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Conversations with Noah Peterson

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Noah Peterson.

Hi Noah, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I wasn’t born in Texas, but I got here as fast as possible. Before coming here, I was mainly a saxophonist. I played in many bands, toured, made records, and tried to learn about the music industry. I made many friends and figured out how to do some things. I also started my company, Peterson Entertainment Llc, as a booking agency. It took me only a little while to figure out there wasn’t a lot of money in that. I picked up some clients, and a venue here and there, did exhibits at wedding booths and even developed a ten-year relationship with INTEL for musical services. During those years, I branched out into short-term promotions and worked for several restaurants for special event campaigns. I also became active with the musicians union. I met Dick Weissman (The Journeymen), who taught me much about the music publishing business, and I began to transform my company into a record label. And I kept playing in a lot of bands, and I started doing some serious recording. I got a lot of airplay for a few of my records. I started writing grants; I wrote a lot of tunes. I dived deep into the music publishing side of things and began studying music technology.

Around this time, I felt like I needed a change. I wasn’t happy where I lived and felt I had hit the ceiling. I thought it was time to move somewhere different. So I jumped into my van and started touring the country to look for my new home. During my “BandVanAdventures” crisscrossing the nation, I made many stops in Texas. I immediately fell in love with San Antonio and got here as soon as I could make it happen.

It took a bit to get established, so I had to keep touring for a couple of years to make everything work. I kept the label going, started getting involved with the local music scene, and began to get into producing events. I had already been doing small music and technology festivals in different cities in the western U.S. I had a ton of experience making live sound, I had PA gear, and I had already been doing PR, promotions, and advertising for the label and special events for years, so it wasn’t a big leap. I have radio and TV experience. Finding good partners who could bring things to the table was just a challenge. After a few years, I officially “retired from the road” and took a part-time job with The King William Fair. This is where events changed for my company and me. I started getting calls for events to do sound and occasionally helping book bands. I started working with several city departments and did the San Antonio Riverwalk Association’s Mardi Gras and Halloween events at the Arneson Theatre for a few years. I started sub-contracting with other companies in town. I did work for The San Antonio Coffee Festival, Muertos Fest, Taco Fest, Maverick Music Festival, Chef Johnny’s Paella Challenge, Luminaria, and other smaller events. I’ve consulted on festivals and concerts and produced my independent events.

At the same time, I kept the label side of things going. I signed a record here and there and released new material for myself and my collaborations and a few older gems from the archives. I spent a lot of time posting live video captures from my LoopFests on my Youtube Channel and made a lot of videos for the recordings in my catalog. I also had weekly musical residencies a couple of years at J&O’s Cantina in Southtown for myself, and my group West Kings Highway had a couple of years at Sancho’s Cantina. At the same time, I kept my interest in music and tech and began to change my Solo Sax Sessions show into a more electronic direction as I began to incorporate the new tech. At the same time, I was upgrading my home studio to make it suitable for producing better audio recordings. I’ve gotten into synthesizers pretty hard, and the Solo Sax Sessions show is now a sax & synth show I call “I sing the sax electric.”

I’m currently doing a weekly live stream on Monday nights. I perform my sax & synth show around town and at wineries. I perform around Texas with a zydeco band based out of Austin called Jean-Pierre and the Zydeco Angels; I release a lot of singles and put out new videos these days under my name and in various collaborations with Widespread Noise and No Ordinary Life. I still work events. I have picked up some new clients and am talking with several prospective partners for more event production and music collaborations. I love being busy. It’s a motivating factor for me. I enjoy my teams, collaborators, crews, and partners. I plan to continue doing great things with all of them.

Would it have been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The music and events business could be smoother. You’re working for yourself. The challenges are constant – finding good people to work with, finding clients, finding gigs, promoting shows, it doesn’t just fall into your lap. Most folks are more suited for something other than this kind of life. It’s very physical. PA gear is heavy. It’s long nights. It’s on weekends. It’s the holidays. It’s early morning. It’s a long drive. Budgets are always tight. Someone will always do it cheaper. You’ve got to be the one out there making it happen. And when tragedy strikes – music and events suffer first and most extended: The Dot Com bubble burst, music streaming and the death of the CD, 9/11, The Y2K fiasco, SARS, political divides, Covid it’s unending. Entertainment is a leisure activity. When people are worried about money, health, or elections, they don’t go out to see bands. They don’t tip; they don’t buy stuff. They don’t hire bands or throw parties and need services. That’s normal. You’ve got to deal with and make intelligent decisions about what you’re doing.

Let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I will forever be known as a jazz saxophonist. My early bands and records were jazz. My first solo recording, The Noah Peterson Quartet’s “Live at Biddy McGraw’s,” was recorded on the 1st anniversary of 9/11. I worked hard on the promotion side of it. It got airplay in 14 countries and over the U.S., reaching over a decade on WWOZ in New Orleans. I’ve got four jazz recordings out under my name and three with my group Miles Ahead. I also produced three lyrical poetry CDs for Emmett Wheatfall that feature jazz, blues, and gospel music. My other recordings got sax all over them, and people associate sax with jazz. Not to mention all the jazz shows, clubs, and festivals I’ve played at. I am a jazz saxophonist. At this point, I’ve been in Texas coming up on ten years and have only played a small handful of jazz gigs. I’m making electronic music and mashing up sub-genres to do many house-based hybrids. And when it’s crawfish season, I play a lot of Zydeco. That being said, I’ve also played a lot of other music – blues, funk, avant-garde, noise, ambient, electronic, art music, rock, Zydeco, Reggae, West African, classical, gospel, and I was doing some of that long before I ever thought about playing jazz.

Even though I talk a lot about my music, I’m most proud of my event work. I have many skills that enable me to get things done efficiently. I take direction well, work well independently, work well in groups, have excellent leadership skills, and can be a crew member. I don’t bring my feelings to the job, so conversing with me about anything is very easy. My job is to get the job done professionally, politely, safely, and quickly. I am a problem-solver. And I listen. What happens when you listen to someone who needs something fixed or done is amazing. And I am okay with doing the jobs nobody else wants to do. For instance, site marking people want to avoid grabbing the measuring wheel and tape and marking 150 booths. I do. I will be the guy dealing with everyone’s issues, so for me to intimately know where everyone is going is helpful. It’s studying the layout of the event all day long. It’s a lot easier to get things done and solve problems when you are the guy that marked everything. You know exactly where it goes and in what dimensions. And when it’s all done. I’m also the guy scraping up the tape. Every good event producer must see what vendors left a mess, spilled something, or accidentally left something behind. It has yet to do until it’s done, and the last part of every job is clean-up.

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some changes you expect to see over the next five to ten years?
I’m seeing a little change in the music biz outside of streaming—bars, clubs, private parties, festivals, none that has changed much from the music side. A lot has changed on the merch side, but I don’t see anything new. As for streaming, as the effects of the Music Modernization Act take more and more hold, there will be more transparency. We will see more standardized rates, the giant data mess we’re living in now will get straightened out, and there will be fewer streaming options. On the event side, the industry has a lot of changes. Many folks have left this business because there hasn’t been any work in 2 years. Assuming things do come back, whoever is left standing will be the victors. The big changes will be ticketing, with the trend going away from cash to wireless tech – RFID wristbands, smartphone apps, etc. It’s happening now. Another change will be in activations – we will see more “entertainment” or demos or fun stuff happening in, among, and alongside audiences for events. It’s not going to be all about the main stage. It’s going to be about the experience.

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