Today we’d like to introduce you to Aaron Buehrer.
Aaron, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
In my grandparent’s cabin on a stormy night in Tennessee, a 6-year-old Aaron stumbled across a TV documentary about the Beatles. We were on a family vacation, but were fatefully rained in that night, left to spend our time relaxing in the cabin. I remember witnessing black-and-white footage of the Beatles on their first appearance in the United States;. Ed Sullivan show. I didn’t know who these young men were, and I definitely didn’t know who Ed Sullivan was; all I knew is from that moment on, I was completely captivated by not only what I saw, but what I heard. From that moment on, the Beatles’ music had my heart. For years following, I would ask my dad about virtually any song I heard on our oldie’s radio station:”Dad, is this the Beatles?” Many times it was, and it didn’t take very long to want to play and sing their music.
I began playing drums on an old Indian toy drum and #2 pencils before graduating to my mom’s pots, pans and spatulas in the kitchen. My family always had a piano in the living room, my parents were playing most of their lives. I began playing piano by ear at around 6 years old. It was always easier for me to just hear a song and “figure it out” on the piano instead of reading sheet music, which eventually came after my parents put me in lessons. Singing, percussion and piano came first, then saxophone in grade school, then trumpet and guitar in high school. My very first solo performance singing and playing acoustic guitar came in my sophomore year of high school in our production of “Grease”, where I played a character named Doody. Doody sang the song “Those Magic Changes”, which is the song I taught myself the guitar to learn. After that experience, I was hooked on performing. The high school drum line pushed me to purchase my first drum set at the age of 15. By then, my bedroom looked like a music store; guitars in every corner, a drum set taking up most of the space in the center of the room, a trumpet standing on its bell on my desk. I owe it to my parents for fanning the flame of music they saw in me, which eventually led to my interest in music as not only a college career, but eventually a vocational one.
My family always went to church; there was never a Sunday we weren’t sitting in pews together. Naturally, I became interested in using my passion for music inside the context of our local churches. What’s interesting about music in church today as compared to when I was a kid, is that there was much less room for people who did the type of music I did. Most of the time, the only instruments you could find in the churches were attended were organs and pianos; guitars and drums were once considered unacceptable. Oh, how the times have changed, and oh how fortunate I was to come up in a time when that pendulum shifted into what we have today!
I began to have opportunities to serve in the church musically with the array of instruments that I had spent most of my life with. My guitars, my voice, my drums, and my keyboards were now a coveted resource for the direction worship music was going. So naturally, my love for God and my love for music intersected, and I began leading worship services.
What began as opportunities to volunteer quickly became opportunities to fill a vocational need in the church as the trend continued. At 19 I was already songwriting, traveling and performing original music to small crowds, so leading others in singing on a larger scale (with music that was more well-known and loved than mine) was exciting. The student pastor began asking me to lead worship for the kids on Wednesday nights, and the main church worship pastor caught wind of it. Soon enough, he was asking me to play in “big” church with him. Soon enough, I became his go-to guy to take his place when he was traveling or on vacation. Not much longer after that, a paid internship role was created around my position which had me leading worship on a regular basis at that church. Then, I met the girl who would eventually become my wife.
When I met Rachel, I was traveling & performing, waiting tables, managing the music department of our local bookstore, and interning at my church. After I proposed, I felt the need for a consolidated flow of income that could provide health insurance and future planning for my family. The natural choice was to keep doing what I was doing on a greater scale. In 2013, I applied for a full-time Worship Pastor position at a church in Cypress, Texas. I’ve been leading worship full-time ever since. Rachel and I welcomed our first child into the world on July 30th 2021, and our lives continue to blossom.
A typical week for me involves leading worship in various locations, leading rehearsals, teaching music lessons, pastoral ministry and counseling, and more recently, Ninja Warrior! I’ve always been athletic, breakdancing through my teens and twenties. Ninja warrior was something I never imagined I would be involved in, but here I am, coaching kids and adults during the week to help them achieve their fitness goals.
Since 2010, I’ve recorded and self-produced 4 albums, playing every instrument on every track. I never anticipated how much I would love the producer role, which involves mixing, microphones/monitors/software/gear, and using my ears on a full spectrum. I’ve had the privilege to write, perform, produce, travel, and grow musically alongside some of my heroes who greatly inspired me when I first started, which has been a dream come true. Each and every day, I get excited for the days to come!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
In some ways yes, in others ways not so much. What has been amazing is the advancement of technology that has allowed making and sharing original music easier and more financially attainable than ever before. On the other side of the same coin, this has allowed the music industry to become over-saturated and more competitive than ever before, and that trend continues to accelerate. It takes more and more every day to stand out in a crowd of absolutely incredible artists. To be “good” is to be irrelevant in 2022; even the “greats” have to work harder than ever to sustain a career doing what they love. Every day I wake up in the reality that I have a lot of work to do! Another financial aspect to the current music industry is how everything has changed with royalties. Today, most money is made through publishing (attaining rights to songs) and merchandise at shows (t-shirts, hoodies, stickers, hats, posters, etc.). Record labels don’t pay out like they used to, and CDs don’t sell like they used to. When I first started, I’d make most of my money on my CD’s. In 2022, in a world that is fully streaming, artists make fractions of pennies per stream on Spotify and Apple Music. Artists who create a radio hit that blows up online can still make good money, but it takes millions of streams to do so; so our songs need to be more amazing than ever before!
On a personal level, I have always struggled deeply with fear. At 12 years old, I was sexually violated by a babysitter at home in my own bed. That moment created a message that I would carry with me for the years to come; a deeply complicated message that said whenever someone hurt me, I was at fault. I was bullied through grade school and high school, too afraid to stand up for myself or ever fight back. Instead, I wrote my bullies apology letters to tell them I was sorry for whatever I did to make them hate me so much. That created a confrontational, fearful, timid, anxiety and panic attack ridden child who then turned into an adult with all the same problems. I was terrified of setting boundaries with people. I was terrified of saying “no”. I was a constant worrier, suffering from daily panic attacks unless I was medicated. The medication had side effects that I really didn’t want to live with for the rest of my life. In June of 2022, the healing from that experience finally began after 22 years of repressed memories and images trapped inside my head that I didn’t understand. That 12-year-old boy had been trapped inside, crying out for healing all those years. Through June and July, the healing process took place & transformed me into a completely new man. An organization called “the Crucible Project” led me to spend a weekend with the 12-year-old Aaron that desperately needed healing. After the end of last summer, the husband who was too afraid to cook or bake was now offering to bake things without thinking twice about it. The broken, fearful, unconfident person who struggled greatly through academia was now vocally acknowledging his intelligence for the very first time. The father who struggled with allowing anyone to so much as hold his firstborn son is now getting more comfortable allowing him to be babysat so my wife and I can spend time together. I have truly forgiven the man that hurt me all those years ago. I’ve never felt more free, secure, and alive. I thank Jesus for healing me in a way that completely transformed everything I’ve ever known!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I specialize in leading others to sing along. I’m a 100% extrovert, so to sing with big crowds of people is an amazing & filling experience for me. For my specific role, if people are simply listening to me sing “at” them, I’ve failed. The whole point of what I do is to lead others to engage in a “together” experience. The greatest tool in my tool belt isn’t necessarily a vocal quality that could win American Idol or the Voice, but an ability to connect with those I’m leading and inspire their hearts to jump into the deep end of the pool. There are many vocal performers who could easily blow me out of the water on a technical skill level, but what I do musically is about the people in front of me; not about the music in and of itself. I’m thankful to be a people person; not one who is above spending time talking with anyone and giving them my undivided attention. I think more artists would be blessed to have their hearts invested in showing love to people instead of pursuing what people can do to serve their personal agendas.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
It was a major risk leaving everything I’ve ever known in Peoria, IL to move to Houston in 2013. It was also risky to do so in Rachel and I’s very first year of marriage. There was an overwhelming amount of change that happened all at once. I believe there’s a fine line between risk and wisdom, and I do wish I made some wiser choices along the way; but I’m a big believer that growth simply cannot happen without risk, challenge, pain, loss, and recovery. Sometimes the risk won’t work out in my favor, but the greater loss to me is what I could’ve missed by playing it safe and letting fear decide what I will or won’t do. I’m ok with failing. I’m ok with doing things full-well, knowing that it might not go perfectly. I know, either way, I’ll learn something along the way. Life is not about the end goal; it’s about the journey.
Pricing:
- “Better Than Life” $9.99 https://music.apple.com/us/album/better-than-life/1593453959
- “Promises” $9.99 https://music.apple.com/us/album/promises/1337486248
Contact Info:
- Website: www.AaronBuehrer.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aaronbuehrermusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AaronBuehrerMusic/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Aaron_Buehrer
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/aaronbuehrer
- SoundCloud:https://soundcloud.com/aaronbuehrer
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1btveUKAZIrP90M6G6WWX8
Image Credits
Andrew McNeil
Caroline Thurmaier
Hannah Owen
