Today we’d like to introduce you to Nolan Burke.
Hi Nolan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in the Houston area in a family full of entrepreneurs…my grandfather owned a business in the print industry and my father followed in his footsteps and started his own business in the print industry (he still runs it to this day). Starting at a very early age, I was surrounded by printing presses and my mother was in charge of the layout and design department. Although neither of my parents are musicians, they were constantly listening to music in the house and at the print shop – anything from classic rock to 80s and 90s hits to contemporary Christian music.
My father is really into guitar music and guitar players, so my constant exposure to great guitar music is a big catalyst for why I decided to start playing guitar. I began playing guitar at age 9 and haven’t put it down since. I took lessons from different instructors over the years, and started playing in bands and gigging when I was 13. I did my first “fly date” with a touring artist at age 14.
I homeschooled throughout high school, so I had the flexibility to continue to play in bands and tour during my high school years. After I graduated, I made the decision not to go to college and to continue pursuing music as a full time endeavor.
I’ve been fortunate enough to continue to play music professionally for the last 20 years. I spent most of my 20s traveling to play music across the US and abroad. I have toured in 5 continents and played on hundreds of recordings. Today, I own and operate a wedding and event band called Undercover Band, I work as a music director for a church, and I continue to work as a session musician and producer while also playing gigs around the Houston area and beyond.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I’ve actually had a fairly smooth run thus far (knock on wood)! I think anyone who is pursuing music as a career would agree; you really have to find creative ways to make a living. I learned from mentors and colleagues early on that it’s very important to work on a lot of different things, and to continue to grow your skill set and diversify your work.
Over the last 20 years, I’ve worked as a composer, arranger, producer, instructor, gigging musician, session player, band leader, music director, guitarist, keyboardist, bassist, drummer, audio engineer, video editor, graphic designer, and often times I’ve been hired to be involved in music videos or TV productions where I’m not actually playing but just “miming”… needless to say, I’ve put my skill set through its paces.
I’ve learned to stay motivated, driven, and to continue working really hard to learn new skills that can complement the things I already know how to do. It can be quite easy to begin to experience “burn-out”; it seems like playing music professionally would be “living the dream” but there are certainly times when I just want to take a break and walk away from it for a while. I’ve learned how to carefully navigate those challenges over the years.
When I was just a kid, my first guitar teacher told me that I wasn’t serious enough about guitar and that I would just end up being a “street guitarist” (those were his exact words)… he fired me right on the spot and said it wasn’t going to work out. It really discouraged me and I stopped playing for a while, but my intrinsic love for guitar motivated me to pick it up again a few months later. There will always be naysayers along the way; you just have to ignore them and realize that God has gifted you with a specific talent for a specific reason and keep pushing yourself to get better every day.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a musician, producer, engineer, songwriter, composer, band leader, music director, entrepreneur, business owner.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
As I pursue entrepreneurship more and more, I’m learning that calculated risks are a really good thing, and absolutely necessary to consider as you make a plan to grow and move forward as a business owner, investor, and really, just as a contributor to the professional marketplace in general. Inherently, I’m not really a risk taker, but as I’ve gotten a bit older, I’ve spent a lot time analyzing my personality traits – with tools like the Enneagram and other personality testing methods. It really helped me to learn about myself and some of the most important people in my life, and not only what areas need improvement in my own personality, but how I can relate to my closest loved ones, just by simply learning a bit about what makes them tick.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@undercoverband.com
- Website: www.undercoverband.com
- Instagram: undercoverbandtx
