We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tommy Karlas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Tommy, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
Being a 22 year veteran professional country music songwriter, it has literally taken decades to hone my craft and keep my creative spirit alive. Being a pro writer means showing up everyday and treating it like a job, whether you feel creative and inspired or not. It took me a long time to figure out I’m not relying on that but everyday I have to show up and work, and find ways to fall in love with my job again. And if you maintain the discipline to do that, creativity and inspiration will find you.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
For over 22 years I have written songs professionally for country music artists. Since I was 19, I have written for a publisher that gives me enough to live on and everyday I go down to music row and write with someone different. When I get enough worthy songs, I take them into the studio with the best musicians in the world and demo them to make them sound like a radio hit. My publisher than takes those demos and tries to get country music artists to record them.
It’s a job that has high highs and low lows. For the most part it’s rejection for a living and most of the songs not getting recorded. But the best part is when you write something that’s truly great and commercially appealing. It’s a craft that you hone everyday. If you’re lucky, a country artist records the song and puts it out into the world. Again, the worst part is when good songs never get their chance, but the best part is when a great song gets out into the world and touches people and becomes a part of their lives.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think with a really tough job like this where the odds are so against you and there’s so much stuff you’d rather not deal with, the key is to protect and maintain your love of the craft and stay disciplined. It’s too easy (and I’ve seen it many times) to become jaded and bitter and eventually want to stop doing it. But if you can remember what made you want to do it in the first place, it becomes the best job in the world. So I think #1 is discipline to show up everyday and hone your craft. #2 is surround yourself with people that are like minded and feed your creativity. And #3 is listening to music and adapt with it while still keeping your own voice and spin on it. Usually that will yield something pretty interesting.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
I think the most impactful thing I learned from my parents was from my dad. His discipline that he exhibited his whole life was something that he talked about but it was something he lived. To wake up everyday and go do your job whether you feel like it or not. And to have the grit to handle and deal with whatever comes your way. Those are lessons that in a very different way carry over to my career and have probably been the biggest reason for my success. Especially in such a difficult career like this one!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://tommykarlasmusic.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tommykarlas
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tommykarlasmusic
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommy-karlas-74a69a135/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/tommykarlas
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiq_HJVwVb6cwaRrWXoluQw
Image Credits
Cover Photography Julie Willoughby Cover Design Brian Scroggins
