CMT Blog: Archive

To any contemporary country fan, Chad Jeffers has one of the coolest gigs anywhere -- going out on tour playing beside the likes of Keith Urban (see photo at left) and Carrie Underwood. In his new book, 25 Notes for the Successful Musician, he writes that he's constantly asked how he landed such a killer job. The answer? In short, he's been networking like crazy, practicing all the time and accepting nearly every Nashville gig when he's available. The former member of Pinmonkey also tackles topics like moving to a city with a professional music scene, studying other realms of music like jazz and simply being nice to the sound guy at fairs and festivals. I'm not a musician, but I wholeheartedly agree with one of his main themes -- identifying what "success" means to you, whether it's writing a No. 1 country smash or just making a living as a musician. If you're already in the biz or curious about what it takes to get inside this crazy world, don't pass on Notes.