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How to Find the Right Performers to Represent Your Showcase

The people who play with you can make or break your act, so how do you choose? Brett and Dustin discuss the qualities you should look for in showcase performers on this episode of The Singing Success Show!

Brett Manning  00:11
We’ve been told that we’re rolling. So here we are rolling. I’m Brett Manning.

Dustin Small  00:17
I’m Dustin Small, and we’ve been quarantined.

Brett Manning  00:21
We’ve been quarantined. Welcome to the Singing Success Live Show Podcast. No, what do we call it? The Singing Success Show Podcast. I’ll probably change it every time. 

00:33
Like Chevy Chase—remember when he did Saturday Night Live and said: “Hi, I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not.” And he goes, “Hi, I’m You’re Not.” “Hi, You’re Not.” And he would change it every time. It was funny. 

00:47
I teach his daughter. That’s cool. What’s up? She’s so sweet. And she looks just like Chevy Chase, but female.

Dustin Small  00:55
I’m sure that’s interesting to behold.

Brett Manning  00:56
It is. And she’s really adorable. She’s got an incredible voice. Do you know that Chevy can sing his brains out?

Dustin Small  01:03
You’re kidding. 

Brett Manning  01:03
Yes. Remember when he was in Fletch? He goes ♪ Old man river… ♪ and he was just joking around. But with this amazing voice. He’s really incredible. He can sing, but he just has that…

Dustin Small  01:19
Gosh, those thespians—they continue to amaze me every time.

Brett Manning  01:23
Thespians. 

Dustin Small  01:25
They’re so talented. 

Brett Manning  01:23
They’re talented thespians. I like that word—thespian. It’s fun to say. It has meaning. 

Dustin Small  01:31
It sounds intellectual. 

Brett Manning  01:33
It sounds intellectual. [laughter]

What are we talking about today, my brother?

Dustin Small  01:37
I think the subject at hand is how to find the right performers to represent your showcase as an artist. Or perhaps you’re managing an artist. Either way, we’re talking to you.

Brett Manning  01:53
What are you going to do? There are basically two types of performers—you would agree—paid and unpaid. We’ve been the unpaid way too many times. 

Dustin Small  02:07
I’ve been all-in-one.

Brett Manning  02:08
Yes. In Nashville, you don’t expect to get paid. And you don’t get paid for the gig unless somebody’s got a record deal or unless they’ve come off tour and they’ve got such a following, they go back home and they can sell $5 or $10 a ticket. But even then, a lot of venues charge you money, as you know.

Dustin Small  02:31
Back when the venues used to be open.

Brett Manning  02:33
[laughter] It’s funny that we’re doing this at a haunting time. This is the weirdest time in history, isn’t it? 

Dustin Small  02:42
I can’t recall anything weirder. 

Brett Manning  02:43
There’s never been a time in history when the entire world was quarantined, except for Sweden. They came out of it pretty smoothly. They kept their distance. They didn’t go out if they were coughing. They developed herd immunity and then the curve went up a little bit and then flattened out. And they’re all okay. 

Dustin Small  03:02
They do some good things from time to time—those Swedes. 

Brett Manning  03:05
[laughter] Those Swedes. They also make… What was it that they make? I was going to say great cheese and watches. That’s Switzerland. [laughter] Sorry. We just sound so politically incorrect.

Dustin Small  03:18
Ignorant Americans. I aplogize. 

Brett Manning  03:20
Yes. We only speak one language and you speak nine—all of you. So, respect. 

So you got unpaid and paid. 

Dustin Small  03:29
Yes, unfortunately, that is part of it. But in an age where we’re constantly bombarded with tons of content and more competition from players, more often than not, we’re asked to gamble with our time as side musicians. You hope you have enough experience behind you to make better-educated decisions with that stuff, but occasionally it does come back to haunt you negatively. But a lot of times, when you’re putting showcases together, there is a budget accounted for for having the right players there. And that will attract the right people to that situation instead of a lot of others to potentially have to sort through and waste time.

Brett Manning  04:25
And if you’re in Nashville and you have friends who say, “Man, look, I’ll all just play; I want to invest my time in you and try to do that,” remember, you can still pay them this small amount, and they’ll be grateful. You know because you’re speaking from experience with me. You can pay them this small amount. You go to eat before, and you pay for everything. You bring out a couple of pitchers of beer, then you guys go practice. If you don’t drink, disregard all this. 

Dustin Small  04:55
Sodie Pop is great too. 

Brett Manning  04:56
Sodie Pop is great too. Yes, little spritzers or whatever. What are they called? Have you ever had those spritzers? 

Dustin Small  05:07
You’re not referring to the White Claw craze that’s going on right now?

Brett Manning  05:09
Oh yes. I don’t even know what a White Claw is. It looks like a white tiger.

Dustin Small  05:15
You basically lose weight when you drink this stuff. It’s a combination of alcohol, sparkling water, and fruit flavors. You’ve got all the bases covered there.

Brett Manning  05:25
[laughter] The three basic food groups: Water, alcohol, and fruit. 

Dustin Small  05:29
Bubbles to fill up your gut. 

Brett Manning  05:33
Bubbly, bubbly. 

Dustin Small  05:36
It’s not recommended for live shows, by the way, if you’re a vocalist. But it’s great otherwise.

Brett Manning  05:40
Yes. It is funny because a lot of singers think they sing much better with a little bit of alcohol. They say, “No, you just don’t feel it and you don’t hear it.” And we hear it, and we are feeling it because you are off-key, bro.

Dustin Small  05:56
It’s usually a flat situation. 

Brett Manning  05:57
Yes. Caffeine makes you sing sharply.

The same thing with cocaine. Yes, I just said it: Cocaine.

Dustin Small  06:06
Ron Burgundy—we’ve got him on speed dial. He just loves to share too much information about himself. We apologize, folks.

Brett Manning  06:12
[laughter] Yes. That’s a reality of the industry. I’m saying that not to be shocking, but some of you are going to be out there and they’ll say: “Hey, your voice is just really dragging today. Just take one little line. Just snort it like medicine. It’s just like aspirin, only that it gives you a little more energy.” And I’ve seen people sing really well right after a coke, and the next day their voice sounded like crap.

Dustin Small  06:37
And then they’re “living in a van down by the river.”

Brett Manning  06:41
[laughter] “You’re living in a van.” “You don’t know jack squat.” Some of you have no idea what we’re talking about.

Dustin Small  06:48
You can’t play showcases out of a van. I’ve tried.

Brett Manning  06:51
You can’t. 

Dustin Small  06:52
Don’t do it. 

Brett Manning  06:55
On a serious note regarding this substance abuse, you have had players who were really, really gifted but had a lot of personal problems. That’s called non-dependability. You’re not dependable. You’re not responsible. And you’re not available. 

07:15
We’ll take a person’s availability over their ability; their responsibility and dependability above their ability. You need to make sure that the person who’s there has a level of character that you can depend on. Because sometimes, when a person is so good, they become… I’m not sure if you’ve ever heard this word; a student taught it to me. I was like: “New word! I love it.”

Brett Manning  07:49
Nerd alert. 

Brett Manning  07:50
Nerd alert. Yes. I love words. I probably use them too much. The word dilettante. It’s a cool word. It basically means: You’re so gifted, you don’t practice. I knew this guy who goes: “Practice? What do you need a singing lesson for?” And he was screaming his head off. “Man, my throat hurts.” And I went, “That’s what you need a singing lesson for.” 

08:15
I’m not sure if I told this story to you all before. I will probably double-dip in my own stories. But maybe you heard a previous podcast, or maybe not. But the guy’s doing a gig with me and he’s like, “Oh, you’re Brett Manning.” I said, “Yes, that’s what it says on my library card.” And he said: “Yeah, man. I respect what you do. I don’t really do the whole voice lesson thing.” And I said, “I know.” [laughter] And it wasn’t a compliment. It was a slight smiling jab because this guy sang really, really, really hard all the time. And he kept going, [clears throat] “There’s something wrong with my throat.” I said, “Yes. You don’t warm up.” “Well, why would you warm up?” I don’t know. Typically, when professional athletes get on the field, they have this deep ritual of warming up. You know that. You can’t just grab sticks and start doing that. Your arms will cramp up.

Dustin Small  09:06
No. In a big show-type environment like that, it’s physically impossible to go from a dressing room to playing in front of 20,000 people without your body locking up within minutes.

Brett Manning  09:20
And that’s why you always see these movies and shows where some person is back in the thing. He’s got the drums. He’s just relaxing. And you see the guy and his guitar is not plugged in. He’s running scales. You get the looseness out of your hands. 

09:32
It’s funny because I’ve been working on this piece for a gazillion years. [plays melody on piano]. When I’d try to play this here for people, I’d always lock up. That little piece was so hard for me to learn that I had to start grabbing two or three people at a time to watch me. I would get nervous on purpose so that I can now play this and don’t feel a sense of fear. It took me eight months to learn this piece. It’s finally learned all the way to the end. It’s brutal. 

10:21
And I’ve been working on some entire measures for a month. A measure for a month. A little bit every day. Just 20 to 30 minutes. And 20 to 30 minutes going: [plays melody on piano]. 

10:48
You see? I’m screwing it up because I haven’t warmed up. So even to play that, I have to play that song before I play it well. I will play certain measures a couple of dozen times, and then I can play them perfectly. So you want a person who’s not a dilettante who says, “Yes, I just show up and I just play.”

Dustin Small  11:07
Yes. That’s a lot of discipline to throw on just one piece of music.

Brett Manning  11:13
Yes. But we’ve been to rehearsals where somebody just showed up and said, “Yeah, I didn’t really learn it,” and they’re just going to wing it. Dude, you’re wasting all of our time, man. You’re not that guy. He’s always got everything learned. He’s got beats and he’s got things in his ears and all this stuff. He knows what’s going on. But we’ve shown up to gigs where there’s another musician there who’s like, “I didn’t really sleep last night.” It’s like, “Well, I don’t care.” 

Dustin Small  11:39
Sure. It’s a lot to put on an artist. 

Brett Manning  11:44
Yes. Pick somebody who is reputable. You may not have the finances to afford that person. If you’re good enough—

Dustin Small  11:55
They will come to you. 

Brett Manning  11:57
Yes. They will come to you. And if you’re good enough, they’ll work on spec. You got some paid gigs and some free gigs. But you did it. None of you were getting paid. And we all had skin in the game.

Dustin Small  12:12
Right. There’s something to be said about that too—finding the right balance—particularly showcases, because it’s hard to retain people in that type of environment. It’s typically a one-and-done type of situation if they don’t go on to continue to be that artist’s live band, hopefully under a major label contract at that point. That being said, having skin in the game is going to make that showcase much more effective in that environment with those industry types, because everybody is just leaving it all out on the stage together. That’s a big thing. Luckily, I’ve been a part of situations like that. And everybody in the room can feel it, including the people you’re trying to impress.

Brett Manning  12:59
You hear that? 

Dustin Small  13:01
True story. Write that down. 

Brett Manning  13:02
True story. Write that down. If you’re going to take actual notes on a podcast, which a lot of people just listen and kind of absorb it… I’m a big note-taker. The first one about character is really, really important. Someone you know and can trust. Sometimes it’s a little diligence work. 

13:23
And here’s a way to do it. If somebody watches this podcast and then you say this question, [they’d be like] “You watched Brett’s podcast, huh? Are you questioning me?” 

“Well, yes, in a friendly way.” 

“Cool, man.” 

“So who have you played for? I’d like to hear some of your work.” And then you call that person and say, “How was it?” And they go: “A nightmare! He’s so gifted, but we showed up to this gig and he started playing the wrong song right at the beginning, in the introduction.” The song is playing and he’s on a whole different key. I call it the “Mary Had a Little Lamb” nightmare version. You’ve never heard this. It’s just beautiful. 

14:10
It’s psychotic. [plays melody on piano] Ouch! That just hurts. I’m not kidding. I played it just goofing off. And my little daughter, who’s 12 years old, goes, “Stop, Dad.” Her eyes welled up with tears. She goes, “It’s scaring me.” [laughing] It scared the crap out of her. 

14:41
That’s a great analogy. That’s what can go horribly wrong. You’re playing a different song, it’s on a different key and everyone’s like, “Who’s screwing up?” And then you finally look at the guy back there, the mess up, who shows up 20 minutes late to rehearsal. 

15:06
The first part of having that character and that responsibility is [when] people show up early. You always showed up early. He’s tuning his drums. Everyone’s there and he’s ready to go. He’s warmed up. Most of the guys we’ve had have been early. Musicians are a peculiar type because we are late more than other people. 

Dustin Small  15:26
Naturally. Yes, we have to overcome that daily.

Brett Manning  15:29
Yes. It’s a struggle and a fight. A lot of times, two to three minutes late, which could be forgiven. But here’s the thing: There’s no such thing as being on time. You can be early or late. You can’t catch time. It’s moving. You don’t have an international clock and you go: “And three, two, one—on time.” Plan on being significantly early. And guess what? The singer should be there before everybody. 

16:04
Guilty. You’ve seen me there early before everybody and you’ve seen me there texting everybody to say, “I’m sorry, I’m late.” There really isn’t an excuse for being late. I think the best excuse would be as a single parent: “My babysitter was late.” That’s a real excuse.

16:26
I’m writing a book about this. It’s called “Why I Am Late”. It basically says—I guess we can cuss on here, [though] we might have to beep this out—you’re late because you’re an a******. 

Dustin Small  16:37
Fair enough. 

Brett Manning  16:38
There are people who are consistently late and they don’t have the concept that other people’s lives are important. They’re like, “You revolve around me.” They don’t realize they’re holding up everybody. It’s a very important part of your character to have good discipline and good habits. You’re not a dilettante. You learn the song. You show up early. 

What’s another character trait that you would add to that?

Dustin Small  17:08
It ties into the discipline, but I would say skill is a huge part of it. You have to physically be able to show up and do the job and have the talent level to accomplish the mission, but that’s clearly not everything. We already touched on that. But I think where skill piggybacks on, if we’re talking about one particular subject matter, would probably be your particular personality on your instrument. So maybe that’s the third point. Character, skill, and then your personality—what you bring to the table.

17:49
We do live in a very competitive industry and town. You can’t throw a rock in any direction without hitting somebody who’s probably better than you. What do you bring to the table that’s individual? What’s your personality? What do you have to say that goes along with what your artist is trying to throw out?

Brett Manning  18:10
This is what we were talking about before. I said, “When we get on camera, I’m going to talk about this with you.” When you auditioned for the Essex [County] Brothers… They’ve got half a million streams already and they beat out some pretty heavy artists. Dustin has been playing with them—for how long? Since they used to be called the Bass Brothers.

Dustin Small  18:29
Just over four years now. Speaking of four, they have a number four video on the CMT countdown right now too. The single is calledSo Good.”

Brett Manning  18:38
“So Good” by the Essex [County] Brothers. Go check it out. 

Dustin Small  18:40
Essex County. 

Brett Manning  18:41
Essex County, sorry. 

Dustin Small  18:43
They were the Bass Brothers. They always will be, I suppose, if you’ve been friends with them for a while. Apparently, a couple of brothers in LA are producers and they have a company named the Bass Brothers. So legally, they couldn’t use it and they changed it to Essex County because that’s where they are from in England, just outside of London.

Brett Manning  19:07
It’s pretty cool. You’ll love them. What a great sound. But to get that, like I said earlier before we got on camera, were there better drummers auditioning for it than you?

Dustin Small  19:16
Absolutely. Better is obviously relative and subjective.

Brett Manning  19:21
Technically, were there people there who could pull off things that you just couldn’t do? 

Dustin Small  19:26
Yes, absolutely. 

Brett Manning  19:28
But what could you pull off that they couldn’t do? Vibe.

Dustin Small  19:32
Potentially. You’d have to ask the ones who made the decision. I’d like to think that had something to do with it.

Brett Manning  19:38
Yes, vibe. 

Here’s an interesting experience for you. There’s a girl; I think her name is Valentina. She’s a classical pianist. She’s a really fiery girl. She’s always wearing dresses and is really classy. She’s got a channel and is a really fiery player. She plays consolation. She plays it well. But then go listen to Vladimir Horowitz, the Russian player. And he’s so old that you’re like, “How are you touching these things without breaking in half, man?” And the swag he plays! That’s what I was playing a minute ago. And I don’t play with the other players—the young players. They don’t have that seasoned feel. Can you find a great young player? Of course. Typically, the older players that have been at it for a while have a smoothness to them. 

20:27
When I first started playing this song, it felt choppy and rigid. Now I feel like it flows out of me. The song should bleed out of you. It should be in your veins. If it’s in your mind instead of in your veins, it’s rigid.

Dustin Small  20:44
This doesn’t have to necessarily correlate with complicated music. The more experience you get—personally as a player, but as well as playing live—the more time goes by, and the older you get, the more you approach music in an “I’m just jumping into the river” type scenario as opposed to doing math homework and trying to impress others around you.

21:14
The goal is to sit down if you’re a drummer or whoever sits down and plays their instrument, [such as] the piano player, or step up to the stage, step up to the mic, grab the guitar and it just happens. 

Brett Manning  21:28
So you’re talking about magic, really? 

Dustin Small  21:31
Yes. In a sense, it is.

Brett Manning  21:34
It’s a cheap word. It’s cheap to say, “Be magical.” One of my ad copywriters always rightfully says: “Don’t say it’s going to be a magical thing. Everybody says that.” “But it will be a mag”— “Come up with a better word.” But right now, I can’t think of anything else. It’s like, “We got together; it was magic.” We started playing, and it went well. And then sometimes you could throw a better player in there and it could wreck the whole thing.

Dustin Small  21:57
Yes. You can’t just rely on chemistry, though. I feel like that’s a cheap excuse sometimes. Like, “Well, if I don’t vibe with them.” You still have to pursue getting better in some way, shape, or form every time you show up to do your thing, because otherwise, what’s the point? It just seems like you’re just showing up to gratify yourself and get it out of your system and hopefully it doesn’t rub with anyone else in the room. And then you go home and rinse and repeat. Yes, a lot of people have built careers on that, both in this town and elsewhere. But I’m pushing for more in the coming years.

Brett Manning  22:35
What’s one of the greatest and most disciplined bands of all time? Early, just going through all times. You’d be surprised.

Dustin Small  22:44
The first one that jumps out, because there are obviously so many, would be Journey.

Brett Manning  22:49
Journey—very good. A disciplined band. You know what I think is the most polished band going into what they were to begin with? I mean, this is subjective. There’s no right or wrong answer, but I’ll give the backstory. It’s the Beatles.

Dustin Small  23:05
Oh, yes. I figured you were going to mention them, so I had to jump forward. 

Brett Manning  23:10
George Harrison—they asked him, “How long did it take to record your first album?” Have you ever heard of this? 

Dustin Small  23:20
Probably not. He goes: “The first record took us a whole day and a half. And the second record took us even longer.” Because they played together for so long. But here’s a band that had amazing chemistry. People went nuts over them. Have you seen the movie Yesterday?

Dustin Small  23:42
I didn’t, unfortunately. I’m far behind on this stuff because I have two kids that are 14 months apart and one is two and one is about to be one. I don’t get any documentary or film time for Daddy’s side. But I’m not complaining. I love the kiddos.

Brett Manning  23:59
This is a great example of how you don’t realize how magical and—again, “magical”—how much chemistry that band had until this guy is trying to piece the band together in his head. He’s like, “Okay, the Beatles never existed.” His love interest says: “You could believe in miracles. It could put you back into music.” He says: “I’ll need a miracle to be able to do music. I quit. I’m going to go be a school teacher. I’m going to just do that.” Then the lights around the world shut off—all around the entire globe—and boom, he gets hit by a bus and flies off of his bike. He wakes up in the hospital. And when he wakes up, nobody’s ever heard the Beatles. 

24:45
I’ve seen it twice with one of my friends, Graciela, who writes with me, and we were watching a couple of other people too. And watching this scene—I’m choking up over it right now—literally, I didn’t just cry; I sobbed.

25:03
There’s a scene where this guy is finding this music. Nobody’s ever heard the Beatles in this. First of all, he’s playing “Yesterday,” and this girl is like: “That’s a great song.” “A great song? It’s legendary! It’s the Beatles.” And he goes: “The Beatles—who are the Beatles? I’ve never heard of the Beatles. Is this one of your obscure bands, like Monophonics, and all these hipster bands?” 

Dustin Small  25:23
What a concept!

Brett Manning  25:23
Yes. And they’re like, “No, it’s a real band.” He goes, “Never heard of it.” He goes: “Are you mental? None of you have heard of the Beatles?” But he’s playing “Yesterday”. He goes, “This is one of the greatest songs ever written.” And they think it’s his song. And he goes, “It’s not that good.” And he goes, “It’s not as good as Ed Sheeran.” 

25:41
And later on, Ed Sheeran shows up at his doorstep and says: “Yes, I’m Ed.” And he goes, “Yes, I know.” You get a goosebump feel for that meeting. That just starts the adrenaline. He invites him in. And he goes: “I like your music. I’d like you to come and play with me.” But he’s playing Beatles music. But he can’t explain it to anybody because nobody knows. And by the way, Coke doesn’t exist. He’s like, “What’s a Coke?” He goes: “A soda. Or you want a Pepsi?” “You don’t have Coke?” “What’s a Coke?” Nobody’s heard that. He Googles it and finds out it doesn’t exist. In his new parallel universe, he woke up and they never existed.

Dustin Small  26:18
Now I definitely have to check this out.

Brett Manning  26:21
Oh, it’s a really good feeling movie. You feel good. And then Ed Sheeran, right after their first concert… Gosh, I’m seriously getting choked up because, as a songwriter, I think I’ve written a few of these recently that I’m going, “Have I done that?” And that’s what you want—to have that sensation with “Oxygen”, the one that hasn’t been released that my producer over here, Dallan, engineered, mixed, and added some instrumentation to. That’s one of those songs where I feel like, “Oh, I’ve done something really good here.”

Dustin Small  26:57
I’d have to agree.

Brett Manning  26:59
I appreciate it. Ed Sheeran says, “Let’s have a little fun. A little songwriting contest.” He goes, “What do we win?” “Nothing just that you win.” He goes: “I’ll go to another room for 15 minutes. You go to another room for 15 minutes. It can’t be a song you’ve ever done before. You write a song; you come back in here.” And Ed Sheeran is just magical. He writes this song. It’s almost a rap vocal lyric. And he sings a really nice high note and he’s like, “Phew!” And you’re like, “That guy is magic!” I mean, he is. And this guy comes back. I hope I remember it. [plays melody on piano] He starts with that—♪ …long and winding road that leads to your door… ♪. And I’m sitting there sobbing. You can see the emotion. It’s so authentic and real right now. I have to choke back. I saw it twice. And you see Ed—the best look in the whole movie. And you can see it’s authentic. I wonder if Ed knew what was going to be played at that moment. Because Ed’s just sitting there, like… 

Dustin Small  28:24
I wouldn’t doubt it. They probably wanted to surprise him and get a genuine reaction. I really have to go watch this to see if I can form a better opinion.

Brett Manning  28:32
And Ed does a beautiful job of [recreating], “This is what it would feel like to hear that song for the first time.” We’re so used to it. You get used to great music. You don’t realize it’s like movies where you see this actor; you don’t realize what a good actor he is because he’s not acting. He is that person. Later on, “Did you notice what a good natural actor he was?” There are people who are natural actors who don’t seem like they’re trying. He plays that. And Ed Sheeran—it doesn’t look like he’s acting—is looking at him and he goes… After this, I literally got out of the room. I was like: “Please God, I want to write a song like this.” He said, “I always said there was going to be a better songwriter than me.” Now I’ve seen him. He goes, “You’re better than me.” Imagine that—the emotion of “These are my songs?” 

29:30
And that was the part of me where I felt like I want to write a song where somebody says, “Did you really write this?” You and I wrote a song like that. You haven’t heard it. Listen to the man. And already, when my pastor heard that, he said: “My wife and I”—I’m not kidding, [it was] Mark Mann—”I fell off the couch onto the carpet and we were sobbing when I heard that.” He said, “Just hear that”—that first great chord that you hear. That Fmaj7 with an open thing and a little, nice, beautiful hammer on.

Dustin Small  30:08
You like my open chords on acoustic. 

Brett Manning  30:11
Oh, he’s so good at open chords. And it’s so vibey—that word is worn out but still effective. It was a super incredible moment for him. I’m like, “Wow, I did that to somebody.” We did that to somebody. You played on that and co-wrote it with me. I think we may have told the story earlier. We were in session with somebody else. And it was cool. It was fun. But we were thinking of a totally different direction: American Idol first runner-up. And he’s a great singer. I can’t sing like this dude. But there was a chemistry, we talked about that chemistry, especially in writing. Chemistry is really important. You can’t write with people you don’t have chemistry with; you can’t play and perform. You can’t use it as an excuse. But what you can do is continue to seek out those types of moments so that you can produce music that would make Ed Sheeran go: [has expression of surprise]. 

31:06
Man, when you see that, you’re going to text me: “I freaking hate you, Brett.” This is an amazing moment. I think we’re done. Do you think that’s enough content?

Dustin Small  31:15
Yes. Wrapping it up, our character was the first thing to focus on. Putting people around you to help boost you up musically. Skill. And our personality—what do we bring to the table? 

Brett Manning  31:31
Yes. 

Dustin Small  31:15
It’s a good way to end it.

Brett Manning  31:35
See you next time!

About Brett Manning: Brett Manning is one of the most sought out vocal coaches in Nashville and the world. Due to his heavy client list and demand to teach lectures and masterclasses worldwide, Brett saw the need to pass along his method to the hand-selected coaches listed below.

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While Brett’s availability is limited, he is always taking on new clients when his schedule permits. His high demand is due to the fact that he can “see with his ears” into the vocal cords. Essentially accessing parts of the voice that singers never even knew they had! Brett’s client list includes countless Grammy, DOVE, ACM, GMA, and CMA award winners. Many of his artists have also gone on to be top finalists on American Idol, The Voice, The X-Factor, Can You Duet (Brett was a Coach and Judge), America’s Got Talent and countless international televised singing competitions.

To book a lesson with Brett, call 615-866-1099 or email support@singingsuccess.com!

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