Nick Barilla shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Nick , really appreciate you sharing your stories and insights with us. The world would have so much more understanding and empathy if we all were a bit more open about our stories and how they have helped shaped our journey and worldview. Let’s jump in with a fun one: What is a normal day like for you right now?
A normal day looks like me going to work as a worship leader and technical director at an evangelical free church in Pittsburgh, PA, and coming home to get ready the house ready for my daughter who is due in January 2026!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Nick Barilla, I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. I have been writing music for over ten years throughout many seasons of my life. Recently, I started writing again after some much needed time off due to some hardships in my personal life and fatigue from writing, recording, and touring since 2017. I have a few songs I started writing recently reflecting on my life over the past couple of years. Songs about the loss of my best friend, anticipation for my first child, reflections on life in general, and contentment. I also got into playing Pickleball recently which has been a blast and I’m pretty good at it. It’s therapeutic and you can play people of all ages!
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
I think my earliest memory of someone believing in my musical talent was my middle school band director, Mr. Koval. I won an “instrumental music award” one year because of my dedication to playing the alto saxophone and really just learning more and more about music. From that point on I felt that if even one person believed in me it was enough for me to chase that passion I had inside of me.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Certainly. I’m in a weird place currently. I have been doing music for awhile now. Writing, recording, and touring. Things are different whenever you’re in your early 20’s. You have the world in front of you. You can afford to fail a few times without any real repercussions. Now that I have a wife, a house, and a daughter on the way, my plans for my career are a lot more calculated. I only take the gigs that are fulfilling or pay well. Not that everything is about money in music, because it isn’t. However, time is money and if I am going to dedicate something to my craft, it is going to take time.
From the time I started playing music around 2012 until now so much has changed in the landscape of the music industry. We went from CD’s to .mp3 downloads, to streaming, and now you only get 30 seconds on social media to catch someone’s attention. I think I’m in a space where it’s kind of like “Ok, if I am going to release something, it had better be meaningful to someone in someway.” I’m done chasing “clicks” and “hits” if that makes sense. In general it can just be very taxing whenever someone puts a price on a work that you view as priceless. Very recently I have realized that I want to keep going for me. Not only is music therapeutic, but it has gotten me through some of the hardest times of my life. To be without it is like losing a part of myself.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Is the public version of you the real you?
Yes, and that is something that I struggled with for years. Whenever I was first starting I felt like Nick the person, and Nick the performer. I never wanted people to see me working at a coffee shop because I was afraid that it would tarnish my image. I guess after the world shut down in 2020 I realized that as humas we are all just out here trying to get by. Therapy has helped me realize that things don’t have to be all or nothing, but they can be both/and. I can have a full-time job doing something completely different than music and still consider myself a “singer-songwriter”. One of my favorite musician’s that I look up to recently said on a Podcast that these days as an independent artist it is almost impossible to be just one thing. You have to be a: marketing guru, writer, producer, performer, etc. I think it’s okay if I am a Dad, a worship leader, a singer-songwriter, music producer, and Pickleball player. There is only one me in the world, and I’ve grown comfortable enough in that understanding to not to be afraid to show people who I am!
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Have you ever gotten what you wanted, and found it did not satisfy you?
Completely. When I was in college I had a manifest journal and wrote down all of the things that I wanted to accomplish in my music career such as: open for a touring artist, record an album, have my music featured on television. Those sorts of things. Over the years I started checking things off that list and creating new lists. The thing about the big moments in life, whatever they may be, are that they don’t define your journey. 90 percent of my days and year are spent working towards my goals that people might only “see” ten percent of. If you look at my resume, I’ve opened for people who have been on tour, tv, and the radio, won music awards and competitions, and had my music featured on the radio. Surely I was satisfied with all of those things in the moment, but they weren’t things that sustained me in my career. The most meaningful aspects of my career are the connections I get to have with people, the impact my music has on them, and the legacy of me going after my passion.
Contact Info:
- Website: none
- Instagram: @nickbarillalive
- Twitter: @nickbarillalive
- Facebook: @nickbarillalive
Image Credits
All Live Performance Photo Credits are from Krystal Ritenour Media
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
