Dr. Dre's Countryman: Curt Chambers on Sideman to Artist (Episode 74)

Everything you do is an audition.

Curt Chambers is a guitar slinger, songwriter and producer who has worked with Dr. Dre and Eminem. Now he is blurring genre lines as a country artist in his own right.

In Episode 74 of The Career Musician, recorded at Nomad's place, Curt talks about growing up on church and club gigs in Philadelphia, how staying a student keeps you valuable in the room, and what it takes to go from sideman to artist. It is a shorter episode, packed with music career advice. Here is what stood out.

Church and the clubs were the school

Curt's musical life started in church in Philly. There were no keyboards, so the guitar players carried the services, playing a lot of chords. In high school he got into jazz and picked up piano, drums and bass. Then he built himself a weekly schedule of clubs, sitting with the bands before he was old enough to be in the bars. His dad thought he was out drinking. He was just consuming music.

Philly taught him the thing that matters on any gig: how to sound good as a band. Not just soloing and playing a lot of notes, but knowing where the voices sit and staying out of the bass player's register. Curt came up around The Roots and started gigging with his friend Adam Blackstone in their first year of college. At 18 he was touring overseas in a trio with no keyboard player, opening for The Roots, and he had to make the whole thing sound full.

Nomad's take: being the only chordal instrument on stage, with the spotlight on you, is better than any lesson.

Say yes to the opportunity in person

Curt was working with Eminem and going back and forth to LA when Dre reached out a few times while he was not in town. He learned that lesson fast. He moved to LA to make sure he could take the opportunity, and he says he has been working with Dre since around 2012.

The studio, he admits, is where he can get nervous. The stage doesn't bother him, but in the studio you can overthink tones and feel. Over time you learn to trust your gut, execute and find your place.

Nomad pointed out how high that exposure was from the start. But getting the opportunity is one thing. Getting invited back is another.

Get used to being uncomfortable

So how does Curt keep getting invited back? He pushes himself never to get comfortable with the old things he knows how to do. Adam jokes that he is always changing his rig.

"I want to get used to being uncomfortable."

Curt Chambers, 15:22

His reasoning: technology and the world keep changing, and you can wake up one day and find you missed it. So he learned new gear when it came out, learned to program his guitars, amps and pedalboards, and learned about DAWs and compressors too. When someone in the room asks "what do we do about this," he wants to be the one with a useful answer, and be humble about it.

"Being a student of music, and just learning as much as you can and consuming as much as you can, is going to make you a valuable asset in the room with anybody."

Curt Chambers, 16:23

That is Savvy from the ETHOS code, paired with Humility.

From sideman to artist

Curt has written in R&B pockets, from his years around The Roots and the neo soul scene, and in rock and singer songwriter styles. His country turn is actually a return. The church he spent his first 19 years in sounded like soulful bluegrass and Americana. He is closing the loop, and he says he would be doing country even if nobody else was.

Nomad used Curt as an example of one of the big TCM decisions: sideman or artist. Some players know at 15 they are artists and back up others along the way. Some want to be the sideman for life, and there is a fine art to doing that well. Some never want to play for anyone else. There is no right or wrong. Figure out where you fall, and know it may take time to become clear.

Be humble, be a badass, find your clique

Curt's golden rules for the next generation start with balance: be as humble as you can, and be as much of a badass as you can when it is time to be one. People will tell you something is not good enough. Maybe they have their own motives, maybe they just don't know. Keep coming back, keep sharpening your skill.

His second rule is the one that helped him and Adam: find your clique. There is strength in numbers. Walk in alone saying your thing is great, and people shrug. Walk in with a crew that is clearly having a good time and killing it, and perception changes. Everyone gets told no. Perseverance and the discipline to stay consistent are what get you your chance. Work begets work.

He keeps the idea on his merch, too: "One in the Chamber." For Curt it means always have a dream, a goal and a plan in the chamber.

The takeaway

Learn to sound good as a band. Show up when the opportunity calls. Stay a student so you stay valuable. Decide, over time, whether you are the sideman or the artist, and find the people who will make noise with you. If you want a plan for getting there, start with the free plan of attack (POA) worksheet and the Get the Gig guide.

Get the gig. Keep the gig. Build the career.

Watch on YouTube or find every episode on the TCM Podcast page.