Meet Jon Butterworth of Nippers Corner

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jon Butterworth.

Hi Jon, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and got my first drum set when I was 3. I started taking piano lessons when I was 5 but quit taking drum lessons when I was 7. I played in the school jazz band, accompanied my chorus, and played for musical productions throughout grade school. I decided to study music education at Boston University with a minor in classical percussion. After graduating in 2010, I studied drum set performance at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. I played in wedding and bar bands and taught privately and at the collegiate level until 2014 when I decided to move to LA. In LA, I toured with pop acts, playing drums and running Ableton tracks, played music in theme parks, including Universal Studios and Disney land, played for wedding bands and jazz trios, and played in the pit for a musical theater company in North Hollywood. In 2018, I met my wife in Atlanta when I was on tour, and after 8 months of dating long distance, I moved to Nashville. In moving here, I got saved and became a believer, but that’s another story. Since moving here, I’ve been touring with country, pop, and Christian artists, playing at churches, and teaching in town.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I wouldn’t say it’s been a smooth road, but I’m thankful for that. I believe that most growth and learning happen in difficult times. You work hard in the valleys so you can celebrate on the mountaintops if that makes sense. I’ve lived in Boston, LA, and now Nashville, and starting over in a competitive music city is extremely difficult. I moved to LA cold, without any work lined up, and I swear that took years off of my life. I experienced a lot of stress and anxiety while getting plugged into that massive city. I had a brother who already lived and played music in LA, so I came into a great little community, but I still had to wait for bands to need a drummer, exhaust their sub-list, and take a chance on me. I found that going to the beach and looking at the mountains of Malibu helped a lot. With my move to Nashville came a whole other set of challenges. I had learned my lesson and moved this time with a touring job lined up, but it didn’t account for the abundance of work and players here. LA was so expensive and cutthroat that you were forced to take any music work that came your way. In Nashville, I realized that I could play a wide variety of music with a wide variety of bands every night, but if I didn’t love the music I was playing, a dozen drummers behind me would kill to be in my position. If I took gigs playing music I was lukewarm on, I would be stealing work from drummers who moved here to play that music. This meant I had to do a lot of soul searching to see what kind of music and playing environments I loved and what I wanted to pursue. I also had to start saying no to gigs, which was extremely counterintuitive. I’m still doing this, and preferences change. We are not required to be the same person with the same preferences today as we were yesterday, as we will be tomorrow. But that was a major culture shock for me.

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I choose joy day in and day out. I firmly believe in God’s timing and that we are exactly where we are supposed to be now. This means we always have something to accomplish, something to celebrate and be thankful for, and something to learn. My wife taught me something awesome the first day I met her; she said we all have a calling in life but that calling is meant to help others. Our talents and occupations can be tools to accomplish that calling, but at the end of the day, our physical jobs do not define us. I love being a drummer and a teacher, but my calling is to be an encourager to those around me and to be a light shining in whatever room I walk into. I can certainly say that what I’m known for and want to be known for is not my drumming but the enthusiasm, energy, and joy I bring to the table.

What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Be humble and compassionate. Put the work in and assume the best intentions from those around you. There will always be someone better than you, someone smarter than you, and chances are, you will realize at some point in your life that the opinions you once had are wrong. So be slow to speak and quick to listen. One of my favorite expressions is, ‘say you don’t know, and you will learn everything.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Young_jon_butterworth
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/user/butters154
• Other: https://youtu.be/HCFvT0C5zxo

Image Credits
Brittany Lane, Sean Gowdy, Taylor Leigh