AJ,

Actually it happens a LOT in Nashville as well. There is a fairly large burnout factor here continually. There are about 300 people a week that move to town, which is offset by around 600 a week that move home, most having lasted around 3-6 months.

Everyone moves full of big dreams, and hometown visions of catching fire immediately. Almost as quickly, reality starts setting in as to how many people are here. Waiting all night to play one song on a writer's night, performing in the same clubs sometimes for years, seeing the same people, and virtually getting nowhere, is not the most conducive to having a good mental attitude.

You hear the frustration in many writers and artists' voices as they sink more and more as time goes dealing with the seeming futility. They tend to write more and more negative songs and of course no one wants to be around someone negative all the time so it feeds on itself like a forest fire.

When you toss in a VERY difficult job market (there are hundreds of applicants for even the most menial jobs because there are people constantly stepping to replace those that don't last) and the fact that savings go quickly as well as realizing you don't need just ONE job, but many jobs, and THAT takes you away from performing, writing, recording. Again, these are all part of the obstacles everyone has to overcome.

A lot of people come through one of the eight Universities in the area featuring some kind of music or music business program and think their high priced diplomas will ensure a position,when like most jobs, practical experience is the key.

They find that record labels are interested in FAN BASE, which is gained OUTSIDE of Nashville, so often being in town is more of a detrament than being out of town.

Then there are the same stumbling blocks as everyone else has, raging hormones, being attracted to people JUST LIKE YOU, can lead to the marraiges, families, and the inevitable peer pressure "YOU'VE BEEN THERE TWO MONTHS! HAVEN'T YOU MADE IT YET?"

It all can add up pretty quick. There are no easy answers and each person has to deal with it on their own level. But as I always say, it is 85% of what happens "off the field" that is paramount in doing this at all. Most people just can't stick it out. There is a quite thorough "thinning out the herd" effect here.

So that has led to the process I suggest the artists I work with employ which is a healthy balance of both. continuing their lives, passions, performing, family connections in their home towns, while making focused regular trips to write, perform, network and record, seems to work well. Coming here to interact with the industry, write new songs and get the inside "street credibility" is building your product or "getting the ingrediants for your cake."

By regular exposure to the higher level writing, the connections, the "back doors" that come from happenstance elements of this town (you might play in a round on a writer's show with someone who might lead you to a publisher's back door) give you a sense of "movement." The songs that are written are usually done with people who are farther down the line themselves and bring a sense of "where the bar is."

Then, going back to their local clubs, writer's nights, open mics, where they can perform those songs for their friend's and relatives, attract THEIR friends and relatives, build and expand their fan base, also keep the momentum going.

If it is played right, this can lead to some pretty good results. My involvement with several artists in Michigan have led to considerable successes here. Frankie Ballard, from Kalamazoo, is touring with Taylor Swift and on Warner Brothers, and another artist, John Maison, is in the process of recording his first CD for a new independent label. I work with around 15 artists from the Michigan, Wisconsin area, and around 35 in Canada. Most all of them are doing this process, and advancing in their own areas as well as in Nashville. Many are being played on local radio, getting larger and larger opening shows and are advancing on some pretty respectable careers. I was even contacted recently by American Idol on one of the artists I work with, asking why I had "told him not to do contests" (I didn't), and could I "assist them in convincing him to audition for the show" (I did).

There are ways to do this even in this day and age. But it takes a great deal of planning, a lot of focus and a great deal of work. At the end of the day, a lot of younger people are simply not willing to do that. We are in an entitlement generation and there are far too many people that think they can simply hang out a shingle (I'm a STAR!) and the Internet will do the work for them. The Net helps, but it is a FAR cry from the solution to everything.

A lot of steps in this day and age. But never overlook the people that might be in your backyard, never be afraid to help someone else, never forget that you could be just the inspiration that someone is looking for.

At the end of it, that is why we are all here.

MAB