Scandalous Secrets of Success Behind the Mic

According to one veteran, there’s a simple secret to Music Row success: “Be as kind to the receptionist as you are to the studio owner,” says Mak Kaylor, author of Confessions of a Session Singer: Scandalous Secrets of Success Behind the Mic. He’s been singing session vocals and commercial jingles for the last 25 years.

Nice guys and gals do finish first, according to Kaylor, and that’s because the Nashville power center shifts so rapidly: “In the recording industry, you never know who plays an important role nor do you know what position someone may have in the future,” he writes. “I’ve known interns who have become creative directors at major publishing companies and record executives who became car salesmen because their labels went out of business. ‘Musical Chairs’ is played constantly in the music industry, so be kind to everyone you meet.” Just ask Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood and Nashville Star winner Buddy Jewell; they all spent time, as Kaylor says, “in the trenches as demo singers.”

With Confessions, Kaylor pulls back the layers of mystery surrounding a career on Music Row, revealing the inner workings of a sometimes tight-knit and exclusive industry. Practical advice—such as “Don’t be a miserable person”—along with anecdotes and information specific to working as a session singer in Nashville make up the bulk of this book, Kaylor’s first. But what Kaylor lacks in experience as a writer, he more than makes up for with years of lecturing and leading seminars and workshops on making it in the music business. He’s knowledgeable, and his explanations are straightforward and friendly. He’s the teacher who encourages, who shares what he’s learned over the years and gives what he can. At 100 pages, this book is as slim as a poetry volume, but the guide is nonetheless as thorough as possible: Kaylor even includes a CD of a live vocal session.

Kaylor doesn’t sugarcoat, though, or downplay the realities of making it in a business where opinions matter, where bills may not get paid because public tastes have changed. He acknowledges how ludicrous it can be, irreverently titling his chapters “Premeditated Murder: Technique-ing the Life Right Out of a Song” or “Prostitution Is Still Illegal in Most States, Isn’t It?: Selecting Your Work Wisely Without Compromise.”

As for any “scandalous secrets” awaiting the reader within the pages of Confessions, the same tongue-in-cheek tone holds true. Apparently, Kaylor does want to work in this town again, for his anecdotes and advice are more G-rated than lurid. After decades in the business, he still believes the best way to be a professional is to be professional: show up early and prepared; respect the studio engineer or risk pissing off a singer’s biggest ally; understand that the singer is there to serve the song and not the personal ego. It’s “less about singing than it is about communicating well,” he says. “A great vocal is more like a sincere conversation than a performance.”

And what of fear and nerves when the day arrives and the Music Row hopeful finally lands that first job behind the mic? Kaylor has advice for that situation, too: “Think of all the times you were afraid you’d never have this opportunity!”

Reviewed by Lacey Galbraith