Joey Stuckey

Joey Stuckey is a musical powerhouse out of Macon, Georgia.   A producer, artist, songwriter and inspirational speaker, Joey is one busy guy.  We had the chance to learn more about his upcoming projects.  Read on…

Joey, tell us about your summer schedule, it seems to be a busy one!

Yeah, I like to stay busy! I have two speeds, full speed ahead and off:-)

We are touring behind our current album “ In The Shadow Of The Sun” where basic tracks were Recorded at the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis TN and finished up at my studio Shadow Sound www.shadowsoundsstudio.com

We are hitting the Big-Apple on 6/18, 6/23 and 6/25. We’ll also be in NJ on 6/22 and DC on 6/27. This is with my Progressive Americana trio. I’ll be touring in MI, including  Detroit, just acoustic guitar and vocal in late July and Early August. Please visit www.joeystuckey.com for up to the minute concert info.

In addition, I am working hard on getting my new studio space ready to open around this time next year. I have an amazing team I am still putting together to do the design, installation and lots of other very cool work on the studio. This team includes my good friends at Sweetwater along with folks that have done work for the rock and roll hall of fame, Bruce Springsteen Alisha Keys and many other premier artists and recording spaces. We’ll be focused on education, recording large orchestras and choirs and we’ll have state of the art digital technology along with truly boutique analog gear and other worldly acoustic spaces.

What can you tell us specifically about the upcoming speaking engagements?

The next  two that I have on the schedule will both be in September. The first one is a music business master class for the “Georgia Music Industry Association”. I did one at the end of April for them and they asked me back for September. This class will cover things like forming a corporation to protect your assets, how to file a copyright and the exclusive rights that this grants you along with marketing strategies for musicians.

The other talk will be also in September and will be at Wesleyan College and will be about an hour and a half of music and conversation about overcoming adversity and how I live a life of success and intention as a blind brain tumor survivor. My dear friend, keyboard player in many of my studio sessions and bands and co-writer, Tom Rule will also join me to perform some songs we wrote together, off our 2013 chart topping Jazz Album “Mixture”. Tom will also provide a talk about his journey in the field of music and the challenges he has overcome.

What have been your favorite releases from major artists this year?

Oh, I love so much music, if it has heart and is well produced I just love all kinds of music, so here is an eclectic list in no particular order, just keeping the list short based on what has been most recently acquired on my iPhone:-) and this is from 2018 and 2019.

Distance over time, Dream Theatre.

The Greatest Showman Re-imagined Various artists.

Open Road The Rippingtons.

Bolden Original Sound Track Wynton Marsalis.

Wow Cara Larson.

The Best of Everything Tom Petty and the Heart Breakers.

R.E.M. at the BBC Live R.E.M.

Simulation Theory, Muse.

California Son Morrissey.

Inner Monologue  Julia Michaels.

Who do you consider your greatest heroes?

I assume you mean musical heroes, but you know what happens when you assume, so I’ll answer in two ways. Musically, I have so many, from Sir Paul McCartney, to Neal Finn, to Jennifer Hutson and Pavarotti. However, on a personal level my heroes are people like the first responders from 9/11 who desperately need our help to get the health care they deserve, to my mom and dad and my lovely wife. To many of my professors, like Dr. David Klee, Ellen Francese, Chandler Coyle, John Kellogg and of course Terry Cantwell. But I also consider Madison Bumgardner, Curt Schilling and David Ross sports heroes. Joe Buck, Chip Carey, and Vin Scully my sportscaster heroes. And Alan Parsons, Julian Colbeck, Ross Hogarth, Dave Pensoto and Mark Hornsby my producer and engineer heroes.

The thing is, this incredible world we live in is full of so many amazing, talented and inspirational people that my goal is to share life and stories with as many  of them as I can and I am humbled to say I have done that with many of the people on this list. I am still hoping to meet Rachel Maddow, Stephanie Rhule, Jill Winebanks and my  favorite comedians, John Oliver, Kathleen Madigan and John Cleese. Also, got to say I would pass out if I could meet Lin Manuel Miranda!

But this isn’t simple hero worship. These are people that I want to learn from and engage with. people that have inspired me and whom I would just like to thank by shaking their hand.

If you had to name 2 of your top inspirations in songwriting who would they be and why?

Oh man this is a hard one.

I would say my sense of harmony has to be the Beatles and for lyrics I would say the Smiths, but that isn’t a full list by any means!

It takes a lot of courage and dedication to make it in the music industry.  How do you balance the two and stay grounded?

In my inspirational talks, I talk about the four pillars of a successful life. They are Intention, Honesty, Grace and dedication. You have to have all four to make life work for you. I also tell all my university students, I am professor of music technology for Mercer University and a consultant for MGA, where I also teach music technology, that you have to love, insert your passion here, in my case it is music, so much that it hurts you to not be part of it. This will give you the armor you need to withstand all the setbacks, heartbreaks and missed opportunities that come with life. It will also give you the humility to remember how blessed you are to be doing what you love. At my studio I have two sayings that are the mantra of anyone that works with me. First, Joey Stuckey is a drama free zone. And Second, every day in the music business is a good day, even when it isn’t:-)

Where can we stream your music?

All the usual suspects, Apple music, Amazon, YouTube, Spotify and the below:

URL: www.joeystuckey.com

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4H5sd7R9Or0DSHbiWobGll?si=qG4o5OzeTty5sDwyDXU2aQ

END OF INTERVIEW