From the Newport Folk Festival to art museums in Norway and every open mic, stadium, and radio station in between – if it’s a gig, Pieta Brown, Christopher Paul Stelling, and Sean Rowe are ready for it! This roundtable of well-traveled acoustic guitarists has played tons of shows across the globe – and are here to share insights, stories, laughs, and ideas to get you ready to play out, too.
Additional resources:
The Acoustic Guitar Podcast theme music is composed by Adam Perlmutter and performed for this episode by Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers.
This episode is hosted by Nick Grizzle and Gretchen Menn, produced by Tanya Gonzalez, and directed and edited by Joey Lusterman. Executive producers are Lyzy Lusterman and Stephanie Campos Dal Broi.
The Acoustic Guitar Podcast is produced by the team at Acoustic Guitar magazine, including:
Special thanks to our listeners who support the show on Patreon.
From the Newport Folk Festival to art museums in Norway and every open mic, stadium, and radio station in between – if it’s a gig, Pieta Brown, Christopher Paul Stelling, and Sean Rowe are ready for it! This roundtable of well-traveled acoustic guitarists has played tons of shows across the globe – and are here to share insights, stories, laughs, and ideas to get you ready to play out, too.
Additional resources:
The Acoustic Guitar Podcast theme music is composed by Adam Perlmutter and performed for this episode by Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers.
This episode is hosted by Nick Grizzle and Gretchen Menn, produced by Tanya Gonzalez, and directed and edited by Joey Lusterman. Executive producers are Lyzy Lusterman and Stephanie Campos Dal Broi.
The Acoustic Guitar Podcast is produced by the team at Acoustic Guitar magazine, including:
Special thanks to our listeners who support the show on Patreon.
You know, you've fallen on your face enough times to know it doesn't really hurt. It's just a song and it's just a show, and everybody's there to have a good time, so give it a shot, right.
Nick Grizzle:Hello and welcome to the Acoustic Guitar Podcast. I'm your host, nick Grizzle, joined for this episode by co-host Gretchen Menn. From the Newport Folk Festival to art museums in Norway and every open mic stadium and barnyard in between, if it's a gig, Pieta Brown, Christopher Paul Stelling and Sean Rowe are ready for it. Pieta Brown pairs gentle roots finger picking with poetic introspection to craft a unique brand of folk. Christopher Paul Stelling is a soulful, road-weary songwriter with an intense and intricate approach to finger style. Sean Rowe is known for his resonant baritone voice, inventive guitar style, and distinctive Americana sound. This roundtable of well-traveled acoustic guitarists has played tons of shows across the world and are here to share insights, stories, and ideas to get you gig ready too.
Nick Grizzle:The Acoustic Guitar Podcast is a listener-supported show. Memberships start at just $1 and include access to bonus episodes of this podcast, exclusive guitar workshops and much more. Head over to patreoncom slash acousticguitarplus to learn more. If you want a preview of what we have to offer, we're making part two of this very episode available to stream free for a limited time. And now I'll kick things over to Pieta Brown, who shares her perspective on crafting a setlist and tools to overcome anxiety on stage.
Pieta Brown:Because I definitely, especially early on, really really struggled with shyness and nerves and all those things. I mean it was really hard for me to even sing into the microphone. So who knows why, I started doing gigs. But at some point along the way I started writing setlists as a kind of more like a guide than something I need to adhere to really strictly. But I found it helpful and also a way to relax a little bit more somehow.
Sean Rowe:Do you always follow them when you do have a setlist, or is it just sort of like a guide?
Pieta Brown:It's kind of like a guide, although once I started doing a lot of playing solo more and then for kind of a pretty big stretch there I was doing a lot of, you know, I went from playing duo, trio, band and kind of my own shows into doing a lot of opening for really great songwriters you know, playing in much bigger rooms than I was used to and so I started playing solo quite a bit then and at that point I started writing my setlist according to my tunings, because I like to use different tunings but I would often only have one guitar, so I would write my setlist according to how the tunings would flow most easily without having to tune my guitar that often, which is kind of fun.
Nick Grizzle:But you mentioned a point I wanted to follow up on a little bit of the nerves, the stage-fright aspect of things. I don't know anybody who has played a first gig and not had that feeling. How did you overcome it? And do you? I mean, do you still feel it? Do you still have things you do to overcome it, like on every gig?
Pieta Brown:I mean, I've always been somebody to struggle with shyness and in strange kind of I don't know maybe paradoxical ways or something, Like songwriters, of course, there's some kind of openness, right. Or if you're getting up and singing your song, there's obviously some kind of inherent openness, right, Because some people can't even do that. But as far as being in a room with people or even sometimes just doing an interview, right, and it's like a natural shyness or something. So I've definitely really slowly learned strange little quirky coping mechanisms I suppose you would call them.
Sean Rowe:I want to hear one of them what do you got?
Pieta Brown:I mean there's like. I mean some of them are like weird little things that you carry with you. You know, you're like, oh yeah, that's the pick that Mark Knopfler gave me and it's in my pocket or that's the. You know, that's the four-leaf clover my sister gave me and I have these few little things and they're kind of like little sacred little things I carry. That makes me feel like maybe it's just that feeling connected to something else. Yeah, little things like that.
Pieta Brown:I've got some other secrets, but I remember actually one of the first gigs I did. I was just thinking of this because of doing this interview, but I was supposed to do a little radio interview and I thought it was just an interview and like play a couple songs. And I showed up and it was for Iowa Public Radio and I showed up and they wanted me to play a 16 minute set live on air and I was completely unprepared for that, but somehow I did it. I really still don't know how and I would really never like to hear that again, but something about doing it and like Christopher was saying, you know, you realize you're like it's just a song and it's just a moment and it's going to pass, and the more relaxed you can get, I feel like the really the more you can offer in some way, christopher, you were holding something up.
Nick Grizzle:Do you bring things with you like that too?
Christopher Paul Stelling:I mean I've got, you know, this thing. I've kept in my pocket for gosh 15 years, Like you know, like just anything that can ground you. Sometimes it's not just the show, it's not just about to perform, I mean, sometimes just traveling can be completely disorienting, you know, I mean a lot of us, I feel like a lot of us. You know, creatives in general deal with anxiety and deal with panic and deal with some of these things, which is somehow how we got into this. To begin with, maybe some of us were like running towards our fears For some reason. That's, as always, felt like the right reason, and artists I've resonated with aren't necessarily always comfortable with the pursuit. I've been hosting the open mic at Eddie's Attic in Decatur while while I'm home. One of my best friends is the typical host.
Christopher Paul Stelling:And the difference between you know, at first I was like, oh my, yeah, my career is finally at the point where I'm the host of the local open mic.
Pieta Brown:Exactly you made it.
Christopher Paul Stelling:It's been refreshing. But you do notice the differences in the people, the different motivations of people as they come to it, like the people that obviously have the stars in their eyes and just kind of sound like they think they're supposed to sound and do what they think they're supposed to do, and then the people that are genuinely terrified because they're giving something hidden, because they're giving something of themselves, something secret that's completely off topic but that has to do somehow with the little charms. Musicians have always carried little charms, little rattlesnake tails, in their guitars, or mercury dimes or whatever. People love their little lucky charms and I think there's something to be said for that.
Sean Rowe:I think grounding is such a great way to put it because you can also have I do that as well but sometimes for me it's in a different way. Thinking itself is a problem on the stage. In a way, if you're logical, thought and analytical mind becomes very problematic when you're trying to get in some kind of a zone, because you've already memorized everything. Your body knows what to do. So when your body knows what to do, you don't need that part, that analytical part of your brain, but it wants to hold on for dear life and it's really in there. So at times you are in a fight with this part of you. That's really weird because to the outside world and to the audience, they have no idea what you're going through in the moment. But these things can be seen very real and heavy, and I've noticed one thing that really helps is that I will focus on something tactile, like something that I'm feeling, like the feel of the guitar, because it doesn't require any analytical thought. It's just like the way that the strings feel or the air or something else that's in the room. You know what I mean, and that is similar to bringing something and, like Pieta and Christopher, like that same idea of grounding is super important, but also like something else that Chris was saying too is like you know why we come into this?
Sean Rowe:And I used to think, like why in the hell did I pick this kind of career and lifestyle? Because like I was a shy kid too, really shy, and like I'm putting myself out there emotionally in all these ways that don't seem to match my personality. But I think, when it comes down to a big part of it is like how we derive, like how we acquire this love and acceptance. That's like inherent to all humans, right? It's like how we go about that is different for everybody and people, creative people you know that you know paint or make art, or you know music or whatnot. You know a lot of them. I think that's how they get the acceptance you know, that's how they fill that place in themselves and, to a certain degree, is through performance and through the connection with the audience, you know, which is a very real and palpable thing. So Can I?
Christopher Paul Stelling:say one thing about set lists, because that's where we started.
Christopher Paul Stelling:I loved what Pieta said about like not having one. I've been doing this thing. I've noticed the past I don't know four or five years, minus the break. I kind of know what I'm gonna start with and I know what I'm gonna end with. But aside from that, you know, I've usually I've got like a binder. I carry this binder in my gearbox that has like the majority of my songs printed out, in case, like I'm in a hotel room or something and I wanna look over a lyric which never happens but the comfort in knowing they're there is everything.
Christopher Paul Stelling:I'm jealous that took eight years to make that binder.
Pieta Brown:I'm serious, I'm jealous.
Christopher Paul Stelling:But that binder has a little plastic, clear plastic thing in the front of it and I've got like 30 songs written on a piece of paper stuck in there and I throw that down by the mic stand and I play the first song and then I just start free associating. I talk about my day, I talk about some weird thought, I have in the car a quote I heard, I tell a little story and I find that as I free associate and talk, I just kinda keep like looking down and then all of a sudden, like there's a spark on one of the songs and I never, ever do. I never do this thing anymore where I talk about what the songs are about. But I find that whatever I'm free associating about will somehow lead into the like you were talking about, it'll lead into the next song. And then sometimes I see the little smiles on people's faces when the song that I'm playing next will reference kind of what I was just talking about, without having to be so obvious about it, because, like I don't know, nobody really wants to hear like this next song is about blah, blah, blah, blah.
Christopher Paul Stelling:For me it helps the songs reinvent themselves night after night because they're about something different now. Every time I'm not talking about what was happening in my life when I wrote it. I'm talking about something that's happening in my life now and trying to relate it through. You know, this weird map that becomes the show and it just keeps things fresh for me and I love that's become. My favorite thing lately is the things that happen between the songs and the songs. I just kind of close my eyes and go off into outer space. But the free association as I'm creating that set list spontaneously is maybe my favorite thing right now.
Pieta Brown:I remember that just made me think, actually made me think of a couple of things. One is I remember reading a quote somewhere by Tony Bennett just about you know he's sung a lot of the same songs many, many times and he said I love singing every song every time and that's something I carry with me too. Just there's like a you know, just that kind of I don't know something about just really staying open, like to the song however it's gonna change that night or however you're gonna sing it that night.
Pieta Brown:So I think about that sometimes and then another this is kind of the going back to the nerves and the shyness thing, but it's a really great story that I think of often, which is I got to do some shows with John Prine, quite a few for a little while. It's kind of a concentrated time, but really early on, like maybe it was before we did any shows or somehow, I got a message like he always likes the person who's opening to sing a song with him.
Pieta Brown:He said you choose one and I'll choose one. And so I was like, okay, I choose Long Monday. You know I love this song called Long Monday by John Prine, so we did that song, we got to do that song. But he said, well, I'm going to choose in spite of ourselves.
Pieta Brown:And for anybody who doesn't know, Iris has become a family member and of course she's one of my favorite singers and so on. So you can imagine, like the first time I go to sing this in spite of ourselves with John, I was really nervous. And so we're sitting there, the band's kind of started and John looks over at me and he can tell that I'm really nervous. He's done it how many thousands of times? Right, he can read me, like right now, and he gives me this big smile before he starts singing and he's kind of standing back by me and then he says I'm going for it, and then he steps up to the mic and I just I carry that with me, you know, because it's like, how many times is he saying that song? And it just just that sense of humor, I guess, you know. And lightness is also another thing that has really helped me over the years of just really remembering to have fun and go for it. You know every time.
Christopher Paul Stelling:Can I ask a question to the two or three of you? I know we've both, like, opened for a lot of people in, possibly, venues that are bigger than the ones that we would get to play and or maybe I don't know, but that happens sometimes and it's amazing. But sometimes it's like you got a tight 30 and you've been given this great job and you want to keep the job and you don't want to make anybody upset and that's a hard thing to nail the 30. You know what I mean. All of a sudden, you've got two minutes left and you're like do I do? Do I do? Do I go? What do I do, you know? And so that's a very different. That's a very different gig. Definitely you want to hit your mark and also you want to start strong and you want to build and you want to end on a good note and you want to, you know, really compliment the people that brought you out.
Sean Rowe:It's a trip. I know exactly what you're saying. I totally resonate with the trying to build a set, like sometimes. It's sometimes more of a challenge when you have less songs, you know, because you do have to think about that. Yeah, 30 minutes, and yeah, I think about that.
Sean Rowe:There is a part that feels easier and that most of the audience is there to see the headlining act, so they're not expecting anything from you, so which gives you a certain amount of freedom. You know there's a certain amount of excitement of like ah, maybe you know if, like, they've never heard me before, you know what I mean. So surprising people in a good way can be kind of cool, exciting, you know. But also there's also this element that is a little bit anxiety-latent and that's being the opener means that you're not going to get necessarily the same kind of sound treatment that the headliner is going to get, you know, or the same amount of time on the stage to get really comfortable with the sound. And sometimes you're rushing to just get out there and they even cut your set shorter because the you know, the time commitment thing has changed somehow. So you have to be, like, totally on your game and ready and ready to go, you know. So that can have its own set of anxious problems, you know.
Pieta Brown:I actually really have gotten a lot from doing that over the years. But something about it really also just I don't know if you do it enough I feel like it also gives you a certain kind of freedom. Like Sean was saying, there's a freedom in it and experimentation or something. Once you get kind of comfortable enough or free enough to really experiment in those opening situations, I feel like as a performer or especially somebody who's just starting to do gigs, I feel like it's actually a really great experiment because in some ways you have this inner pressure, but like the pressure, external pressure is like in some ways it's not as much or something.
Pieta Brown:And then also, just I think it helps you kind of streamline your tone, which you know that's one of my favorite things in the world is tone. So for me it's I like opening for that reason of just like how great of a tone can I get with all these limitations right? Like, and that's why the gear becomes like these tiny little things, like you know just little, whatever little pedal you might bring or whatever your direct box is, or these things that you know you can count on, no matter who the sound person is or I don't know. It's kind of experimenting with limitations. I found it really helpful over the years, just as a performer, I think.
Christopher Paul Stelling:I found that coming out of that, it was like explosive. All of a sudden you're back to your. You know you go out on the road opening for somebody for a couple months and then all of a sudden you have your own gig and it's like oh my. God, it's. Yeah, they're both. I mean, it's it tightened up, my it tightened everything up for me. There's a before. There's definitely a before and after with those kind of gigs. It's a real blessing, isn't it?
Pieta Brown:Yeah, I feel like especially, yeah, I think, when you're, especially when you're first getting going, I mean, if you can, if you can relax and work past the shyness or, you know, trying out your new songs and all that there is, there's something really strengthening and that kind of free experimentation, but in a kind of I mean, really, let's face it, most of the audiences that are there to hear songs are pretty, pretty forgiving and pretty accepting, even if they don't, you know, even if they don't give you a standing ovation when you're opening or something Like, if you're, if you open yourselves to the people that are there to see whoever they're there to see, like there's something really fun in that process, I think.
Gretchen Menn:What are your biggest thoughts on recording yourself and, you know, either learning from it or does that promote a type of toxic self consciousness? What do you guys think about that, and do you do it Like recording your performances and watching them later?
Sean Rowe:Oh, I think there's a certain amount of bliss by not remembering things correctly you know might be beneficial.
Nick Grizzle:I know in the past.
Sean Rowe:There's been a few times where I've I've seen a performance back and you know you're watching it back on an iPhone. You know You're gonna miss a lot like especially. I think that's why a lot of us I think I'm not alone with a lot of musicians that don't like people that to take iPhone footage while we're playing, because it's not only distracting but it's also like the best thing you could possibly receive is the moment right now. You know what I mean. The moment right now is the best it's gonna get, you know mean. So why do you want to focus on what's on the screen and then watch it later, which you probably won't even watch again? You know I mean. So I think there's there's an inherent problem at like looking at the past In this kind of way and like critiquing and all that because it's never gonna be as good as it was in the moment.
Pieta Brown:You know so at the same time I will say I mean, I've worked with a lot of artists that they're again that maybe have people close to them Documenting lots of things just kind of regularly, and then they take pieces from that like every once in a while when a really particularly Resonant performance happens or something, and then, oh yeah, great Listen, we got this documented. We just happened to record the last 10 nights, so now you have these beautiful performances that got caught. I mean, that's kind of inspired me lately. It's not something that it has kind of sparked an interest in that like. To me it seems like either you're documenting all the time or maybe not at all or something, but that Maybe, if you're documenting all the time, that it allows To catch some of that, you know, like those really great moments.
Sean Rowe:That's a good point. And you know, from like a fans perspective or for like just a music, you know, aficionado, it's like you, you love those in between moments. You know, you love those like Impromptu. You know performances that get captured that weren't supposed to be recorded, or something you know for for the people that are doing it, they might not necessarily think, ah man, I don't, that's not really the best version of this that I want to put out there, but it's like as a fan or as somebody listening, that might be like the coolest thing you've ever heard, you know, from them. So yeah, because it works both ways on that, I mean, if you're doing sports and You're, you know, wanting to correct a certain Technique, you know it's really good to look at like footage of yourself doing. You see what you're doing wrong. In the same way of a performance, you could watch and be like, oh man, I just spent, like you know, 10 minutes telling a joke and you're like three minutes actually playing. You know, I mean, so maybe I shouldn't do that next time.
Christopher Paul Stelling:I feel like we've lived through the age of this session, you know, like the video session when you're on tour. We've all done a lot of these live sessions which kind of the session, kind of the video session thing Kind of brings the intimacy of of like a, of like a recording studio take To the benefit of being able to see the performer play live. Like we would probably all approach a song in a different way In a recording environment than we would on a stage, but the video thing kind of Captured both of those things and I think for a lot of us like helped our careers in a way. There was something cool about doing them and, like you know, watching a second of them and being like, oh, that sounds good, that looks good, but I would never watch the whole thing ever. Know about you guys.
Christopher Paul Stelling:But sometimes in the studio I get into these little like Horrible cycles where I'll like play the intro like again and again and again and be like, no, it wasn't right, no, it wasn't right. Like all the sudden, all the sudden the tempo. The next morning You're like that's way too fast or that's way too slow, like I have this theory that like it's not a theory, it's more of a joke, but like Recording is like taxidermy, like songs are these? This song a song? Is this beautiful deer running through the forest? And then to record it is to kind of Kill it and stuff it and sometimes you get a beautiful likeness Right and sometimes the taxidermist is no good and it's kind of got a messed up face.
Pieta Brown:It's really beautifully said actually.
Christopher Paul Stelling:You're trying to capture that likeness. And the thing about playing it live that's thrilling is you can't get in that feedback loop where you're like, no, it's wrong, no, this is wrong. No, it's like you start the song on stage, you're gonna finish it. Whether you flub that little note or you mess up your little voice thing that you wanted to do or not, like you're gonna get to the end of the song and that's that's where the freedom comes from. And sometimes we find like we all love Dylan right, like Sometimes I've I'm having this Eternal battle right now where I have to remind myself that On some of the recordings I love, my favorite things are the mistakes.
Christopher Paul Stelling:Why is everybody fixing every little mistake? Now? Because they can, and why did they not do it then? Because they couldn't. That moment where it all starts to fall apart and it all comes back together, that's where the magic is. And I try to remind myself of that when I get in a in a negative loop about everything has to be perfect in the studio. If you can live with it, you can leave it.
Christopher Paul Stelling:I'm just trying to learn to live with it a little bit more.
Sean Rowe:There's a certain component to the studio which is like you are still playing live because you, the audience is in your head, it's a projected thing, like you know that this could be, this could be the thing that is on tape, you know, I mean, or that's Sounds arcade, say that but it's like this could be the thing that is forever, you know, I mean, and it is what. So you, sometimes I feel like in my headphones when I'm doing a take is like in real time, I am hearing in real time what is actually going to be forever. Right now it's kind of freaky, like you, you, you kind of have these different ways of like putting that out of your head Because it's just too weird, you know. But also, if you think about it, it's like I was Thought about this for a long time that there's so many parallels with film and Theater compared to live and recording with music, you know like, because like theater is like live, if on the stage, you know, in a lot of ways, and then movies are like recording in a lot of ways.
Sean Rowe:We even use the same names, like you know producer and director. You know they kind of share some features of you know music To film, so I can relate to a lot of things that actors say. You know that share those two mediums is really interesting. But like what you're saying, chris, about yeah, we, when you are on stage and you're doing a live thing, there is no pressure that this, it's different every time and it's supposed to be different every time, so there's no thinking about that. This is a set thing and that's. That is part of the beauty of it.
Nick Grizzle:So what do you do when you're playing live? What do you do when stuff goes off the rails?
Pieta Brown:I come back to that as something I said earlier, kind of in a different variation. But as I've gone along, I feel like the more you are able to just really trust the audience in the moment, the it's, it's just all really one big thing, you know. And when you feel that kind of, if you can find it and it's, it's hard to articulate what the feeling is, but you know it when you feel it. But if you just remember that the, you know the audience is there, they're on your side and they, they're there with you and they're not really separate from you. Really, I mean, they are, you know, technically.
Pieta Brown:But when you're inside that music space or you're in a performance or you're in some kind of artistic exchange, if you really can have fun with it, for one thing you know nobody minds if you stop a song. I've stopped a song before and they're like oh whoa, what was I just doing, you know, and everybody laughs for a minute and then you relax and you sing your song and it's OK and it's. You know that next song can be the best moment of the night, because there is that kind of letting them know that you trust them or something. I mean that's some kind of the vulnerability right.
Pieta Brown:The vulnerability yeah, I think the more open, vulnerable you can be with the audience, especially in those moments Like, if you're like, ok, what's my guitar? Just I just broke a string, or you know, I've been done a show where the power went out and we kept playing, you know, and it was a great moment and it was, you know, something that people have come back and talked to me about years later. Because if you're just really having fun with the music, I feel like that stuff is kind of secondary. You know, if you forget some lyrics or you quit playing the song or your gear messes up, it's such a good point.
Sean Rowe:It's like, when it comes down to it, they're just songs, you know. You know they're just songs and people are there to to to have fun. So certain degree of playfulness. If you have that intact, you'd be OK. There's an amazing documentary. I wish I knew the name of it. It it might be called it's a Leonard Cohen documentary. It might be called Bird on a Wire. It's it's footage from talk about like stuff that artists don't want you to see. You know this could fall into that, although you know I'm sure he proved it being out there but it's footage of like 1970s Leonard Cohen in Europe touring.
Sean Rowe:And here's the guy who is one of the best songwriters on the planet and definitely uncomfortable, to say the least, on stage. You know did not have a natural performance kind of an upbringing at all, so it was completely foreign. If the songs are amazing and people knew it. But his, his interaction with the audience was so vulnerable and so real and he would just like tell them. You know what I mean, like I'm really struggling up here. You know what I mean. He would like he had his own way to like let the audience in on this thing that was happening.
Sean Rowe:You know he would sing a song about, like, how bad the monitors were. You know, just come up with a song on the spot because he was so nervous he couldn't think of anything else to do. So he just started singing about how bad the monitors were and you could hear them screeching. You're like there's no way a show can be enjoyable for somebody, for somebody performing, like, if they can't hear. You know, that is the big thing that happens, like, by the way, if you want to know something that could go wrong, it's like a lot of times it's the sound that we hear on stage. If it's awful, it's really hard to get into it. You got to kind of, you got to find ways to, like, you know, not fake that, but just like, you know, get it for yourself, because I feel like if you don't feel it yourself, that's where that's the wrong part. If you're not feeling it, the audience is going to not feel it either.
Christopher Paul Stelling:You know it takes a special kind of sound person to realize it's almost more pivotal to the performance when it is a solo act on stage that that we kind of dial in the monitors. Sometimes I'll even ask them to like can you notch 2k out of the monitor? Like these mids are killing me or like I just I need to be comfortable because that's what's going to allow me to transport or hopefully lift off. Right, that's that's. Even if I get one of those moments, a set when it happens, god, it's beautiful, but like as a, as a solo, you're not, you don't have the band to feed off of, you know, you don't have the other musicians to feed off of. So the sound, as you say, can be really important.
Christopher Paul Stelling:Two instances, huge instances, that taught me that anything could go wrong. Two first songs like. First song, newport Folk Festival, like had to stop and retune the guitar, like I kind of keep finger picking. This one happened to be in an open tuning so I could kind of like retune while I was picking, which was kind of nice, but like had to stop and I just I just commented to the audience.
Christopher Paul Stelling:I said I'm having a very human moment, you know, and they laughed and it was fine, and then like I walk on stage at like 930 Club, like first show opening for Ben Harper and my my couple, little power adapters, the whole, just everything, all the DIs, everything in front of me just died and I'm sitting there trying to unplug. It turns out it wasn't my fault, it was somebody else. You know, you just make a joke about it. I feel like both of those instances instantly created I think Piede said something like this instantly created this vulnerability and this like camaraderie with the audience. All of a sudden they're in your hand. So if you handle it right and you kind of just all you, all it takes sometimes is to be like I don't know, like they can be one that easily and all of a sudden they're on your side and they're rooting for you because they're not out there. Not out there to judge you, they're out there to have a good time.
Christopher Paul Stelling:They came to have a good time. They might not have come to see you always, but they came to have a good time, so the odds are in your favor.
Nick Grizzle:That's the end of part one. In part two, our guests share their scariest gig horror stories plus advice they wish they'd had when first starting out. Listen now at patreoncom slash acoustic guitar plus or check the show notes for that link, plus additional resources related to this episode. Thanks for tuning in. The acoustic guitar podcast is brought to you by the team at acoustic guitar magazine. I'm your host, nick Grizzle, joined for this episode by co-host Gretchen Menn. The acoustic guitar podcast is directed and edited by Joey Lusterman. Tanya Gonzalez is our producer. Executive producers are Lyzy Lusterman and Stephanie Campos Dal broi. Our theme song was composed by Adam Perlmutter and performed for this episode by Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers. If you enjoy this podcast and want to support us, please visit our Patreon page at patreoncom slash acoustic guitar plus or find the link in the show notes for this episode. As a supporter, you'll have access to exclusive bonus episodes, along with other special perks and, as always, if you're already a patron. We thank you so much for your support.