Kevin Leon has been on the Atlanta scene for nearly a decade and recently landed the touring gig with St. Paul & The Broken Bones. Kevin grew up in Birmingham, AL. He studied music at The University of Alabama at Birmingham and got a fast start playing all kinds of gigs on the Birmingham scene. After school, he moved to New York for a year and returned to Birmingham when it became clear he didn’t have the inclination (or the money) to live there long term. He then landed a gig with country artist Niko Moon, which brought him to Atlanta, where he has been active ever since with singer/songwriters, jazz artists, and corporate bands. He is also part owner of Music Lessons Decatur, a local teaching network.In this podcast, Kevin talks about:The somewhat emergency process by which he joined St. PaulHis relationships with Chris Fryar and Harry MireeExploring his non-musical outlet, fishing, on the roadGearing up to be the primary breadwinner when his girlfriend went to grad schoolFilling your schedule with “work” vs. keeping it open for creative projectsLessons learned when the gig that brought him to Atlanta ended abruptlyThe experience that made him realize making 2 & 4 feel good required as deep a dive as jazzA snapshot of his hometown, BirminghamPublishing videos (and an eventual album) of his original compositions, and his thoughts on managing his outputKevin Leon endorses Vic Firth sticks