In this episode Durell is joined by indie singer, songwriter, and actress Kristen Ford. Durell and Kristen begin the episode talking about Kristen living in 6 different states before the age of 18. She shares that her dad worked in education and he moved around alot. Most of her time was spent primarily in Northern Massachusetts and the Boston area. She shares that she has been living in Nashville for the past 5 years. Durell and Kristen talk about how moving around so much shaped her overall outlook on life. Kristen shares that her travels have made really big on appreciating her journey that music has taken her along. Kristen shares that she really appreciates that I talk so much about trusting the process and managing expectations because that’s something that she learned when she was working for an artist management company and being able to go with the flow of where the path takes you because it’s much easier to handle.

Kristen and Durell talk about her journey into songwriting at the age of 15. Kristen also talks about her being interested in learning about audio engineering, playing drums, and guitar because she knew she had a passion for creating her own original material. She shares that she now approaches songwriting with a much more professional approach because of her being much more experienced and knowledgeable about the overall craft of how to create and flush out an idea and turn it into a quality product. Durell and Kristen talk about how the format of music has changed now that we are in the era of streaming and music moving much more quickly than in the previous era. Durell talks about the fact that songs are much shorter because of the music consumer’s attention span. A lot of creatives care about having a lot of products in the marketplace today. Durell talks about having a core audience and micro economy because that is really the only way that the majority of indie creatives can establish a long term career without the need of a record label.

Kristin shares that from 2008-2014 she averaged about 225 shows per year. She shared that most of the shows she booked and promoted herself. Even though she says that it was probably too many shows, she was grateful to have the opportunity to play music, travel all over the world, and meet new people. Durell shares that as an independent artist you are oftentimes left with the responsibility to wear a lot of different hats along the way. Kristen shares that she’s learned over the years to become more comfortable with the idea that can still be successful in her music career by diversifying the way she earns money. She shares that because she has been able to find different ways to make money within music she can afford to spend money on different things to enhance her live performances as well as her wardrobe. Kristen shares with Durell that she’s done the majority of her international touring in Germany. She says that Germans can sometimes be a bit rigid but she does her best to loosen them up by getting them to interact with her during her shows. Kristen also shares about her tour stops in Chile, Bolivia, and Peru and what stood out to her is how most of the people in those countries make very little money because capitalism isn’t valued the same way as it is in the United States. Kristen shares that it was a major culture shock for her. She still has big dreams to travel to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and places that speak primarily in English.


Durell and Kristen end the episode talking about how a lot of indie artists value fame and oftentimes equate fame with success. Kristen says that she’s traveled to places and after her performance there would be people in the audience congratulating her and she’d find herself having a lot of meaningless conversations. She shares that if she can feel that way at times she definitely can see how people like Chris Brown can probably get tired of having those same type of conversations. Kristen also talks about her experiences in Sync Licensing and how she’s had opportunities to write songs for film projects that even lead to some acting roles.

Durell and Kristen discuss what she was able to do with her Kickstarter campaign and how she’s been able to get funding from those who genuinely support her and the freedom that comes with that. Durell shares that the goal should always be to turn interested fans into supporters.


For more info on Kristen Ford, please visit her website:

https://kristenfordmusic.com/