We were lucky to catch up with Brandon Hudspeth recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Brandon , thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
I get my work ethic from inspiration. I think it’s very important to constantly seek inspiration and to stay inspired. One of the ways that I do this is I have a lot of heroes. I look up to a lot of people who have put in the work, have stayed the course and have become successful. I believe that when you are inspired you naturally enjoy the process of “the work”. That’s when the magic happens!
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am a professional touring guitar player and singer. I have a trio called Levee Town which formed in 2002 and is based out of Kansas City. We play original songs deeply influenced by Blues and Swing music of the 50’s. We’ve played clubs and festivals all over the US and Canada. We’ve also released 10 albums and enjoyed some adulations and significant chart placement in the US. We are currently working on our 11th release and will be out early 2024. I also have a Duo called Hudspeth & Taylor which released our debut album Folie a Deux in 2002 which earned much international adulations including a Blues Music Award nomination. Our current album “Ridin’ the Blinds” maintained a number 1 position for 9 weeks on the Roots Music report and received many nominations including one from the Blues Music Awards for Best Acoustic Blues album of 2023.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Persistance has been the most used and most impactful tool I possess. There are so many people along the way that will tell a blooming musician that they are” not good enough,” they must have a” plan B, ” “music can’t pay the bills”…..ect. and the better that musician gets, the more they will hear people try to tear them down. I like to tell my guitar lessons if they want to make music their livelihood they must grow thick skin and learn to be persistent. Self confidence has to play a role in ones journey in performance. Unfortunately for people like me who have to go through lots of different situations, fail, learn from the mistake, and come back improved, to acquire self confidence. Self confidence can fluctuate so it takes constant mental practice to keep the optimism.
Optimism and having a dream is where it all starts and where it should stay. I have been fortunate to have always had such a deep love for music and a need to perform and record that I wouldn’t have even considered doing anything else. As young as I can remember I imagined playing on different stages and recording songs I have written.
I would say to an up and coming musician that they should prepare and learn to deal with people with all sorts of personalities. The most challenging being the negative, rather it be someone in an audience, a friend or family member, or even someone on your own team. As long as you stay the course, learn from every mistake and gain confidence in your growth, and keep shooting for your dream, I think there is no limit to what you can achieve.
What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
My parents did for me what I plan to do with my 2 year old daughter. They nurtured my passion, which was music. They signed me up for guitar lessons when I was 5, let me listen to all kinds of crazy music as my fad evolved, bought me my first real instruments which are still my primary guitars, took me to all the shows that would come to town, let me play in a band and play shows at college functions when I was very young, and have supported me ever since. My dad exposed me to such great music at an early age and although he wasn’t a musician himself he had an understanding of rhythm and would say things to me as he listened to me play that I still hear and learn from everyday.
Contact Info:
- Website: brandonhudspeth.com leveetown.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leveeworker/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brandon.hudspeth.5/ https://www.facebook.com/HudspethandTaylor https://www.facebook.com/LeveeTownBand
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZHet1JIVlc_WbgGAyqUI1A https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIu8POyAklgYFz_gm0maYMA
Image Credits
BlackMoonMedia llc, Brent Canter, Dave Thurman, Grady Keller
