Welcome To My World!!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, CB Productions proudly presents...well I don't really have a title...well I guess that screws that up!! Anyways, Welcome To My World!! I thought it would be nice for me to start this blog since so many people want to know what's going on in my life now that I'm in Brentwood, Tennessee at the Contemporary Music Center. However, in order to fully understand where I am coming from in what I say, you must first learn how I got here.

First of all, my life has been consumed with music ever since I was little. Travis Tritt became my biggest inspiration. I basically learned how to read because I would memorize the words to his songs and then match them with the lyrics in the liner of the cassette; talk about strange, I know! So I followed music all of my life, spreading to different genres and many different artists. I knew that God had called me to pursue music as a career and I knew in order for me to do that the way he would want me to, I would need to attend Kentucky Christian University. I already knew about KCU's reputation of being an incredible music school, so I thought that would be the best bet for me. However, I struggled and struggled while I was there but managed to make it through. I gained much knowledge while taking classes there and many experiences along the way. I got to perform twice with the KCU Concert Choir in New York City (Carneige Hall and Lincoln Center) as well as getting to experience the madness of the Feast of Christmas. It was so much work putting that show together but it was so worth it getting to perform all week long for wonderful audiences. However, as much as I loved those things as well as performing in chapel services and various projects, the experience that I will always rank number one is being out on the road with Destiny. Destiny is a traveling ministry group/band that ministers to high school kids and when I say travel, I mean we traveled. Michigan City, Indiana; Versailles, Kentucky; Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania; and those are just some of the places!! Anyways, the memories and the relationships formed from that year I will forever take away and treasure. However, it was time to move on from that because I have to graduate; but before I do, I had one more task to complete and that was to go through the CMC. And that brings us to the present.

Since moving in this past Saturday, it has been phenominal to be here with all of these great people. So many talented people in one place makes for an amazing semester to come. I honestly could not have picked 8 better people to share these troubles and trials with; not only the 8 other people in my apartment but the 31 other people in the program get along so well. We are all truly bonding already and we've only been here 5 days. On Saturday Night, to kickoff the semester, there was an open concert to the public, which featured JillandKate (CMC Alumni) and Rick Elias (our songwriting teacher). JillandKate are actually back-up singers for Kelly Clarkson and Rick Elias wrote all the music for the movie "That Thing You Do", "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and toured with Rich Mullins in the 90s. JillandKate performed first and after two songs in, they brought Kelly Clarkson on stage to sing with them!! Holy Cow!! On Sunday and Monday we did some orientation stuff, which wasn't all that bad. Tuesday we began our 3 day tour of Music City. We visited Reggie Hamm, who wrote the song "The Time of Your Life", which was recorded by David Cook when he won American Idol. From there we visited Nathan Lee, who is a local singer/songwriter but absolutely incredible. He lives in a warehouse that also acts as his studio. I was totally blown away with his abilities and knowledge of the business but just hasn't had the luck that some people have had. We also visited SESAC, which is a company that handles the revenues for songwriters each time their song is played/performed. Wednesday we visited Steve Liewiki, who is one of the many people in this town with a studio in their house. Steve is not only a successful producer, engineer, mixer and studio owner but a successful session guitar player. We then visited Jason Halbert, who is the musical director/band leader for Kelly Clarkson. His visit was my favorite because it was just so insightful to hear from someone who has been that successful for so long. In fact, when he was 19, he toured with dc Talk for the "Jesus Freak" album. We then visited eMack Studios, which is partially owned by tobyMac. We got to see all the great songwriters and engineers there as well as Toby's personal room with all of his awards; man that was a sight!! Also got to see Ariel Hanna, who finished the CMC program last semester and was also in Destiny with me back at KCU. She is now working as an Assistant Road Manager on this tobyMac tour. Finally today we visited BlackBird Studios, which is one of the most famous studios in the country!! AMAZING!! Nuff said...then we visited the Grammys Chapter here in Nashville where we heard from a CMC Alumni who now works there.

So my first week in Nashville has been well worth it. I could go home now and be super happy!! However, the semester hasn't even really began yet. The hard work is still ahead of us and I can't wait!! I will try to keep this as updated as possible, but whenever you need info about how I'm doing this semester or what has happened, visit me here or on facebook!!