Books4Guys - Eric Gnezda

Eric Gnezda is an award-winning singer-songwriter and the creator and host of Songs at the Center, a TV series that airs on over 400 PBS stations across the U.S. He pens and performs a wide range of songs, both serious and humorous - from inspirational anthems and love songs that touch the heart and soul to country tearjerkers and comedic/satirical numbers. Gnezda accompanies himself on piano.

https://www.gnezda.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:15

You know about Yeah, we know about football here in Ohio too. I was about to say, I've got a lot of friends, a lot of a lot of neighbors actually around here in Nashville that are big. There seems to be a big Ohio State presence here. So I know how big there is there. Yeah. But no, Eric, good to good to have you on the pod today, like we were talking about. And before I push record, I know this is something we've been in communication about for almost two months now. As uh you reached out to share your book with me, and I'm excited to talk about it because you've done a lot of a lot of cool things in your life. You're a part of a lot of cool things. And uh really just wanted to kick things off with you just kind of describing, describing your story a little bit from from just how you grew up and the progression of the things that you're involved in now, and and really that's what your book's about. So I'd love for you just to dive in and talk a little bit about your story.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Well, first of all, Chris, I want to thank you for the invitation. What you're doing with Books for Guys is so cool. And it it's a really it feels a needed in the marketplace. So I want to thank you for all your effort. And I know these things are not easy on your side. So I very much appreciate that. My book's Stories at the Center is really a series of stories that I've weaved into a memoir. And it's about growing up with a disabled father. My father was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis three days after I was born. My mother, back in the 60s, had to take on a role that, you know, she wasn't even allowed to have a credit card in her name, but she had to take on, you know, a lot of the male roles. And she became the assistant dean of the College of Dentistry. So she she made it when everything was against her. And from there, it it talks about my evolution as an artist and as a songwriter. There's a, you know, one of the goals that I did not reach, and I, you know, I'm a very goal-oriented people. I like to reach my goals. I had a goal as a runner, and that was cut short by a coach who, you know, and I don't like to blame other people for, you know, things that I don't accomplish. But as I look back, he was just the wrong coach for me in all the wrong ways. And that kind of put me, that was one goal that I didn't reach that I've always felt bad about. But I learned from that, and then it it goes through my high school musical career. And I've had kind of a strange career in that I'm a songwriter and a speaker. Never really fit into the music world. I never really fit into the speaking world. So I've always kind of been on my own and and talk about how that process evolved into starting a TV show on PBS called Songs at the Center. And so, you know, that that's a chapter or so is about that. And I'll never forget, um, and you know, when when you come upon a project, you can never really look at the one thing that led you to it. But one of the things that I'll never forget is I was I was down in Nashville and I was meeting with a composer and uh just trying to find my way. And he said, What do you want to do? And out of nowhere, uh I don't know where it came from, I said, you know, I think I can see myself on PBS. And he looked at me and said, Don't ever forget that. Ten years later, I had a show on PBS. And so that was, and and I haven't seen him since, haven't talked to him or anything. But it's moments like that that make a life and make circumstances. So that's really what it's about. And then the book ends with um kind of some conclusions I've made. I think it talks about, I look at my own life and the processes and the lessons that I've learned, and then it ends with uh uh going back to uh when my father died. And I want to say something strange about that. When I started writing uh the memoir, and I never I never started saying, hey, I'm gonna write a memoir, but I took a class back in the early 90s, uh early uh 2000s, and we had to write an essay about our past. And what I wrote for my very first essay turned out to be the last chapter in this book. And that's just kind of a cool creative thing that us writers will find neat.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Yeah. No, and I'm glad you you went in through all that, Eric, because uh I was wanting to say, like, what you've done is very unique and had your hand in a lot of different things. And before I there's a couple things I want to dive into, but I was going back to you mentioned, you know, those small moments that build your story over time. And when you look back and when you're, you know, right, everyone should, I think, write a memoir because everyone has a very unique path and story, and there's always so many lessons that people can write about, people can learn from. So I just think no matter some people they think like, Who am I to write a memoir? I'm like, Well, you're a person, you have your own experiences, and I think everyone should take the opportunity to do that. And so, but isn't it cool all those little bitty moments, like you saying you were gonna be on PBS and then kind of speaking that into existence? But again, never seeing that guy again, but realizing how important that little moment was. Um, those those fascinate me as I people can't undermine the importance of those little things that lead to the big things that you accomplish.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Absolutely. And that was one of the surprises I had when I wrote this book. I mean, I've I've got lifelong friends who've I've shared secrets with and had experiences with and all that. But yet those were not always, as I look back at my life, those were not always the most life-changing instances. They they were life-changing for me, those people were. But the instances often come out of nowhere. And they're the important things are often done by anonymous people. And so we always have to be aware in our life because we never know when one of those is going to happen.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Yeah, no, absolutely. Well, I want to chip away just a little bit at your story, Eric, and not give too much away, is I want people to read your book and really deep dive into it. But, you know, one of my questions for you, and it may be, I don't want to get too deep or too sensitive with it, but I've never experienced some of the trials you did with with having a disabled parent and your mom, you know, having to really step up and be the strong one. And it sounds like, you know, she's still going strong today, which is amazing. And so, but what was that, I guess, your personal experience like as a kid, kind of understanding what was going on with your dad and mom, and and talk just a little bit about how that shaped, I don't know, the way you you thought and in the and how maybe it was different than what your friends, you know, were were experiencing. And so what was, I don't know, were there some challenges with that?

SPEAKER_01 7:42

There were many challenges. However, when I was going through it, I just thought that that was a normal life. I mean, when you're a kid, you don't have much perspective and you just think whatever's happening in your house is normal. It wasn't really until I approached 30 that I understood that my life was so much different than other people's. And now that I'm fully grown and and and mature, you know, a lot of my friends are going through what I went through in my teens. Parents are getting sick and have to go into homes and stuff like this. I don't, my dad was, he was really a tragic case because he was so, so intelligent and so funny. And but he he was just disabled. He was not able to get around. And uh I'm ashamed to say it, but I in my book I talk about, you know, being ashamed of my dad because when you're a kid, you think of strength as physical and you know, big towering dads, and my dad wasn't that at all. And when I was uh in my 20s uh or 30s, I was asked to write a um theme song for an MS uh puppet show that they were doing. And so I did a little research and they gave me some books on this and all that. And I was shocked to find that most boys were ashamed of their dads. There was an element of shame in that. I feel terrible about that, but I understand where it comes from. So there was that aspect, but there was also the aspect that I learned that as long as somebody is loved and they have a mind and a heart and a spirit, they bring value to this world. And we need to listen to them. And I think that's where my fence of wanting to serve others comes from, is is seeing that my dad, you know, just go through that. I mean, it was a he was a lucky man because, you know, my mom was competent and and we weren't dirt poor. We were poor, but not dirt poor. But, you know, he just could not do what other fathers do. And I think it really hurt him. And I see now, as I'm a father, I see the full extent of that.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

Yeah, yeah. No, and again, I was just it's something a lot of people don't experience, but I I'm glad you described it the way you did. And in a total separate conversation, it is unique, the relationship between father and son, and as you get older, what that looks like from a not a lack of respect, but as as a young man, you're taking on your world and you think you know you may know better. And so there's it's just it's a very interesting dynamic that's probably another subject to to to study at some point, read about and kind of better understand those thoughts. But I'm glad you brought it up because I've heard that dynamic discussed before, but I've never really deep dived into it.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

Yeah, yeah. Well, he, you know, he ultimately was a gift to me. And my career path has been my own, and I think that that he kind of set the stage for that.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

No, that's that's amazing. Well, talk a little bit about transition over to music. What inspired you? And I guess what was kind of that moment at an early age where you were like, hey, this is something I love to do. You know, some people they gravitate towards sports, they gravitate towards singing and music, or they, you know, they have that hobby that just grabs them and that's their passion. What uh what was that moment for you? And and you talk about your music a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

Well, I was uh I I I always loved music. You know, I from the time I was a kid, we had music class every day in school, and so I loved to sing. I never ever forget when the Beatles came on Ed Sullivan and uh started following all the British rock bands, and I wanted to be a drummer, so I started out as a drummer. Um, and it's strange, but when I was 15, I was working in um a family grocery store, and that, you know, thing, that um caravan, whatever it's called, was going across, you know, that carries all the food across the, you know, so they can check it out. And um I was just standing there talking, and this music's playing, and all of a sudden I put my hands down on that thing as it's passing, like I'm playing the piano. And I thought, where did that come from? Well, within, you know, a couple years from that, I basically taught myself all the chords, and you know, I'm still not a very great piano player, but I can, I, I play it well enough to write. And that's kind of where that where I discovered that passion. And then, you know, Jackson Brown, Jim Croce, Joni Mitchell, the Eagles, Janice Ian. I mean, it was the it was the the era of the singer-songwriter. And I just learned so much by listening to all those people. And then, you know, to find out one day that I'm gonna interview them was just mind-blowing.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

Yeah, and I'm curious on just your path to PBS and why that was such a and you kind of said like you you're not really sure why you spouted out what you said, but you obviously, you know, had some fascination and knew a little bit about what you wanted to do. But what I don't know, what's the story behind wanting to be on there and producing and getting that show started? And how did and obviously it it mixes with your music. So how did that all come about?

SPEAKER_01 13:21

Well, in about uh 2010, 2012, uh an art center opened uh in my town called the McConnell Arts Center, and then a a club opened called Natalie's. And uh they and I I at the McConnell Center, I got some friends together. We did a monthly song uh writer circle there. No audience, we just get together and sing. And then at Natalie's, um, I I went up to the owner right after it opened and I said, you know, um I've been playing a lot in Nashville. I played the bluebird, you know, almost 40 times. And so I had some experience seeing what was going on down there. And I said, uh, I said, you know, they do this thing called a songwriter round. They get three or four songwriters together, and I said, I'd like to try it here in Columbus. It had never been done. And so I did that for a number of years. But what I did discovered two important things about that. One, it was a real surprise to me because up to that time I'd just been promoting myself as a singer-songwriter and as a speaker and all that. But I discovered how much joy I got from watching other people exposing other artists to the public. And then the second thing is to see the public respond. And I was just amazed because it brought in a whole new element to my career. It wasn't just about Eric anymore, it was about showcasing other people. And I don't know, within about three or four months of doing that, I thought, well, you know, maybe I can do a radio show or something. But I just had this idea that turned into doing a TV show. So I went to the McConnell Center, which is a mile from my house, and I, you know, talked to them, and they were really interested in doing a pilot. So we did a pilot. We got it on the uh NBC affiliate here for five or six weeks. And then um PBS happened to see it, the local PBS station. They wanted it, they put it on the air, and about two or three weeks into that, uh, the program director, Stasia Hent, says to me, I think this has national potential. Do you mind if I send it to a syndicator? I'm like, mind, I don't care. You know, I don't even know about that. And since then we've been on, you know, cumulatively, we've been on about 420 stations. So, you know, it just kind of it's one of those things that, you know, you can't plan ahead, you just kind of one step at a time, and sometimes things work out.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Yeah. Oh man, that's incredible. I and I love that too, because you we were talking about moments earlier, but but I don't know, just taking advantage of those that or those organic opportunities that just present themselves. And then when they're there, it's you jump in and you do it, and then you look back, and you know, several years later, you're like, wow, look what we've done. And so I'm sure you still pinch yourself thinking, wow, look, look what we created.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Well, I don't pinch myself yet because I'm I'm I have enough anxiety, I have to, you know, be working all the time. But I think when it's over, or whatever that'll be, I'll probably find some satisfaction in it. But I I do find satisfaction in it now. I just I love, you know, all the songwriters. I I love talking to them. You know, the day of a the day that we're shooting, I I'm just very excited because I want to see what they're gonna bring to the show. And, you know, to give them the opportunities to shine. And I always learn so much from interviewing them too.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

And I made a few friends.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

Yeah, oh, I'm sure. I'm sure a lot. I've got to go back to something you said though, because you kind of threw it in there on me and I didn't know this about you, but you said you've played at the Bluebird 40 plus times, probably.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

Yeah, probably, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

Yeah, that's incredible because I know how important that place is to Nashville, and it's a big deal when people are able to actually get in there and see somebody perform. What I'm curious to know how you get invited to perform at the Bluebird. Like, just what's the process like? And because I've all I've I've never been personally, I've only had the opportunity once and couldn't make it. But I know people stand in line, you know, when certain artists show up, but I know it's such an intimate setting and and such an honorable place to be able to perform. So I'm just curious your experience there and how you've gotten to do all of that.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

Yeah, well, it depends. Some people, you know, um get invited by other uh people who've been invited and they get on. In my case, I auditioned and I'll never forget this. Went down to Nashville. It was like the last week of I want to say 2003, maybe. And a friend took me down there and he goes, You want to go to the bluebird tonight? And I'm like, that makes me nervous. I don't even want to get near that place. And as I was walking out, I saw a little sign. This was back before, you know, computers took over the world, and there was a little sign by the door that says, Wanna play the bluebird? It gave me an audition date, and I thought, oh, why did I see that? Because I knew myself well enough to know that I couldn't pass it up. So I auditioned and uh and and got in. I think they they said that they uh Amy Curland uh hosted the auditions and she still owned it then. It's now owned by the Nashville Songwriters Association International. But um, Amy said that about 15 to 20 percent would be uh invited to play. And so I I got I got a letter, you know, not an email back then, uh telling me that I uh had made it. So I was very, very thrilled.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

Yeah. When's the last time you played up there?

SPEAKER_01 19:10

It's been a couple years. I haven't gone down there recently. I've just been too busy with the show. But, you know, it it's it it's such a special place because there are, I I remember not long ago I had a discussion with an agent. He's he's a publisher, actually, and he said that that was his church, that he'd go to the bluebird and he'd listen. And truly, I mean, if you want to hear great songwriting and songs that can change your life, the greatest songwriters in the world play there. In fact, there's a sign above the uh entrance that says the the greatest songwriters in the world pass through these doors. And you know, if if we had more time, I could give you a couple examples of songs that have just, you know, blown me away by the artists. And I'll give you one. Don Schlitz, who wrote The Gambler at age 23, he was singing a song, and this was maybe 15, 20 years ago now, but he was doing this thing called Don for a Dollar, and he sang a line. He'd just written a song with Gary Burr, and it was my heart may be broken, but my memory's doing fine. And I heard that line, and 10 years later, when I finally met Don, I remembered that line, and I told him, I said, that's what makes a great song, is being able to remember something from the song, whether it's a line or a hook or something, the next day. And I so I told him that line, and he looks at me and goes, Are you sure I wrote that song? And I'm thinking, my God, you've written so many great songs you don't even remember that one. But he dug it out, and you know, it it it's just there were so many moments like that at the Bluebird. It's a great place. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

Yeah. No, that's incredible. Well, well, if you ever play there again, you'll have to let me know and we'll come down and watch you.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

I sure will. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Yeah. Well, Eric, just a couple more questions for you. I'd really like to know, you know, just specifically from your book as people read it, what are a couple things that you hope people take away from it? Whether that be simply enjoyment, a lesson you hope somebody learns from it, but what would you like people to take away from your book?

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Well, you know, I don't know. I think that, you know, as artists, we write things and people get all kinds of things that we never even intended. But my wish is that, first of all, people enjoy it. They see their own lives and part of it. But if there's a lesson, you know, I just hope that this book speaks to the need to readjust our values a little bit in this world. You know, it's not about money, it's not about fame, it's not about uh, you know, success in so many ways that we define it. It, you know, my dad, you know, used. Using him as an example again. He led a very successful life. But nobody outside of his four walls knew that. And I think that, you know, this book I hope anyway, that this book can bring empathy and a need for people to look at their own lives and be grateful for their own resources and and reach into them and say, wait a minute, I don't have, I don't have this fame or this money or whatever. But if I look inside, I see something that's even more valuable. And if I can help people see that, that'll make me happy.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Yeah, absolutely. And I think they will. Again, I think it's so important to write these stories. And yours, I'm glad you've shared it for people to read and learn about you. And so But Eric, I got one more question for you. And it's a tough one. I love asking people this question when I see a bookshelf behind them full of books. Um, because I know it's going to be a tough one. And I know it's your answer could change based off the season of life and or anything like that. But what's a book or two that has meant a lot to you personally? And what's a good book recommendation that you like to give to others?

SPEAKER_01 23:13

Well, first of all, Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankel. Good. The first half of that book. I mean, this man was in a concentration camp. He knows the secret to life, and I found a lot of good advice in that. Sid Hartha is another one. I learned about what it means to watch the river. That's what Herman Hesse says in there, you know, watch the river. And another one would be The Alchemist. It's a fable, but that one really spoke to me. So just off the top of my head, those are three books that I would recommend. And there's so many others. But um I think the classics just have so much to offer us. And I know it can be a hassle to read them because they're not written in our time frame, and and maybe they take a little bit more time to write or to read. But you know, I I'm a big love of the classics too.

SPEAKER_00 24:05

Yeah. It's funny you mentioned the Alchemist. I was uh Joel Goldberg, who's the sideline reporter for the Kansas City Royals, he was on the podcast recently, and I was just on his last week, counting the bases, and he's deep diving into that book for the first time and going through talking about just how entrenched he was and just you know, this time around, being intentional with reading it and taking things from it. So it's funny you're the second person to mention that in the last week to me. So I, you know, everyone listening need to pick up that book.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

Yeah. No, well, Eric, we've got your book on the website. We're so proud to spotlight it and share your story. And I and like you said, you've you've got so much work you're doing and so many things to accomplish ahead of you. And so now, thank you for being a part of the Books for Guys story now and your support. And we uh we can't wait to support you and all the things that you are working on and the things you're you'll continue to accomplish in the future. So, man, we appreciate it and so excited to have you a part of this with us.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

Oh, my pleasure, Chris. And I wish you the very best, and I will do what I can to support you and your your efforts.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

Thank you, Eric. Appreciate it. All right.