Meet Billy Livsey | Musician, Producer, and Composer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Billy Livsey and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Billy, can you tell us about a book that has had a meaningful impact on you?
The Copenhagen Trilogy by the Danish author Tove Ditlevsen.This book moved me in so many ways through the author’s childhood in a toatlly honest portrait of growing up in Denmark before Worldwar 2. She writes in such a beautiful way it’s a hard book to put down. It invovles so many aspects of art, ambition, and family that I was hooked on the story from the very beginning.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Getting to where I am today is a journey I wouldn’t change. Although there have been setbacks along the way, music has always been a guidepost that keeps me centered. However, the digital age has nearly destroyed many music careers due to the fact that income has dwindiled and made it almost impossible to make a living. I was very lucky to be around during the tail end of the golden age of music where one could make a living as a player or a songwriter. I’ve always kept an open mind regarding change and have moved from being a session musician, to a songwriter, and now doing a variety things as a composer for documentaries as well as composing background music for film and TV. This year has been a strange mix of having written a soundtrack for the Indie Film “Where is America, the Beautiful which is now being shown in festivals across the country, a song put on the 4oth Anniversary Album “Thriller” by Michael Jackson that was not used on the original ablum but was put back on for the Anniversary, and a song from the 80’s that I had produced and co-wrote which was just recently on the Netflix series Sex Education, Series 4, Episode 1.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
A good listening room in Nashville is 3rd and Lindsley and great music on Mondays with The Time Jumpers who do brilliant Western Swing Music. Another fun place on Broadway is Roberts Western Wear. I would show my friends the Museum of African American Music which is nearby on 510 Broadway. And for more pop, rock, indie I would say we’d go to the Brooklyn Bowl 925 3rd Ave S. For food I would suggest Epice Restaurant 2902 12th Ave S that serves modern Lebanese fare, Bare Bones Butcher on 906 51st Ave N for great burgers, Folk Restaurant 823 Meridian St for more veggie dishes and great pizzas, and
Maru Nations 5511 Centennial for Sushi. A good plain old bar and bar food in West Nashville is the Nations Bar and Grill.
For art galleries I would suggest the Julia Martin Gallery 444 Humphreys St. and the David Lusk Gallery 516 Hagan St.
And for my sports friends the usual Titans, the Predators, and Nashville Sounds baseball.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Far too many! First off to two great St. Louis Missouri pianists Herb Drury and Paul Stanis who taught me the joy of playing the piano. Paul always told me: Billy, you need two things in life, Patience and Perseverence. Still working on that. I would also like to give a shoutout to the WO Smith Community Music School in Nashville Tn where I volunteer teaching young students. I’m sure I get more rewards than they do when I hear one of my students move on to do great things in the community.

Website: www.billylivseymusic.com

Instagram: https://linktr.ee/Billylivsey

Youtube: BillyLivsey Music