I’m going to start this post with a little story…
I spent most of today in a Nashville recording studio acting as moral support for my buddy Lee while he cuts his first EP.
Lee is a country music singer but saying he sings country is reckless. Country is too vague of a term. Lee is a pretty-and-gritty, bringing back the honkey tonk type of country singer… the type that comes fully equipped with a very active steel guitar.
When Lee was describing what he liked to the session players, the word twang came up. One of the gentlemen responded, “If you like twang, we’ll twang you to death!”
But here’s the deal… you couldn’t twang Lee to death. You could tie that boy up and twang relentlessly, but try as you may, he’d just enjoy it.
So why would I spend so much time describing his sound to you? Well, to illustrate my point. Lee has a niche. He knows what he wants and it’s different than anything else out there right now.
If you’re an artist trying to break through, you need a niche. What makes you different from all of the other singers out there? What genre do you sing? Within that genre, how are you different? What’s your signature sound?
Defining your niche within a genre can be a tricky process. With Lee, he focuses on a pretty-gritty voice, and the sound behind him is more honkey tonk 90s country. This creates something that’s vaguely familiar from the past, but there’s nothing like it on the radio now a days, and to me and many in the industry, that’s what makes it work.
What’s your niche? How do you stick out? Once you’ve figured this out, you will have taken a huge step in the direction of setting your path as an artist.
~ Vocal Coach Ken Taylor