197 – Kevin Leon: Touring with St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Creative Pursuit vs. “Work,” Groove is Groove is Groove

Kevin Leon has been on the Atlanta scene for nearly a decade and recently landed the touring gig with St. Paul & The Broken Bones. Kevin grew up in Birmingham, AL. He studied music at The University of Alabama at Birmingham and got a fast start playing all kinds of gigs on the Birmingham scene. After school, he moved to New York for a year and returned to Birmingham when it became clear he didn’t have the inclination (or the money) to live there long term. He then landed a gig with country artist Niko Moon, which brought him to Atlanta, where he has been active ever since with singer/songwriters, jazz artists, and corporate bands. He is also part owner of Music Lessons Decatur, a local teaching network.

In this podcast, Kevin talks about:

The somewhat emergency process by which he joined St. Paul

His relationships with Chris Fryar and Harry Miree

Exploring his non-musical outlet, fishing, on the road

Gearing up to be the primary breadwinner when his girlfriend went to grad school

Filling your schedule with “work” vs. keeping it open for creative projects

Lessons learned when the gig that brought him to Atlanta ended abruptly

The experience that made him realize making 2 & 4 feel good required as deep a dive as jazz

A snapshot of his hometown, Birmingham

Publishing videos (and an eventual album) of his original compositions, and his thoughts on managing his output

Kevin Leon endorses Vic Firth sticks