INTRODUCTORY INTERVIEW
OK, let’s start off at the beginning.
Artist Name?
Reuben Whetten
Where are you based and what area do you play in?
Colonia Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. I play wherever I can. Yard sales, grandma and grandpa's house, my backyard, at the ranch. Anywhere there's a guitar, I'll come play for you.
How many years have you been performing?
I’ve been performing since August 2019. So, almost 3 years.
How old were you when you started playing?
I was 14 years old when I started playing.
What instruments do you play? What influenced your choices?
I play the bass guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and ukulele. I know very little about the piano. I’m learning to play the banjo and dobro. Mostly my grandpa influenced me to play the guitar and sing because I saw him do it all the time as a little kid (not lately 'cause y'all know he's gettin' old, and those fingers must be gettin' weak from working and playing all these years).
What instruments do you wish you played?
I wish I played the pedal steel guitar, and the lap steel guitar, which are pretty much the same thing.
What genre would you call your music? Have you always been into this genre?
I’d call it “country w/ a twist of pop, but it ain’t pop, it’s mostly country” if that’s how you’d put it. I've been doing this for a little over a year now. Oh, just listening to country music on the radio has influenced me a lot, and quite a few times I'll hear an interview come up with Josh Turner, Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, or anyone else talk about how they got started to doing things in country music and in Music City, Nashville, TN.
Describe your music.
So, I started doing a kinda pop-ish genre, and then did a little bit of hip hop/rap, and it kinda merged into singer/songwriter, and then I permanently switched to country, but my kind of country music is more country singer/songwriter coz I still have old influences of doing singer/songwriter. Eventually, as I start writing more country songs, it’ll change into that kind of neo-traditional country like George Strait, modern country like Morgan Wallen, and Texan country like Cody Johnson, but I think my sound is starting to click.
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Do you think the internet has helped musicians or hindered them?
Oh, heck yeah! Dang, it’s so useful to me. I am so thankful it exists because I probably would be an absolute nobody in music if it weren’t for the internet.
Do you use social media? How do you promote yourself?
Well, if you consider WhatsApp and YouTube social media, yeah, I guess so. I also use TikTok every once in a while to promote my music. I'll post a picture or something on my WhatsApp status, on the Community Posts or a YouTube Short on my YouTube channel, or a little video for TikTok and hit that send/post/upload button. It’s pretty much the only way I promote my music.
Do you enjoy other art forms?
Yeah, I like watching videos, sometimes movies, and every once in a while my best friend will send me a picture of something he’s drawn. I give him feedback, but not a lot, 'cause I can't judge someone for doing something that I don't even know how to do.
Who are the musicians we should all be running out to listen to?
Well, there’s tons of good musicians out there that don’t need much listening to coz they’re already big, but one person I would like y’all to go listen to is Collateral Music, who makes some amazing music, and of course, ME!
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Why is live music best?
Because you interact with your fans/audience, you build confidence, you have a great time with everybody, and you learn what you should do the next time you play live.
What advice can you give to people just starting out?
DON’T YOU EVER RELEASE YOUR DEBUT SINGLE AS A VOICE MEMO! RHYME IN YOUR SONGS!! Dang, I was so stupid to do that when I was 14. I should’ve known. Find your genre. Practice it and get good at it. Be yourself. Your music is yours. Nobody else’s.
EDIT: You know what, I’ve noticed that if you wanna release a song as a voice memo, then that’s perfectly fine. People will dig it coz it was recorded live with just your phone and there’s no fancy editing or effects made to the song. I think that made me first few songs special and made an impact on a few people.
How much time do you spend on writing? Practicing? Performing?
It depends. It can take a whole day, a week, a month, maybe about half a year to write a song. I try to practice at least once a day. School and things get so busy, that I sometimes don’t get to practice at all. It’s been a while since I’ve performed. I really miss doing it. I’ve played on stage once, and I wish I could do it more, 'cause I’m gonna totally forget what to do and say, and I’m just gonna embarrass myself in front of the whole audience.
Tell us some amusing stories from your gigs or practices.
So, when I was in Arkansas visiting some friends, I was with my friend playing Sweet Home Alabama, and he was using my phone to read the lyrics and my mom was recording a video, and hahaha my friend.. he dropped my phone in the middle of the video, and it was sooo funny! Luckily, my phone didn't break!
How do you hope to develop musically?
Heading to Nashville, TN, meeting a hit songwriter and learning to write better songs, and prolly get noticed by someone who is in music marketing, managing, or any other music job while I’m performing at a gig or festival somewhere.
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Do you get involved with politics? Should art and politics mix?
I sometimes do. Usually with family. My brother is more involved than me, and he’ll strike up an argument in a less than a millisecond. I don’t think they should mix. I think it’s bad because you can say anything out loud about any world leaders or anything at all and someone will happen to be recording you and get you in trouble, that you’ll be suspended from recording a song, that you’ll possibly go to jail, go to court, or something bad like how Morgan Wallen ended up being suspended from his record label, got dropped from the radio for like a week, all because he said an offensive/bad word during the BLM movement thing in 2020.
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How does a typical gig go? How long is a set?
I don’t really know. It can take maybe half an hour to an hour for a regular gig for me. I really don’t know. Last time I was on stage, I was up there doing my thing for 7 and a half minutes. I played 3 songs and told them a little about them too.
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What do you wish you had known earlier about the music industry?
That it’s harder than you think to get good in the industry.
When is your next recording coming out?
My next recording is planned to come out July 1st, 2022.
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Thanks for reading this, y'all!