Rising Stars: Meet Zach Roberts of East Nashville

Today we’d like to introduce you to Zach Roberts.

Hi Zach, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve always been pursuing music since my childhood, or since I can remember, really. My parents saw my interest in it when I was very young, and decided to let me try playing guitar and piano to see if it would be a good fit. Guitar and piano turned into singing, turned into bass guitar, upright bass, saxophone, flute. By the time I was in high school, I’d saved up some money to buy myself a starting kit for audio production, and while I wasn’t very good at it, I loved it. I didn’t get much better at understanding production until I went to Lipscomb University for my first year of college.

That year was filled with a lot of growth in my artistry, and I made some of my best friendships and connections there, but it was also one of the most painful and tormenting years of my life so far. Not all of my decisions were good ones, and from about halfway through high school going into my first year of college, I had been in some incredibly unhealthy relationships and habits. I was a fool, and a very superficial person, hooked on drugs and substances, and everyone was aware of the hole I was digging for myself, except for me. About a quarter to halfway through my year at Lipscomb was when everything fell apart. I had realized just how bad of a spot I was in, but felt like I’d gone too far to stop it or fix it in any capacity. I lost the majority of the relationships and friendships I had, some by pushing them away out of fear, some leaving on their own, and shortly after, I almost died due to an overdose.

It wasn’t until after that, that I began making positive changes in my life, and I can fully admit that nothing could have saved me from where I was except for the love, mercy, and grace of Jesus Christ.
It was a very slow restorative process, but I spent the next few years finishing out my education at SAE Institute on music row, writing songs, and working different part time and full time jobs during the day while I regained my mental and physical health.

I didn’t release my first song, “okay”, until 2023, two years after the peak of my downfall. It honestly took a long time for me to find my sound, along with finding the courage to think that anyone else would even appreciate it. However, with the help of many of my friends and family, I relearned my confidence over time, and for being my first song, it did reasonably well. I’m now a graduated bachelor of audio science, with many amazing friendships, working towards the next chapter of my life here in Nashville.

Last year, I released a double, “Autumn Leaves,” and while a lot of people have told me they love it, it’s actually my least favorite song, and that directly relates to my latest release of this year. I had a really hard time getting that song to sound the way I wanted, and kept beating out all of the imperfections I thought I heard with a hammer, until the track was a ginormous mess of edits, punch-ins, and cuts. To this day, I really don’t enjoy listening to it, but it forced me to realize I was caving to external pressures, and that what was once enjoyable for me wasn’t fun anymore. And I had made it that way.

“Minimal sessions”, my latest EP, was my solution to that. If you’ve ever heard the saying, “less is more,” then you understand what that project was supposed to achieve for me. I forced myself, to not care, for lack of better words. I allowed myself to enjoy making music again by forcibly underproducing. I let the imperfections and artifacts shine through, allowing my songs to become what they wanted to be, instead of making them what I thought I wanted them to be, and it’s my best work so far, providing plenty of inspiration for my next songs.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Well, I’ve already covered a decent chunk of them, but I could probably think of a few more:
– Off seasons. I feel like a decent portion of my time songwriting is spent just living, doing the daily, mundane tasks that we all do, and it’s easy for me to be frustrated with this, because I’ll feel like I’m not being productive in regards to creating. However, you have to remind yourself that all of those daily, mundane routines have hidden gems in them, and if you can see those experiences in the correct lighting, it’ll help fuel your next creative breakthrough. If there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that you can’t write a good song, story, whatever, without having first done a little living.

– Time management. This one is hard. I start my day with some energy, and I think that maybe by the time I get home from work I’ll have a little bit of that energy left over to make some music. But alas. There’s chores to be done, phone calls to return, or plans that are far too difficult to say no to. Or maybe I just want to bed rot the rest of the evening. Whichever one it is, it’s easy to say you’re going to be productive until it’s time to produce. That said, if you’ll just make yourself sit down at the computer or drawing board and have a few minutes of silence, you’ll come up with something new and remind yourself how inspiring and energizing it is to be on the cusp of something really really cool.

– Comparison. Comparison is the thief of joy. It will steal not only your joy, but also your ideas, your confidence, and it’ll certainly waste your time. Nashville is a pretty sizable city, and not only that, but it’s MUSIC city. There’s dudes playing guitar like SRV at half of the gas stations here. You’ll run into aspiring artists and producers at your nearby grocery stores, coffee shops, you name it. Many are decent, and a lot of them are incredible, not to mention the ones playing shows. The truth is, comparing yourself to them will only get you so far, and they aren’t even realistic comparisons, because at the end of the day, everyone has something you don’t, and you have something everyone else doesn’t. No matter which way you flip the coin, you’re only going to make yourself meaninglessly upset comparing your life and ability to another person’s. Just don’t even bother. If you like what you’re doing, and you see the value in it, then who cares what the other guys are up to? Put your energy into being your own artist the best way you can, and stop wasting it wondering why you aren’t them.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a self produced artist and songwriter, and my specialty is combining digital and analog sounds in an R&B/surf style. I think my best instrument is guitar, but every instrument in my music is performed and engineered from scratch. One of my most recent remarks, from a good friend and fellow artist, is that my songs capture very raw emotion, between my lyricism and musicality, which is hard to recreate.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
In my opinion, the best people to look to for mentorship are the people you already know and look up to. Someone you trust that cares about you, and someone who won’t back down from being honest about where you are in your life and career. Look to friends, family members, and close colleagues, and if you ask with respect, people in your circle are normally very happy to lend some advice or a helping hand.

As far as networking goes, just focus on making good friends first. Learn to be sociable, and if you be a friend to others, you’ll find a friend for yourself. If that newly found friend just happens to work in your field, then great! That’s a commonality between the two of you that can help to promote either, or preferably both of you in your careers. Aside from that, there’s plenty of forums, events, and launch parties you can weasel your way into all the time, whether you’re trying to get into music or something entirely different. Most importantly, just be open to new conversations and don’t be a jerk.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_im.perfectionist_/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@itszachroberts
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4NAyIv40afg1HKxHtDNPsx?si=mxPkysXsRqOdpSLSa54-Ng