Meet Dustin Gaspard | Singer Songwriter Traveling Musician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dustin Gaspard and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dustin, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Performing and a career in music has so much risk. Through dedication to the craft, investment of your time daily and utilization of new outlets (content) you can mitigate this risk. At the end of the day, I’m old school. I want to go out perform, love what I do and be “discovered.” I think that’s where the risk is. Before todays modern industry, people had a sense of that exploration where it could be found in an old honky tonk, a cafe or a a dusty record store. Today that frontier is the internet, so it’s priority to adjust ourselves to being found and heard in all ways possible, thus making it less risky.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve always loved music and rhythm. There’s something in the soul of my home of Acadiana and I think it comes from our Cajun ancestry. Beyond all the strife Music saved us, and our stories kept going. Hearing those stories grounded us and allowed us to carry legacy, while never taking anything for granted. I like to believe what sets me apart is the responsibility of that weight. I like to sing from that place, and make stories about my experience. It took me a while to find out how to be clear about that, and it’s still unpolished but I’m proud that I tapped into it with my debut record “Hoping Heaven Got a Kitchen.” For me it encapsulates all my pursuits, all my influences and my creative heart- that’s the goal of art. It received great praise and connected people in a way that I don’t think I could have done a few years ago.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
This is a funny question because I’ve actually mapped a route from my home to show visitors the true “Cajun Experience.” It would start in Lafayette at the cultural center to give a basis of knowledge and history of the region and Acadian influence. We’d road trip to my home in Cow Island in small rural Louisiana. We would stop for boudin along the way and visit Suires grocery as I explain the life of Vermilion Parish farmers passing their cane fields, rice crop and crawfish ponds. One day we would boat out of intracoastal City and head to the Audubon Wildlife preserve where my grandfather grew up and worked his whole life. You’d experience the sights of true coastal Louisiana and see nature as never seen before, learning why the call it the sportsman paradise. A brief stop at my aunts house for a rice and gravy before we head back to Lafayette for a night of live music, drinking and dancing until the early morning. Sign up today haha

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Honestly I’ve been doing this alone for a long time. I’ve learned a ton of things the hard way, and no one has helped me get where I am. There are people that provided a spring board for me to jump from but the rest was up to me. Those people were my grandparents. They showed me unconditional love in my pursuit but instilled that joi de vivre is paramount in any pursuit. If not for them and never have buckled up and focused on what needed to be done and what needed to be said. I will also say that my father influenced my work ethic and I know that without him, I could let have found a way to prepare for the amount of effort all of my life would take for these goals

Website: www.dustingaspardmusic.com

Instagram: dustindalegaspard

Linkedin: Dustin Dale Gaspard

Facebook: Dustin Dale Gaspard

Youtube: dustindalegaspardmusic

Image Credits
Jon David Mahoney