Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacob Deaton.
Jacob, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I got out of the USAF at 22 years old and wanted to be a musician. I had no idea what that really meant, but I loved music, and after being banished by my superiors to picking up trash in the middle of an airfield for causing a little too much work for them than they liked to do on a normal basis, I figured I’d move on to another career. One that had no limits. I attended the Atlanta Institute of Music (now adds “Media” also) to teach me what a scale was and what some of the pretty chords I had been hearing in the trend of pop music in 2005. I quickly realized I was not that good, in spite of all of what my friends had told me. Upon graduation, I still wasn’t hirable. So, I got a teaching job and practiced every other hour of my day until three years later, I was, in fact, hirable.
After a 15-year stint as a touring musician around the US and in EU, appearing on America’s Got Talent and putting out many records as a jazz guitarist under my name and as a sideman, I decided something needed to change in my musical life. I realized that my goal of being a “successful musician” had sort of been achieved all of 12 years ago. I woke up and realized there was more to my life than being someone who played music. I wanted to be someone that could provide music to people needing it and I wanted to be the person my colleagues could count on to facilitate work that would impact my musician friend’s bottom line each month. So in November of 2019, I formalized Shindig Entertainment. This three-tiered company focuses on connecting musicians together to find work, provides vetted high-quality wedding and corporate event solutions and also offers corporations a unique take on infusing live music with their daily work life. That is what Shindig is all about.
Has it been a smooth road?
The largest piece of this process has been getting out of my own way. Taking the fears that I have deep inside me… the voices that say it can’t be done and not listen to them. It’s easy to turn back. Go back to the things you used to do. Sometimes life humbles you in a way where you have to do that. But the greatest challenge I’ve had to face is the limitations that my mind places on my current situation… and learning how to break through those limitations and exceed what I perceive my possibilities are.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
When I moved to Atlanta, it welcomed me as if it was mine from the beginning. I was seeking people who wanted to go for it. Go for life. Go for music. Not be scared about making mistakes and taking chances. I found that here very quickly. I was lucky!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.shindigmyevent.com
- Phone: 404 274 7613
- Email: jacob@shindigmyevent.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/shindigmyevent
- Facebook: facebook.com/shindigmyevent
Image Credit:
Fernando Decillis Photography
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