🎸FIELD GUIDE 16: Your name in lights

What it takes to get there

Cali has centered our week around finding the balance between creating and life’s responsibilities. Our FIELD GUIDE contributor this week is embracing this idea and making the most of it.

Jared and I met in 2005 and he has always been bursting at the seams with talent. Fast forward 17 years, he and his wife made the moves to provide him with the opportunity to find the stages on which his talents can be showcased, both professionally and musically.

Today we learn of his inspiration and that between initial inspiration and a final piece there is hard work and responsibilities.

-Skyler

Name

Jared Shane Sneden

Occupation

Carpenter and a singer-songwriter

Habitat

Franklin, TN, just outside of Nashville

Soundtrack

Southside of heaven by Ryan Bingham is a favorite and a huge inspiration of Jared’s.

Where it started

I often sit and think about how I’ve even got to where I am. Music has always been a huge part of my life and I grew up listening to quite an array of classics thanks to my parents. Everything from the Beatles and Stones to Dwight Yoakam.

I remember being given my first guitar in elementary school, but I wasn't meant to be a child prodigy. I'm glad I wasn't, because I believe most great songs come from life experience and authenticity. Instead, sports were at the forefront of my life through school and into college, where I played lacrosse for 2 years at a highly ranked community college with the hopes of transferring to a 4 year school to play. It wasn't meant to be. I started working full time for my father doing construction and finished my Associates degree at night. 

Thinking back, I've always had a knack for creative writing. I remember writing lyrics and poetry in middle school, but I didn't really find my lane until I was about 24. It was the first time I wrote a song that felt organic to me. I had started to find my “voice”. 

I met my now wife around that time, and we talked about places we would like to move to. I said Nashville, and she didn't blink. So in spring of 2019 we said, “Damn the torpedoes”, and made the move from Maryland to Nashville, TN. It was the best decision we’ve ever made. 

So what does life look like for an unsigned artist?

For one, I still work full time as a carpenter and sometimes project manager for the premier porch builder in Nashville. Evenings, weekends, and any other free time I have outside of work and the gym is dedicated to some sort of facet of my musical career. Writing, playing guitar, recording, gigging, trying to book other gigs, creating content, finding ways to promote, social media, and just trying to get people’s attention.

It can be easy to get overwhelmed looking at the big picture and where I want to get to so I focus on each day and what I can do to move the needle forward. The creative aspect is what comes easy to me, the business and promotional side not so much. I have never been a big “look at me” person, so that has been my biggest hurdle. 

Somedays I feel like a guy on a rowboat in the middle of the ocean. My wife has always been the most supportive person and we wouldn't have made the move if she didnt 100% believe I have what it takes. I have friends that are also creatives that help me navigate the waters, but right now it’s still all on me to make it happen. I’m looking forward to the day I find management to handle the business and booking side of things. 

Making it

Every artist who makes the move to Nashville has an idea of “making it”. I've realized that making it looks different for everyone, and we all will have a different path. They call it a 10 year town. Some people give it 5. Some give up. I'm in it for life.  I've gotten the “when are you moving back home” question. We’re not. Franklin is home and we love our life. Record deal or not, publishing deal or not, I will be writing songs and playing music, because it's what I love. They say music is the language of the soul, and I truly believe that. 

Jared’s process

But enough about me, on to the nuts and bolts of songwriting. Songs have come to me in many different ways, and that's the best way I can describe it. They come to you. It's like catching lightning in a bottle, at least the good ones. Most often I will have a lyric or idea come into my head when I'm not writing and I will jot it down on my phone. Sometimes a melody will be there too, and I make a point to record audio in that instant because those are the hardest to remember. Once they're gone, they're gone. Many of my songs have come to me while i've been working or driving around. Funny how that works. 

Once I have an idea, melody, or lyric (sometimes just one, sometimes all three), I'll sit down with my guitar and see what key and chords make sense and feel good. There's really no algorithm to it for me. Minor chords do tend to work better with melancholy subject matter. When I find a chord progression I like, I will play it over and over along with whatever lyrics and melody I have, and keep going till the right words and phrases fall out. Sometimes it takes an hour. Sometimes it takes years. That's not hyperbole, either.

What will be my first single, a song called Hell, Highwater or Whiskey (hopefully out this spring), came about from lyrics I had written seven years before. I felt the need to write one evening and locked myself in the bathroom. Found the old lyrics on my phone, basically the first verse, started strumming, and it just fell out. 

Once a song is completed and if I like it enough, I will add it to my live set. Does it carry its weight solo acoustic in front of an audience? I think that is the true test of a song. It's a hard thing to describe, but that exchange of energy is important. It gives the song life. It's being witnessed. This also makes it easier for me when it comes to recording the song in the studio, which is where the real fun begins. By playing live and living with the song for a bit I gain a better feel of where I would like to take it with full production. 

That's it. My creative process. I really love music, and I think just listening to and being a student of the greats across genres has helped immensely. I think there's something to that osmosis that occurs when you listen. Music itself can be formulaic and math driven, but songwriting is all soul.

Learn more

You can follow Jared and his journey on Instagram. His first single “Hell, Highwater, or Whiskey”, is almost finished. He tells me it will be ready to go next month. I know I will be on the look out!

Jared has shown you and I that making it in the music industry isn’t always linear and it definitely isn’t always easy. Here’s some help: Jon Anderson has chose his nine best books on writing and marketing songs.