“Most judge success in the music industry through sales, whether they get a deal or not, or how big of a show or tour they do. Me, I measure it through the connections I make.” – @marshallRksCtry

Live Interview
Episode #303 : A.V.A Live Radio Behind The Music with Jacqueline Jax :http://www.blogtalkradio.com/avaliveradio/2016/03/03/episode-303-ava-live-radio-behind-the-music-with-jacqueline-jax

GETTING TO KNOW MARSHALL
by Jacqueline Jax host of A.V.A Live Radio

My personal definition of success is..
most judge success in the music industry through sales, whether they get a deal or not, or how big of a show or tour they do. Me, I measure it through the connections I make. Prime example, just after I got the first mix of my record back I was on a flight with a flight attendant that was on her way to go to work. We bonded over music and when I told her I was a singer she asked if I had any samples of my music, and I had just put my album on my phone – so I let her listen. Halfway through I could see she was being affected by it and when the album had finished we got to talking about it. She told me one of my songs reminded her of her own relationship. We talked for over an hour about her relationship and how it related to the song. That’s my success. I don’t know what happened to that girl,but I hope the song helped her – maybe one day I’ll see her again and she’ll let me know how it all worked out.

My over all goal for my life & career is…
I would love to go on a big tour and meet all kinds of new people and hear how my music affected their lives. We will see if that happens.

3 Ways that I challenge myself and how each one moves me forward towards my goal.

1) I write all the time and do my best to learn more about writing daily

2) I take vocal coaching and guitar lessons to better my performance – that’s a given

3) I work daily to meet new fans and stay in touch with my existing fan base.

Music business…
It’s tough, that’s for sure. There’s a lot of competition and people that will try to take advantage of you as an artist. But I think as long as you focus on making great music that connects with people, the business side of things tend to work themselves out as long as you use common sense.

Social media…
It’s a great way to connect with new fans and keep in touch with my existing fanbase! It’s hard to stand out in the crowd. Every artist out there is blowing up social media, and they sometimes seem to be better at it than I am. There are so many networks available, and only so much time in a day to get things accomplished.

Singles vs an album…
it makes a lot of business sense to release singles, but to me – my writing tends to have a theme for a record, and I think it’s good to group songs together that carry a similar theme.

I’ve branded all of my websites and social media pages with similar logos, colors, and themes that are on my EP. It makes it easier to do that if you group the songs together as opposed to releasing singles – you would have to rebrand everything depending on your single every time you released one, OR choose something generic that isn’t single specific to leave it up longer.

I went to my first concert at 16 and loved it…
I knew then that I wanted to be on stage.

Tailspin…
I was drunk in a hotel during my divorce and couldn’t help but think that my world was literally out of control and spinning – the word Tailspin came to me and I started writing down what it was like, as I thought about it more, I realized that falling in love or out of it is uncontrollable.

The one thing I expect to get from making music is…
to connect with others. I think that’s the point of writing music, to connect others to the pieces of our lives that can be hardest to talk about.

Nashville, Tennessee…
I’m a road warrior these days, so I’m not home much, but when I am I love to writers nights and small acoustic shows around Nashville.

I would love to have 5 minutes alone with…

Easy, Dierks Bentley. Everyone that’s met him says he’s just the most humble and down to earth guy. I think he would be awesome to swap a story with or have a cold one.

Do you find that there is to much emphasis on being current and trendy…
Absolutely. the “Business” of music tried to chase trends and hop on the “What’s selling now” bandwagon, but they are repeatedly found wrong in their choices. I think the one trend and choice that stays common, is that the listening public wants a genuine and honest artist that shares their story through their music. There’s a good story about this. Love them or hate them, Creed was one of the biggest selling and most successful artists of the late 90’s and early 2000’s – and they were told by every major and most independent labels that they were “outdated” and that the “trend” was on other styles of music. Boy were those labels wrong! I chose to make the music that’s in my soul and let those that want to listen to it into my world. If the industry doesn’t like it – oh well, I’m happy making the music I make.

I am most afraid of…
Leaving this world with a song still unwritten.

Social Media:
www.marshallRocksCountry.com
www.facebook.com/marshallRocksCountry
www.reverbnation.com/marshallRocksCountry
www.soundcloud.com/marshallRocksCountry
www.instagram.com/marshallRocksCountry
www.twitter.com/marshallRksCtry