Ep. 75: He Ignored the Experts—and Built America's #1 Party Band | Dennis Smith

Dennis Smith: The Creative Process Behind America's #1 Party Band

What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't talent, opportunity, or resources—but the fear of what other people might think?

In this episode of Interesting Humans, Jeff sits down with Dennis Smith, founder and bandleader of Party on the Moon, one of the most successful corporate and private event bands in America.

Dennis shares the unlikely story of how an 11-year-old boy, mesmerized by a neighborhood rock band rehearsal, became obsessed with the power of creativity, collaboration, and building something meaningful. Along the way, he reveals the life-changing lessons he learned from author Robert Fritz, why most people misunderstand the creative process, and how separating your identity from your work can unlock extraordinary freedom.

From leadership and entrepreneurship to confidence and personal growth, this conversation is packed with practical wisdom that applies far beyond music.

Key Takeaways

🎸 Creativity Is a Skill—Not a Gift

Dennis explains how the creative process follows a repeatable structure that anyone can learn. Great creators don't rely on inspiration alone—they learn how to move from vision to reality.

🎯 Vision Creates Productive Tension

Whether you're building a business, improving your health, or learning a new skill, growth comes from understanding the gap between where you are today and where you want to be.

🚫 Your Work Is Not Your Identity

One of Dennis's biggest breakthroughs came when he realized that what he creates is separate from who he is. That mindset made it easier to take risks, embrace failure, and keep growing.

🧠 Most People Are Held Back by Approval Seeking

Fear of looking foolish prevents countless people from trying new things. Dennis shares why letting go of the need for approval can be one of life's most liberating decisions.

🥁 Leadership Means Helping Others Perform Freely

A powerful story involving 120 nervous high school marching band students reveals how great leaders remove fear and create an environment where people can do their best work.

🔥 Create Because You Love the Process

Dennis asks himself one question before starting any project: Would I still want to do this if it never became successful or made money? The answer reveals whether the motivation is authentic.

🙌 Personal Freedom Is the Ultimate Success Metric

For Dennis, success isn't fame, money, or recognition. It's the freedom to create, think, and live according to your own values without being controlled by the opinions of others.

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#InterestingHumans #DennisSmith #PartyOnTheMoon #Leadership #Entrepreneurship #Creativity #PersonalGrowth #BusinessLessons #SuccessMindset #Podcast

Transcript

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I want to just look at your host quick note before we get started. This episode originally aired on my former podcast called 20 Minute 28, where I interviewed high-level operators using the same four-question format. Now I'm bringing the best of those conversations into Interesting Human Podcast as bonus episodes. So everything lives in one place. Today's guest is Dennis Smith, the founding member and band leader of America's number one corporate and private party band. And what he's learned about leadership, performance, and building something people just cannot stop talking about. Let's dive in. Alright, folks, welcome to another episode here. I have Dennis Smith with me today, original founder of Party on the Moon Band, amongst so many other cool things we're going to talk about today. It's a podcast where I ask the same four questions to people out there just doing incredible stuff in the business world. So the first is for five minutes, unpack your journey. We always think it's linear, but it's got a lot of ins and out, twists and turns. Second question, single best piece of advice you ever got. Third question, what is the biggest mistake you ever made? And then lastly, I want to hear from you, Dennis. What what is the life lesson that you want to pass along? So I'm going to try to do this justice because it's it's truly remarkable what you've built. And I'll never forget you explaining how everybody said, no, you're crazy. 14-piece bands don't make it, they're not going to be a thing. And and you took that advice, but you didn't completely listen to it. You went your own way. And forged something that is so special and so unique. And you mentioned you're playing with Kenny Chesney. You've played in front of and with Blake Shelton, and the list goes on and on and on. So I just Brooks and Dunn, I think you said too, right? Yeah. Just incredible. So let's get right into it. What was that journey like for you? You know, when I was 11, when I was 11 years old, I was riding my bicycle in my neighborhood, and I heard in the distance a rock band. First time I'd ever heard of it. I've never been to a rock concert. I'd only heard electric guitars and drums on TV. Okay. And I'm hearing this sound, and I'm drawn to it like a like a moth to flame. Wow. So I drive up to the house, I knock on the door, I wait for the music to stop. I knock on the door, and a teenager comes to the door, he's 16 or 17, and I said, Can I come in and listen? I'm a look, you know, he's looking down at me, and he said, Sure you can. So I come in, I sit down, and in the room, it's probably about the size of the studio, is two guitar players, a bass player, a drummer, and a singer. And they've got electric guitars and amps and drums, and they're and I was I was blown away. And what what they were doing was they were doing, I think, a yard bird song, and they put the record on the little 45, and they sat around the room and they listened to it. Right? And then they chatted about it for a second. Well, you know, I think that's an E-chord, or you know, check out the way they went into the bridge. And so I'm I'm watching this, right? And then they played it, and it got closer to the vision that they were trying to create, which they wanted to sound it, they wanted it to sound like the record. Sure. And so I watched them do this, and it just blew me away. And and the thing about it that that looking back on it right now, I what I realized is I was seeing the creative process unfold in front of me in the real time. That they had current reality, which was the record, sure, and they had their vision of what they wanted it to sound like, and they were taking action steps, working together in harmony for the same goal. Yeah. And at the end of the rehearsal, the the band leader says, Well, you know, I want you to be here Friday, you got to be here Friday night at six o'clock. Dad's gonna load up all the equipment in the pickup truck. He's gonna take us down to the high school gym, and we'll be ready to play after the football game. Wow. And the pay is, I can't remember, 150 bucks, whatever it was. And I would I'm I'm watching all this as an 11-year-old going, holy shit, man, what is this? And the thing that attracted to me musically, I thought it was great. Yeah. But the biggest thing that attracted me about it was the the power of the collective collaboration. You know, when Christ said this, where two or more are gathered, right? I mean, you see it all through everything, but I was seeing it in real time. Yeah. Wow. Um so I left there and I decided two things. I wanted to do that, right? And it it could have been, you know, working on cars or it could have been woodworking. Yeah. But what I wanted was that experience and that uh that creative power. So when I left there, I went, I I want to learn how to do this. Uh so I want to learn the creative process. I want to figure this out. Yeah. Uh, and I want to create something of value. Because what these guys did was they worked together and they created something that was valuable enough for people to pay to pay to see it. I went, wow. Really, dude? Wow. This is great. It's cool. So I started playing at a band. I started as a drummer, then I switched to guitar, and then uh I started a band, and I had record deals and publishing deals, and you know, none of that. Uh, you know, I didn't become a rock star. And then I decided that I was going to put together the the best party event band in the world, and everybody, as you said, said it was a bad idea. But I used those, so I'm I'm doing now what I saw those guys did when I was 11, which is I gathered a group of people together, yeah, and we all wanted the same thing. We all agree that we wanted the same thing, and I lead the band, I decide what it's gonna be. Of course, I take input. Sure. And um so I learned how to create and I learned how to work together with people, and that was that was so so I'm here, and I'm I'm really uh I feel really fortunate that that one event opened up a whole new world for me that up until that time did not exist. Advice. So you've you've had all these business ups and downs through the years learning. I would imagine you've had incredible advice and not so good advice. What do you think is the best piece of advice you ever got? The best piece of advice I ever got was a good friend of mine recommended me, uh recommended that I read this book. He said, I want you to read this book because I was I've always been about learning and exploring and everything. And he said, I want you to read this book by a guy named Robert Fritz. The name of the book is Path of Le The Path of Least Resistance. Sure, I'll read the path. So I I read it and I was blown away because what it was about was how the cre it was about how the creative process works and developing the skill of the creative process, right? And and using uh current reality and vision uh and and how to how to navigate that structure. Okay, so his his concept is all around structure. You you know, and structure gives rise to behavior, but structure is the thing, whether it's a movie or a piece of music or a photography, if if you it these guys are master structuralists, the people that are good at it. And so I read the book, and then I I saw that he gave that he had uh creating a creating workshop that was like five weeks, one day a week, right? So I said, well I'm gonna take this. This I mean, I'm in the mu this is gonna help my music a lot. Yeah, right. For sure. Uh so I took the course and it it it was a game changer for me. Uh because what I uh because I what I learned was is that the create to create was a skill, not a mindset, or a belief system. It was a skill. Right? But so I went into it thinking, well, I'm gonna learn about music because Robert's background, he's just a composer, he's a film, uh, he's a filmmaker, he's a world-renowned art um author. Uh, and uh, but what I learned was is I could take I I could take the same uh concepts and create my relationships, money, uh, work, uh, family, and it just it it changed everything. Right. And and and what I what and and and to the basics of it are you've got the vision and you've got current reality as relates to that vision. You know, like let's say I want to I weigh 200 pounds, I want to that's what I weigh, and I want to weigh 150. That creates a tension. Right. Uh and it's physics, it's not belief. There's a difference between where you are and where you want to go that sets up a tension resolution system. Right? And uh Carson and I, my son, were playing golf the other day, right? And people people are uh attracted to structure, like great movies. Right? Great music. Yeah, right? And the masters know how to structure, and that's what I was learning. And Carson and I went golfing the other day, and I said, you know, the thing about golf that's so great, it's the ultimate tension resolution system at play. Right? Now think about it. You're on the T, your vision is to go 400 yards, whatever it is. That's cool. And you're taking action, yeah. Right? And you hit over here, so now current reality has changed, you're closer than you were, hopefully you were, sometimes you're farther away, in my case. And and you you develop your skill, yeah, and then you put the ball in, and that's the the resul that's the uh resolution of the of the of the tension. Sure. It's it's almost like if I took a rubber band, it resolved itself. And then we go to hole number two. And now we do the same thing. Uh the biggest mistake I ever well, it wasn't my biggest mistake regret was I wish that I had learned earlier to set how to separate, not how to separate, but the truth that what I create is not a reflection of who I am. They're totally different. You mean music-wise? Anything. Anything. What we create is separate from what it says about us. It's not about our identity. Wow. Okay. Right? So when I create something, I'm the same person before we created Party on the Moon than I am now. I'm still the same person. Yeah. Right? I'm still the same person before I created this house. Sure. How'd you learn that? Uh I learned it, it was part of Robert Fritz's work. Right? Because we are separate from we're separate from what we create. Sure. It's a powerful thing because what held me back was uh I was looking for approval from others. Yeah, absolutely. How do I look? Right? And when I took up golf, and I didn't take up golf until the kids were born, I knew I was gonna suck. You're gonna learn how to play golf. You're gonna suck, man. Let's less I mean, I've never seen anybody do it. But I was okay with that because I knew that it wasn't about me. Right. Now, how many people will not do something brand new because they want to look good? Oh, this is so helpful. Wow. You see what I'm saying? Helpful for me. So I wish that I would have learned that because I would have taken a lot more chances. Yeah. Not not in a reckless way. Right. But I would have done a lot more uh I would have done a lot more creating. So the number one lesson that I would uh would pass along uh is my highest value is personal freedom. That that people are free to think and do what they want. And I don't give you that freedom. You already have it. Right? So, as one of my teachers says, said to me, uh, it's none of my business what you think of me. Oh, I love that. Now think about what I just said, it's none of my business what I what you think of me. Because in reality, I can't, I have no control over what you think about me. My preference would be is that you would like me and you know people would like the band and people would want to work with me, but I I don't get a vote. So I'm gonna give you an example of how I work with this in real time because what what I'm doing now in my work is I like to work with communities and companies on utilizing artists from that community in the work with us, in the show. So we did a we do a show, we do this show every year, and I started doing this probably eight years ago, nine years ago, where the first artist that we brought in was a high school marching band, okay, from Kingsport, Tennessee. They just won the national marching band championship. I said, why don't we bring them in and let them be part of the show? Yeah, this would be cool. Yeah. So we got 2,500 people in a conference center ballroom for the Chamber of Commerce. The doors swing open, and out of two doors come 120 marching band drummers. Yeah. So we go to work, so I reach out to the uh, I reach out to the band director. And they said, we're gonna we'll sound check at two o'clock, so have everybody there at two o'clock. And then we did a run we did a walkthrough. And they were gonna march in playing. They were gonna go in front of the stage on the dance floor, and they were gonna do two segments of music that were gonna be about two or three minutes long, very short, and then they were gonna play We Will Rock You, and we were gonna start, and they were gonna march out while we're playing, and we were gonna finish the song. That's how we were gonna transition. So we went through the walkthrough. Right now, think this is high school, eight graders to twelfth graders, and they'd never played with a rock group. And you could I could see it in their eyes, they were scared to death. Right. Playing like this. You know, and you could just see they were terrified. So we went through the first run through and I gathered them all around, right? Right. And I said, uh, how many of you are worried? Just about every hand went up. Yeah, yeah. And the people that didn't raise their hand wanted to raise their hand, they just didn't want to let anybody know that they were worried. I said, uh, are you worried that uh people are gonna like you? Well no. So let me tell you something. I said, and I told them this story. I said, you have no control over what people think of you. You don't get a vote. So if you don't have control of what people think of you, then why would you want to try to do anything to make them like you? Wow. Which means that you can just be yourself. Sure. Special so this is what I want you to do. I want you to now that we know that you have no control over what they think, and let me also say that people for the most part, I think, are predisposed to like you. I mean, I wouldn't say, Jeff, let's let's let's go down to the bar. Maybe the band will suck. Yeah. We would never say that. I mean, we want to show up, we want the band to be good. Right. Said, so people are, I mean, people want to come to this party and they want to have a good time. So the, you know, they're they're all on, they're already on your side. Yeah, already on your side. And I said, so what I want us to do is run this again, and I want you to play that drum like it's the last friggin' time you're ever gonna play this drum, with a smile on your face and kick these people's face off. Yeah. And I'll tell you, when they did that walkthrough again, it was like their total orientation. Oh, wow. Their orientation toward what they were doing flipped. Yeah. Yeah. Because they were in a different structure. They were, this is what where we are, this is what we want to do. Doesn't matter what people think. This is us. Yeah. And they blew that room away. Did they? And they and here's the thing: we've done it every year with them since. It's so cool. I mean, we've done it so long now that some of the kids that were in the band now are guests, and I've had them come and and and I've had them come up to me and say, that was the greatest advice I ever got. Really? Wow. That's awesome. So this is the thing that I think. When I set out to create a project, or do something to do this with you, right? I asked myself this question. If I was not gonna, if it was not gonna be a success, and if it was not gonna bring in income, would I still want to do it? Now that doesn't mean that we don't do things to work. Right. But if I was gonna do if I was gonna take on this project like Elm of the Christmas Clay, would I still want to do it? And if I can answer yes, then I'm on the right track. Because I don't have anything up my sleeve. I'm creating art for art's sake. I'm creating for its own sake. We don't, we don't uh I know you you were telling me that you're uh coaching your kids baseball. You don't do that because you want p payback. Right. It's clean, it's intention. Yeah. Like when Christ said, when you give with your right hand, don't let your left hand know what the right's doing. Right. That was what I was telling these kids. Play your ass off. Yeah. Don't worry about what you're gonna get. That's so cool. Thanks, man. I appreciate it. It's an awesome, awesome uh segment. Great nuggets. Some of them have helped me. I can't wait to go home and tell my kids. So thank you. Keep up the work you're doing. I appreciate it, man.