Hi! Welcome to a day in the life of an individual making his way through the world of music and art. A career path instilled through my DNA byway of my family (specifically my father).
At a very young age, music was introduced to me through dad's side of the family. Everything from the pop culture cultivated over the past few decades (1940's-1970's) to church hymns that various older family members would often (randomly) start playing on the closest organ they had in the vicinity.
My father however, was a successful musician and it was his gigs that sparked something, embedding seeds that would root themselves deeply into the rest of my life, similar to uncontrollable mint that takes over and cannot be stopped.
I started playing professionally around the age of 10 with my fathers band. My first gig, as a drummer, was at Quantico Marine Base located in Dumfries VA. I was handed my first $50 bill after the gig and it was official. I was a professional musician. It did not take me long to obtain a name and reputation for myself… “JoJo Bayliss”. At the ripe young age of 10, I started to gain popularity on local TV and radio stations such as Washington DC's DC101. The local disc jockeys would invite me out to their events/ gigs and I also placed in DC101's 101 Drummer's competition at notorious Washington Niteclub The Bayou. I started meeting legendary musicians from Jack Bruce, Carmine Appice, and The Knack's drummer Bruce Gary. I could go on about this time in my life, however, I'll leave some interesting stories for later blogs.
My tenure over the past 30 years included touring with a band that had major label attention, songwriting, recording, international success producing a podcast, and what I deem my most recent and accomplished success of playing covers and growing as a musician and relearning the current industry with independent music. After a five-year break from playing, I started back last year extremely influenced by independent artists and the freedom of creative expression through writing and playing.
This leads me to my motivation for writing this blog and why. Besides music, over the past five years I took time to go get my Bachelor's of Science in Psychology, study Mindfulness, and indulge in other health and mental pathways that are trending in a continuous world dominated by stress, anxiety, peer pressure, heartbreak, and major depression. I want to share with you some of my personal stories, challenges, and music experiences. I hope to gain many new friends from this and that my stories are influential to others and my musical peers. Here's to 2024 and allowing our hearts to guide us into new directions and experiences. - JoJo