Meet Darian Poe

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Darian Poe a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Darian, 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?

There’s a couple of ways that I keep my creativity alive. In the past, I feel like I would struggle to find a creative outlet and that I would struggle writing songs due to it. But at the age of 20, I started traveling across the country by myself and that’s when I noticed I was writing and being creative the most. I feel I do my best songwriting while I am out on the road traveling state to state. I lived in Colorado this Spring and Summer and I would go up into the Rocky Mountains to write songs.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I am a national touring and recording artist from Bethalto, Illinois. I started playing music at about the same time I learned how to walk. I grew up learning and playing numerous instruments including drums/percussion, saxophone, trumpet, clarinet, piano, and guitar. But I felt like I was always singing. I played saxophone in the school band up until high school where I decided to switch to playing guitar. One night I played at an open mic night with some friends and family and decided I wanted to be a live musician. After years of not really playing live at all, I started playing some small local festivals and was gaining some followings from it. I decided to try to start playing my own shows. I started booking my own local shows around St. Louis, Missouri area and did that for a couple of years. I then decided I wanted to take a leap and I booked myself down on Beale Street for a couple of nights. I loved going down there and traveling to play, so I made up my mind and my husband and I bought a bus and we decided we were going to take my music across the United States. I have recorded and released two albums as of now. One titled “If You Could See It Now” and the second is “Time To Roam”. I booked 29 shows out in Colorado for this past Spring and Summer and gained a great following on the road. So we continued heading on the road and we are currently out booking more gigs for the start of 2025. Professionally I am focused on becoming a full time touring musician. I book all of my own gigs and I aspire for one day that I have my own management and tour team. The thing I love the most about all of this is performing my songs and hearing people tell me how they relate to them or which one is their favorite. Music has always helped me through everything in life and I want to make a difference with people through my music.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I believe the top skill to have in this business is people skills. I talk to thousands of people with booking, performing, and in between and after shows. Having great people skills has helped me tremendously in my journey. I think the second would be patience. It takes a lot of patience in the music business. From waiting to hear back from people on booking, traveling all over the country, and just dealing with the life this brings, patience is something that I learned quickly and always try to remember. And lastly, I’d say confidence. You have to be confident in yourself and in your brand. You have to stand tall and present yourself very well.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

In the last 12 months, my husband and I left our hometown so I can pursue my dreams. In that time frame I played 29 shows in Colorado, 2 shows in Wyoming, opened up for the headliner at a festival, performed at another festival and I am currently working on booking my 2025 tour.

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