less on the road playing to becoming a contract musician for churches across the southeast and writing, recording & performing music with Adrienne. In 2020, we moved our lives to Arizona where our music careers shifted once again when we took positions as worship/musical directors at a church. We are still in Arizona today and a more structured schedule has given us the opportunity to start a family while still writing/recording our own music on the side. We are looking forward to traveling & performing more in the future. God has blessed us over and over with so many amazing opportunities and experiences and we couldn’t be excited about more to come.
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
I have been playing music for 23 years and professionally for the last 10. From being a live musician, teaching lessons and recording in the studio. I was freelance for many years but now as full time Musical Director for a church, I am much more selective of my “yes.” If I had to put myself in a box or a “genre” as a musician, I would say that I primarily work in Worship, Contemporary Christian, Pop & Modern Country music. I am ALWAYS open to hearing about your project or performance and how I can serve you best either remotely or in person.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
As a Christian, we know that Jesus was a teacher and was always on the move while leaving “a piece” of himself everywhere he went by challenging & empowering others to do what He did because He knew his time here was short. That’s one of the models that I now live by. At a young age a now friend of mine, Jeremy Owens who is about 10 years older than me taught me what it means to be a worship drummer. I was stubborn and thought I knew everything but 12 years later, the nuggets of wisdom and critique on my playing influences my career as a Musical Director every single day. Throughout the last 12 years I’ve had MANY opportunities to teach & pour into younger drummers and see them be successful in many ways. The point of all this is that Jesus essentially gave himself away and doing just that with my gifts & talents instead of holding them tightly with a closed fist has been extremely rewarding. I won’t be around forever and each season of my life has an expiration so I want to leave “a piece” of me or a legacy everywhere I go.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
After growing up in a small town, I spent a lot of time in my early 20s being jealous or negative when my peers were seeing success or were doing something meaningful with their creativity because it took the attention off of what I was doing. What that does is it causes you to be bitter and it steals any motivation or inspiration that you have for the things that you are trying to accomplish. NOW I believe that being the biggest cheerleader and champoining my friends or others in my industry makes me optimistic and work harder towards my own goals.
I heard a quote many years ago and it simply said, “if you aren’t able to celebrate someone else’s breakthrough, then you aren’t ready for your own.”
Contact Info:
- Website: Adrienneacosta.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ricoacosta/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rico.acosta
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ricoacosta23
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/RicoAcosta23
- Other: Adrienne Acosta on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqphodrDV-N9ZcWw_J2Iy3A Calling Glory on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CallingGlory