'Your songs kind of suck': Calgary songwriter paves path to Bluebird Cafe with sage advice
He's from Calgary but has found his happy place in Nashville.
"As a songwriter, I have never really felt more at home," Aaron Pollock told the Calgary Eyeopener in a Friday interview.
"It just feels like where I am supposed to be, which feels very good."
Pollock opens at Nashville's Bluebird Cafe on Sunday. The famous venue has seen superstars like Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift and Keith Urban.
"There are a lot of super talented people here, and trying to make inroads in the industry can be very challenging at times in any profession," he said.
Songwriting, however, was not always on his radar.
"I've played music my whole life, but I didn't think it was a realistic career path for me," Pollock said.
"I went to school and got a degree in political science and philosophy and worked in a few summer jobs in politics. Luckily, the candidates I was working with managed to win."
But after accepting a post-degree job at the Alberta legislature, over time it just didn't feel like a good fit.
"I didn't feel fulfilment from my career path. If I wanted to be happy, I needed to follow my dreams. So I moved back to Calgary from Edmonton in 2015 and started playing all the shows I can and writing all the music that I could."
That's when he got some unfiltered feedback.
"Someone told me, 'You sing well and you play well, but your songs kind of suck,'" Pollock said with a laugh.
"It was around then that I really started focusing on songwriting. That's when I discovered the whole songwriting industry in Nashville. That's when I started coming down to Nashville and meeting people here. I've never really looked back."
