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 when I can. My bedroom, yard sales, grandma and grandpa's house, my backyard, at the ranch, real gigs at local events, etc. Anywhere there's a stage, I'll come play for you.
How many years have you been performing?
I’ve been performing since August 2019. So, almost 7 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, ukulele, and harmonica. 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 he's gettin' old, and his fingers and voice are getting weaker 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 similar.
What genre would you call your music? Have you always been into this genre?
I play almost anything mixed with country music. Outlaw country, old western country, cowboy country, country pop, and country rock. I've been doing country music officially since 2021. When I started making music, I was more into the acoustic folk pop rock singer/songwriter stuff, and not so much country, but now country is all I do. 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 doing things in country music and in Music City, Nashville, TN.
Describe your music.
So, I started doing a kinda acoustic pop-ish genre, and then did a little bit of acoustic hip hop/rap, and it kinda merged into singer/songwriter, and then I permanently switched to country, but my kind of country music isn't very labeled in my opinion, since I write in mostly cross-genres with country. I just do my own thing really, where there are so many sub-genres but all labeled as country music.
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. It's even helped me book shows and it's helped me so I can promote my music and shows to my fans.
Do you use social media? How do you promote yourself?
Yes, I do. I promote my music mostly on Instagram and Facebook since those 2 I'm able to share posts and stories simultaneously. I try my best to share the same videos on TikTok and YouTube Shorts, but I don't really use the stories side of TikTok nor the Community Posts on YouTube.
Do you enjoy other art forms?
Yeah, I like watching videos, and every now and then I'll watch a movie.
Who are the musicians we should all be running out to listen to?
Definitely go check out Cole Hartley, Judah Wardrope, Ben Barry, Jackson Hartley, Nate Westbrook, and of course, ME!
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, and playing live definitely pays better than streaming platforms.
What advice can you give to people just starting out?
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 my first few songs special and made an impact some people. It doesn't matter what genre of music you make (or even if you work in multiple genres), you should practice a lot and just be yourself. Your music is yours. Nobody else’s.
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. I get so busy with other things that I sometimes don’t get to practice at all. I tend to spend an hour on stage performing for an audience, but I'm sure with time and more practice, I can start playing for 2 or 3 hours.
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?
Collaborating with more songwriters, recording with more artists, playing a lot more shows, and hoping to get noticed by someone who is in at a higher stage in music than I am.
Do you get involved with politics? Should art and politics mix?
I try my best not to. But only if it's something I 100% agree about, then I might post something. Well, there's plenty of music that talks about politics and the problems of the world, and I don't see it very helpful to me because I want to listen to music that is somewhat relatable to me, like a love song, a heartbreak song, a happy song, a sad song, not the world problems. Sometimes music is meant to be an escape from reality, and it doesn't benefit me to listen to music mixed with the news. I'm not a big fan of watching the news anyway, so mixing art and politics is just not my cup of tea.
How does a typical gig go? How long is a set?
It goes great! My set is normally an hour long
What do you wish you had known earlier about the music industry?
It's a very greedy industry that makes you work like a slave, but as long as you keep your boundaries, you can see success. For instance, I don't want to be famous, but the music industry makes you try to chase that.
When is your next recording coming out?
My next recording is planned to come out sometime in the Spring of 2026.
Thanks for reading this, y'all!