We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Stephen Brady Dietert a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Stephen Brady, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you 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?

I’ve recently taken the leap of becoming fully self-employed in my creative pursuits. Over the past 2 years, I have transitioned to running my own architectural design practice (Dietert Design Studio, LLC) and continue to write and perform original music under the nom-de-plume RANCH\HOUSE.

In the world of architecture, I have had great luck propelling my career and work. Over the past 15 years, I have found wonderful mentors to work with to develop my skill and craft. All the mentors that I have worked with made it possible to grow to the level where I felt confident to pursue my own practice. In 2022, I started taking on my own clients. My first 2 clients were successful guys that I grew up with from my hometown. The first was a renovation of an old house, and the second was a ground-up new build. The new build is called Chertecho Tree Tower, and you can find it online. It was published by Texas Architect Magazine and San Antonio Express News. I was excited that the project won 3 regional design awards through the AIA (America Institute of Architects) which has helped me to market my services and gain several more clients outside my immediate, personal acquaintances. I have just launched my website dietertstudio.com. Feel free to visit for more information.

In the world of songwriting, I have a rich and rewarding social network of friends and artists. I play solo shows with my RANCH\HOUSE material, and I have started playing the bass guitar in some other friends’ bands to support their efforts. Recently, an Austin band called The Lonesome Heroes recorded a version of one of my original songs called “Gotta Get Up.” It will be on their forth-coming record in 2024-25.

Becoming self-employed has made me evaluate my belief system and work on positive thinking strategies. It is amazing where opportunities can come from, you just have to be aware, and remember to ask for what you want and need. I can say that generally my faith in the world has increased since I have been seeking out opportunities on my own and finding them. I meditate and identify fears that may be holding me back, and I release them. I try to live with a “beginner’s mindset,” which is to say I allow myself to be naive and don’t pretend to know things that I don’t know. In a very tangible sense, I maintain relationships and networks, and I encourage other creatives. One of the greatest joys in life is recognizing the successes of my friends and cheering them on.

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.

My name is Stephen Brady Dietert. I am an architect and songwriter living in the Central Texas Hill Country. I was raised on my family’s heritage ranch where I learned the importance of self-reliance, individualism, and independence. I believe that songwriting and architecture are complementary processes that require the practice of deep thought and reflection. Architecture is a beautiful art because the architect must serve the client completely to understand their needs and dreams. Then, the architect must translate these client inputs into an inspired physical form. Architecture is a service. Songwriting is a meditation. I reflect on life’s challenges and mysteries and try to bottle them up into a song by describing and acknowledging them in the most poignant way possible. In songwriting, I am able to lay out my thoughts in words before me to review and edit until I believe that the song contains something that is true. Then, once the song is recorded it is a part of the story of me and what I had to say. Willie Nelson’s song “Buckshot Willie” says, “You can’t make a record if you ain’t got nothing to say.” I have trained myself to have something to say in the sense that I can review and reflect on aspects of reality without limiting my thoughts to what I think I know. “I’ve been dreaming all of my life” from the song “Local Mind” by RANCH\HOUSE.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Anyone that continues to create anything in the world must be resilient. The process of removing yourself from your work is a life-long pursuit, but a necessary one. If you write a song, and someone doesn’t like it, that does not mean they don’t like “YOU.” This is difficult for creatives. The deeper into a discipline that you delve the more you realize that It doesn’t matter if anyone likes it because you are exercising your knowledge of the craft in a way that allows you to release your creative energy. Once the craft becomes a true expression of the artist it transcends evaluation to some degree because it becomes that result of a process. It is like someone saying, “I don’t like that cloud.” It is completely inconsequential. The cloud is a manifestation of water vapor that is shaped by the wind and air pressure. Some clouds are more appealing than other clouds, but the process by which they are made is a true cause-and-effect phenomenon. I seek to create expressions that carry a similar truth. That they are simple and true, and can be easily understood. If someone doesn’t like it. That is ok. There is a world of subjectivity to all human perception. In Architecture, I must serve my client and seek the truth. Sometimes this is challenging because someone may want to pursue a “stylistic” result, so then you must compromise. These compromises require resilience. You may be very convinced that you are producing something that conveys a truth that you believe in (to some degree), and you may have to discard some of that truth to complete the project. However, It is important to restart with a beginner’s mind, and pursue the truth again. Don’t compromise unless you have to. First, make a strong argument for your truth.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dietertstudio.com
• Instagram: @dietert_design_studio
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-brady-dietert-a32a5243/

Image Credits
Mikey Chapa and Kurt Griesbach