How to Become a Country Singer

Video Transcript

"Hello, my name's Karina Hayes Blakeley and I'm with artistrepresentingartists.com. Lets talk about how to become a country singer. Like any other profession, you have to be really prepared. And what that means is to really delve into your own feelings, who you resonate with. Lets take someone that's classic, Dolly Parton for instance. Dolly Parton has a wonderful voice, but not only that, she's a great songwriter. So you try and figure out what am I, just a singer, am I a singer and a songwriter, and you start working with that idea first. So pick your person, say it's Dolly Parton, and start listening to all of her music. Particularly I suggest students to go into listening to the early parts of an artist's careers, particularly in country music. Country music is about storytelling. It's about the friends and neighbors. It's about people that relate to everyday things in their lives. For instance, it could be the tractor broke down and my wife is really getting upset because I'm not making enough money. It's about real life situations. So the people that are going to buy country music, they're very authentic people so you really want to get into the whole idea of storytelling and what they have to say about everyday life means something to the people that'll be buying your records. So authenticity is really important with country music. So getting into country music, it means really going to the place where it's all happening. A classic example of that, of course, is Nashville. So if you do make a move to Nashville and you want to break into the industry, you want to be prepared, once again. So I would have a good amount of songs ready before I go. Don't just land there empty-handed because then you might get into the situation where you're struggling and you have to work too much to make these demos that everybody and his dog is trying to do. So preparation meets opportunity. So I would have all your songs together and then maybe make the move and try and establish some relationships with some local musicians, and get out and play as much as you can."