We recently had the chance to connect with Zachary Scot Johnson and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Zachary Scot, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: Who are you learning from right now?
My three year old daughter. Getting to see so many new-t0-her things is a pretty amazing thing.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a singer/ songwriter. That part of my life has 3 aspects running constantly; I perform around 100 concerts per year, and have for about 20 years now. That includes everything from nice theatre shows to background gigs that I’m hired privately for. I just released my sixth cd, which is a left turn for me; it’s an instrumental piano cd, a tribute of sorts to George Winston. So I’m not singing anything on it, which is very different from the previous five. I’d just always had an interest in composing movie music and this was a sort of exploration of that. And lastly, and most time consuming, I have a daily YouTube channel called thesongadayproject, where I record a song a day, and have done so for more than 13 years. It’s coming up on 5000 consecutive days early next year. I multi-track all the songs, so it takes 30-60 minutes most days to complete. I’ve had on over 350 guests for that, which is my favorite thing about it.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
This is a deep question! One thing that has changed in my life is a need to fill every moment with work. Independent artists sometimes struggle with casual/ personal time since we work from home. I find myself feeling guilty if I’m not working most of the time and trying to get over that. I’m also finding that the part of me that used to say “yes” to any and every opportunity just doesn’t need to do that anymore. I don’t need to play every single holiday, every Friday and Saturday night; I want the shows to be interesting, unique or fulfilling in some way and don’t need to just fill a calendar for the sake of filling it.
Is there something you miss that no one else knows about?
Theater. I have an acting degree and used to do theater constantly; even a national tour. But the way my schedule is constructed with my touring (gigs being booked sometimes a full year or more in advance) doesn’t really allow for involvement in theater. Even the rehearsal schedule for most plays doesn’t really gel with other obligations. But I sure do miss that side; I sort of thought I’d do that forever in some capacity.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
Speaking out on things that matter to you. Believing in equality–true equality–for everyone. That a person doesn’t lose their right to speak out simply because they have a platform. That kindness counts; that hypocrisy shouldn’t be easily overlooked. That we can ask more of ourselves and each other. That art and artists matter. That community delivers every single time.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What are you doing today that won’t pay off for 7–10 years?
Honestly, thesongadayproject. It’s always felt like a marathon, not a sprint. When it was a few years in, it peaked in terms of the attention it got and the excitement it provided–mostly in collaborating with other artists. When COVID happened, that shut down collaborations and that hasn’t come back in a satisfying way. For a while almost everyone I asked to collaborate said “Yes”. Now people are still keeping their bubbles small while on tour and not adding a lot of extra stuff like my project. Which I get, but it’s disappointing. There are days when I feel like no one really cares, for sure. I know there are some people who watch it daily and the consistency is the thing, but it’s in a funny point right now where it’s been running a long enough time that I’ve got it streamlined and can do it relatively quickly and I’m creating work that I’m by and large proud of, but because there is so much content, it all kind of blends. I think in the long run it’ll pay off, and I sure hope that’s true.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.thesongadayproject.com
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/zacharyscotjohnson
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesongadayproject
- Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/thesongadayproject/about
Image Credits
Camela Lagendorf
