Life & Work with Robert Ledet of Nashville

Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Ledet

Hi Robert, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi, I’m Robert Ledet and I’m excited to share the story of my band Dadcam! Dadcam features Sean Jannay on drums, Josh Wilson on Bass, Geoff Cox on sax, and myself on keyboards. Later this year, we’re releasing our debut album “i hope this isn’t it” and an instrumental EP called “dadjazz”. These songs have been several years in the making and we can’t wait to share them.

From 2017 to 2020, I led a group of friends (Lucky Halfspeed) in creating a zero-budget movie, “Play For Free” which featured songs from my second EP, “Guttersoul”. After the movie, I started working on new material for a third solo EP. Around this time I came across videos of Rai Thistlethwayte (Sun Rai) playing moog bass, Wurlitzer and singing simultaneously. It was a revelation for me – you could create a full soul/funk band with just drums and keys! Inspired, I bought a Moog Sub 37 and learned to play left hand bass, discovering that good bass and drums are all you really need to start a band.

-Play For Free Movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jBosjl9eAA&list=PLr8Wr9sACUXZzBIjyPHZ1uOr0Igbnq5yH&index=2
-Guttersoul EP https://open.spotify.com/album/0vx7k5m0KlPlHxE5hzq2Cf?si=V779PSvMQ3a32Dl0CfcyXQ
-Chase the Clouds Away – Sun Rai https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RpTmY2rUxM

I realized that collaborative projects like “Play For Free”, “Moon Bob”, and “Strange Xmas” were the most rewarding for me, so I decided to shift away from branding everything under my name. Tim Canton and I initially started Dadcam together and you can see our first jam session on youtube. Though Tim moved on to other projects, the vision continued.

-Moonbob EP https://open.spotify.com/album/5g362cFtEqDyo5DKuWHVvM?si=erjLgoKwRPiHQ1aIbamJJQ
-Strange Xmas EP https://open.spotify.com/album/5vTcASsK1LGli5GO1b07Pd?si=HtjgNbxrT2C4xbk2JMIczA
-First Dadcam Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHeDdWUB9LU

Michael Reed, who has mixed all of my projects since 2018, introduced me to Sean Jannay at a party. Towards the end of the night, we were nerding out over Vulfpeck’s Madison Square Garden concert. A few days later, Sean and I jammed and the chemistry was instant. Sean is an incredible singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. I’m incredibly blessed to get to do music with him. His main band, Gentry Blue, is fantastic – check out their album “Fragments”!

-Vulfpeck MSG https://youtu.be/rv4wf7bzfFE?si=ueMBezSWedi_WNCw
-Gentry Blue – Fragments https://open.spotify.com/album/15VYEGR0fqV6wTdFZuoIXU?si=q0jUQUMkT7aqaB6Stbno_Q

I met Geoff at a jam session night where we improvised songs on the spot. His fantastic sax playing and positive energy immediately stood out so I invited him to play at our next show. Geoff’s sax parts took our music to another level, allowing me to step back from soloing and focus more on the quality of my singing and the overall band’s sound.

In January 2023, we entered Gnome Recording Studios for a marathon weekend session to record our debut album and instrumental EP. I packed up half of my keyboards, while Sean and Michael meticulously set up the drum tones. Josh Wilson (Summer School) joined us on additional synths, specifically a DX7 and Juno 6. We tracked the entire album live on the first day and dedicated the second day to the instrumental project. Throughout the session, friends stopped by to capture footage on my old hi8 tape camera – a nod to what we call a “Dadcam” (a vintage videotape camera)

-Summer School: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2MIHOe0bftAJ1ehwkE8fsg?si=_rCBOoriQXaHcg4Pq4daCA

The recordings turned out great, but I spent almost a year adding overdubs. While the album featured mostly electric pianos, I fell in love with the Hammond organ and added it to most tracks. We layered synths, reworked sax parts, added backup vocals, percussion and even doubled some P bass lines to match with the moog. Some tracks ended up with over one hundred and fifty layers (sorry Michael!)

After our recording, we continued to evolve our live sound. Josh Wilson (Summer School) joined the band on bass. His disco-inspired basslines brought new life to our songs and allowed me to let go of the left hand moog bass to focus more on the band’s overall quality of sound and performance. Dadcam has performed at The End, Springwater, Betty’s, Honeytree Meadery in Nashville. I’m happy to finally share these recordings and we are already working on new songs. We are just getting started!

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?
We’ve faced our fair share of challenges, especially when it comes to hearing each other during shows. This issue has come up repeatedly and our best solution seems to be having amps on stage. While we probably won’t ever switch to In-Ear monitors, having some sound directly on stage makes a big difference.

It’s a challenge finding the balance between our desired 70s/80s inspired soul/funk sound and avoiding lugging around vintage keyboards like the Wurlitzer, Hammond, Rhodes, or Clavinet. These instruments sound incredible but they’re so heavy. Let’s not even talk about moving a Leslie speaker! I get excited seeing Vulfpeck, Parcels, and Neal Francis bring their vintage keyboards (and probably backups) to their shows, but we just don’t make enough money to justify that kind of setup. For now I’ve prioritized portability and efficiency over authenticity. A couple of keyboard brands I’d like to celebrate are Viscount, Nord, and Yamaha.

I’ve written several songs about the struggle to continue to make music. That was a central theme of our movie “Play For Free”, too. It’s hard to keep going when there’s little to no money coming in from your art. You have to love it to stick with it. At this point, being in my thirties and still performing feels like a success in itself. We’re still here because love music.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We’re making soul/funk music in Nashville. That’s pretty weird of us. Nashville is the country/rock capital of the music industry, but it’s also one of the last music hubs where people record real drums and amps instead of relying on sampled instruments. It feels like using drum samples and loops are a missed opportunity. When you rely on another persons drum sound, you lose the chance to put your own fingerprint on the recording.

Putting four people in a room to record a great song is what Nashville is all about. All the details matter for making a music production great. You need the right players on the right instruments playing the right song. I’m obsessed with electric pianos, synthesizers, amps, guitars and studio gear in general. The Wurlitzer electric piano is my favorite for how it cuts through perfectly in the midrange without clashing with the bass or vocals. I love electric pianos so much that I have made playlists of cool songs that feature them:

-Wurlitzer: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7btG0OIjH2h4bv2hvbyD3m?si=d0c8030d326c4d73
-Rhodes: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7o7A05L9EGd1SFFjwgNrKO?si=18edd5b36c9f4ebe
-Clavinet: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5e9j6LVxeucJVSJ2bQghRe?si=79664db4d7d141bf
-CP70 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1WgXV7dpvegapAjCD5SXEz?si=18e95e812cc44259

My biggest contribution to the band is leading the productions but I’m not the only producer in the group. Sean, Josh, and Geoff all produce their own music which makes our collaboration especially rewarding. Together, we make music that is meant to spread joy. I’m so sick of music that is negative. If we can ever make a song that feels remotely as good as September by Earth Wind and Fire then I’ll be Overjoyed by Stevie Wonder. I hope that when people hear our band, especially during a solo break, it gives them the joyful feeling that ends an SNL episode or Paul Shaffer’s World’s Most Dangerous Band (Letterman circa 1985). It’s a party and the vibes are good. We want everyone in the room to feel better than they did when they walked in.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Time will tell – hopefully our record connects with people! I think creating a good vibe is more important. We can’t control our luck, but we can take a positive approach and make consistent efforts towards our goals.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dadcamband/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dadcamband
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@dadcam
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6WYKgzrFl0E9jCxDBMz9xq?si=lBB5_OeGQiyBKkqtQZX5UA

Image Credits
Design by Lucky Halfspeed
Stills from “Summer Heat” video footage by Chandel Shanklin (CS Media and Marketing)
Studio photos by Rachel Ledet
Outdoor show photo by Morgan Jergens