What’s up friends!
I can’t believe this year is almost halfway done. I’ve been telling myself (almost every day) that I’m going to sit down and write a blog post, but the weeks keep passing and I keep finding other things to do. But I’ve learned that if an idea keeps coming back no matter how much you procrastinate, it’s an idea worth pursuing. So here I am, sitting at my favorite coffee shop in Fort Worth (Avoca), with a 45 minute timer set to keep me focused on finishing an blog post update for you. So thanks for being here and reading this.
Where to start?
The Job Situation: A Major Change
If you’ve been following along for a few years, you know that I’ve been working two career paths since around 2010: Music and Podcasting.
On the music side, that meant playing drums with bands, but also learning how to do marketing, website & graphic design, audio recording & post-production, photography, video production, and a lot more. If it has anything to do with building a sustainable career as a musician / band, I’ve probably either done it, or studied it, or it’s on my list of things to learn.
On the podcast side, I realized pretty early on that all the skills I was learning for the music career path were useful to podcasters. I’ve always thought there were a ton of similarities between starting a band and starting a podcast, and doing either one professionally (building an audience and earning money).
Once I figured out that the internet made it possible to work with people anywhere in the world, I started offering my skills to podcasters and earned money to support myself and my career in music.
I could write endlessly about that period of time in my life (2012 through 2018), but to make a long story shorter, after working with podcasters for about 5 years, I realized that I wanted to transition to working with tech startups that were building software for podcasters instead.
In 2020, I joined a startup called Chartable that was acquired by Spotify in 2022. As a musician, this was a cool development, and the pay and benefits were nice, but eventually Spotify started rolling Chartable’s features into their software, original employees started leaving or joining different teams in the company, and I saw the writing on the wall: Chartable would not be around much longer.
This was fine with me, as I was still playing drums and working on Kolton Moore & the Clever Few, and I was feeling more and more that I wanted to spend more time working on my music career. So I started saving as much as I could, while continuing to invest in audio and video gear that I knew would come in handy once I transitioned from a comfortable tech job to working full time on the band.
Leaving Spotify
The email I’d been anticipating finally came in late January 2025: Spotify was eliminating my job and setting me free. Thankfully they provided me with a generous severance package which meant that I was in even less danger of being broke, something I’ll always be grateful for.
I’ve experienced a roller coaster of emotions since then.
Initially, it was excitement. Finally! Free to work on band stuff! Enough time to work on my own projects and do all the things I’d been putting off!
Then as the initially shock wore off, stress and anxiety set in. How was I going to replace the income I was making at Spotify? Can I even start a new full time job if I know I need to take weeks off to record an album or go on tours?
There were several weeks in the spring where I had trouble sleeping. I’d wake up in the middle of the night, thinking about the money I wasn’t making, and stressing about the future.
Eventually, the stress faded significantly as I reduced my expenses, made a budget, and figured out how much money I needed to earn every month to break even, and how long I could pay bills with my current savings.
Feels So Good, Feeling Good Again
About a month ago, I started feeling good/optimistic again. Now, I’ve always been an optimistic person, but sometimes it’s hard to feel that way when life is beating you down with multiple challenging situations, or when you have far too many goals/projects/responsibilities and not enough time to rest & reflect.
What really made the difference between feeling stressed and feeling blessed was rest, autonomy, and clarity. I mean good old fashioned “getting 8 hours of good sleep every night”, but also “I’m finally caught up with the majority of important life projects”.
Without a full time 9-5 Monday through Friday job, I had enough time and energy to catch up on all the projects I’d been putting off. Instead of feeling buried by things to do, I was able to reflect on what I wanted to do next, and I got clarity on what was important and significant to me.
I have so much to be grateful for. The band, the upcoming shows, the financial support that Spotify provided and the savings to be able to take time off to rest & recharge, the freedom & time to work on all the projects I’d had on the back-burner for so long, and the opportunity to take on new responsibilities and projects.
Working hard, and working smart. And sometimes, even resting. Feels good.
Now that I’ve got all that written down and out of the way, let’s talk about what I’ve been up to this year, and what’s coming up next.
Life Lately, and What’s Next
Highlights of this year so far include:
Recording a new album with producer Matt Ross-Spang at Southern Grooves in Memphis, Tennessee
I published a post about this previously which you can see/read here. We recorded a new full-length album in late February that will be out this summer (singles coming soon). Lots of behind-the-scenes work here, and I’m looking forward to getting it out to all the fans.
March Tour with Kolton Moore & the Clever Few
In late March, we headed up west through the mountains to play shows in Denver, Salt Lake City, Boise, Portland, Spokane, Seattle, and Jackson Hole. I need to write in more detail about it, but here’s some cool pictures from our photographer Brian Andrews:
Up Next
I’ve been spending a good chunk of my time getting my house ready for a new roommate to move in at the end of the month, but once July hits, it’s gonna be shows and video production until mid November! Looking forward to sharing more updates with y’all.
Thanks again for reading, will check back soon.
Aaron Dowd
Fort Worth, Texas
June 14, 2025
