Meet Brian Wolff: Songwriter, Guitarist, Vocalist & Podcaster

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

Hi Brian, can you share the most important lesson you’ve learned over the course of your career?
Being a professional musician in a place like Austin, Texas (“The Live Music Capitol of the World”) I’ve learned one of the most important things is to always be doing lots of things and in turn, always staying busy. Putting too much of myself into any one part of my career and neglecting the others has never proven to have been the right move, for me. The most recent example I can think of is since the pandemic began, I’ve been posting these song performance videos once a week from around the apartment. I’ve been going back and forth between covers and originals. Well, about 2 weeks ago, Facebook decided to suddenly shut down my ad account and totally squash my organic reach with no explanation and no warning. I still can’t get anyone at Facebook to explain what is going on. Ugh… it’s annoying, but it’s really not the end of the world. My point is that if that’s all I had going on, I would have been totally devastated. Thankfully, I’m not because I’ve also started a podcast about the creative process called “Greetings From Wherever” and I’ve been doing music livestream events every Wednesday at 7pm on my Facebook page. Another benefit to being so busy is that it’s really set myself up to write better. I’ve always operated better creatively when I knew I had a finite amount of time to write a song in a given day. There’s something about that pressure to get something done that drives me. I’m really enjoying the music I’ve been writing this year and I can’t wait to get it out there when the time is right.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I wear many hats as an artist, all of which tend to revolve around music. This year has been an umm… lets say… interesting one… for all of us creative types. I’ve been forced to change my game a bit. I’d been the frontman and leader of a rock band here in Austin called Fair City Fire for the last 6 years that did all that good stuff you want to do as a musician. Released albums, went on tours, played awesome hometown shows at some unbelievable venues, etc. I’m very proud of the years I’ve spend with them. Things are a little bit on hold and up in the air with Fair City Fire right now and you know what? That’s turned out to be not such a bad thing, even though it seemed like bad news at first. It’s given me a chance to focus my creative energy on new projects. Some of those include…

I’ve been able to finally present myself as a solo acoustic artist. It’s something I’d wanted to start doing for a while, but never really had time for. Since the pandemic began, I’ve been releasing song performance videos every Friday and within the last month or so, I started doing full sets via livestream every Wednesday. That’s been so fun to be able to connect with people musically in that way, even though live in-person shows still don’t feel safe to do. It’s also given me an opportunity to focus on writing music for my solo project. I’ve really enjoyed the stuff I’ve been writing lately, maybe more than anything I’ve ever written before. Hopefully, I’ll be recording and releasing music in 2021 and maybe touring? We’ll see how everything goes!

I’ve also launched a podcast called the “Greetings From Wherever” podcast. It is all about artistic inspiration and the creative process. Guests will include songwriters, comedians, painters, photographers, authors and so many more. Hosted by yours truly.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m assuming we’re talking post-COVID. I love this city so much, so it’s really hard to narrow everything down. For food, I think we would have to get some barbecue or Tex Mex. Or hell, why not both. I’ll say Styles Switch for barbecue and El Meson for Tex Mex although my favorites in both categories tend to change. Then, we’d of course have to experience the live music that gives Austin it’s charm and even it’s identity. I’d want to make sure to include show hopping on Red River Street (Mohawk, Stubbs, Empire, Cheer ups) and either start or end up at Saxon Pub for a more old school Austin music experience.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The Book “The Artists Way” by Julia Cameron was truly a transformative experience. Any artist looking to expand their creativity should read this book and plan to invest a lot of time and energy into working through it. Austin’s music scene in general really deserves a lot of credit for constant inspiring me and pushing me to be better. What an amazing environment to have been lucky enough to be a part of for 8 years now. There are just too many artists and people to name to narrow it down.

Website: https://www.facebook.com/BrianWolffMusic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brianwolffmusic/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrianWolffMusic
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJmRRsx9f3sOi-J3tgqIPsg
Other: Greetings From Wherever Podcast: Spotify- https://sptfy.com/5fqn Anchor- https://anchor.fm/gfwpodcast Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/GFWPodcast Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/greetingsfromwhereverpodcast

Image Credits
Ismael Quintanilla III