We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tara Garcia. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tara below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Tara with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
My work ethic comes from my parents. They’re do-ers. My dad is a list maker and a believer in the “leave it better than you found it” ideal. My mom is always prepared. If you need something for a project, a recipe, or a trip, she’s got it. As kids, we all pitched in around the house and were expected to perform well in school. As a teacher right out of college, I had to remain organized, schedule minded and detail oriented to keep my orchestra program running each year. As a band member, I think my band mates would call me a “band mom” because I use my organizational super powers to keep us on track behind the scenes but I embrace that role. I create and manage all of our social media marketing posts and merch inventory, keep our song lists current and our sub guides updated, as well as maintaining notes from our weekly meetings. I’m happy to do it!
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?
For the past 10 years, I have been the fiddle player and one of the vocalists in Texas’ Premier ’90s Country Tribute Band: Straight Tequila Night and I also teach private violin and viola lessons in the DFW area. The best part of my private teaching job is setting my own schedule and seeing my students succeed when they learn a new skill. As a former public school HS orchestra teacher, I am happy to be able to keep teaching as part of my work life and bring the joy of music to my students in a one-on-one setting!
The best part of my performing job is getting to provide a fun, memorable experience for people who hire us for their private event or those who attend a public show on a night out reminiscing to their favorite ’90s country tunes. Although our show content remains constant, every venue and audience is different and it’s been fun to play in a variety of locations. In the past year or so, our band has expanded outside of Texas to venues in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, been featured in Vogue Magazine as the reception band for the exquisite Dallas wedding of Yellowstone’s Hassie Harrison and Ryan Bingham, provided entertainment for the OU x SEC “Party in the Palace” at the Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, been invited to perform on the Chevrolet Main Stage at the State Fair of Texas in October, and be the main support for a major country artist at a large fundraiser at Southfork Ranch this fall. We are absolutely honored to have been invited to perform at these high profile functions and are excited to see what’s in store for our band in the coming years!
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?
The three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in my journey have been:
1) Having a musical background – I started playing viola at age 8 and I participated in band, choir and orchestra in grades 3-12. As a music education major at TCU, I never imagined my career taking a turn from teaching to performing at this level. As a classically trained violist, I took up violin after college as a means diversify my private teaching abilities. I didn’t think I’d be capable of passing as a fiddle player in a country band, let alone getting paid for it and turning it into a full time career. ’90s country also holds a special place for me because that’s what I grew up listening to so I already knew every song on our setlist by heart. I think I reminisce just as much as our fans do at every show!
2) Right place, right time – this is sort of cliche, but it’s true. I fell into this band because of people I knew in the area we all lived. I was fortunate that my bandmates took a chance on me despite my lack of performance experience in this setting. They’ve all been in numerous bands previously and I continue to learn new things from them as they each bring a special skill set to our group – audio/sound engineering, marketing, sales, and even music theory! Each of them inspire me at every performance.
3) Never stop learning – I have been fortunate to find some incredible teachers in my area and have taken fiddle and vocal lessons over the years to hone my skills and grow as a performer. When I look back at my first few years in this band, I only played on about half of the songs and didn’t sing at all. Now, 10 years later I play on every song, sing loads of three part harmonies and even sing lead on a few!!
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?
The most impactful thing my parents did for me was to let me choose my extracurricular activities and support my involvement in them. They never forced me into an activity that I didn’t enjoy just to be more “well rounded”. I was in sports as a kid but once I found music, I ran with it and my parents never discouraged me. My parents were fortunate enough to have the means to support my involvement in band, choir, and orchestra, rent instruments, pay for private lessons and extra curricular ensembles, and drive me to rehearsals and concerts. My parents attended every single one of my concerts growing up until I went to college in Texas and it wasn’t feasible to travel to all of them from where they lived in Illinois. Now that I play in Straight Tequila Night, they attend as many show as they can and I’m happy to have them in the audience again!!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://straighttequilanight.com/
- Instagram: @scarlett.otara
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scarlettotara.stn?mibextid=LQQJ4d
Image Credits
Crystal Griffith Photography (@cgrt04)
Native Bloom Photography (@nativebloomphotography)
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