Little River Band’s Wayne Nelson – HuffPost 9.6.13

Mike Ragogna: Wayne, what is your advice for new artists?

Wayne Nelson: Part of it is advice that I wish I had been told or paid attention to a long, long time ago: Write music. Write your own music. Write your own lyrics. Write whatever you feel because the opportunity to put that to music and have that be part of your performance, it doesn’t have to be all of it. It might be bad, it might need work and it might not register with people right away, but start the process. Say what you feel and get it into your craft and into your show. That’s number one. I waited way too long. I’m not prolific, but there have been a couple of moments when the stars aligned and I was able to get out what I wanted to say in a way that I was happy with. So start that right away, because that’s your soul. You’re letting your feelings out. The other thing is you’ve got to practice your crafts so that when the door opens whenever it is and whatever it is, you’re able to go through the door and fill the job. So many people get it dropped in their lap and they’re not ready and the door closes again. It might not stay open, but practice and enjoy what you do so that when that door opens, you can go through it. I was in the right place at the right time to meet Jim Messina, I was at the right place at the right time to meet Little River Band and they both had different needs. There was an adaptation to do the right thing for those right situations, but had I not been able to adapt, I wouldn’t have gotten the job. I wouldn’t be in the thirty-fourth year and have a long career with a great band.