“My journey with music has just also been my life journey.”

How do you go from a kid obsessed with drums to becoming a music producer, engineer, and eventually an independent artist? This episode traces Joe Louis’ music journey from his earliest memories in church to Atlanta’s music industry, Brazil, live streaming, artist development, and finally discovering what his own music is supposed to sound like.

It starts with drums at four years old, learning instruments by ear, struggling to read music, playing in school bands and drumline, and eventually realizing just how much of his identity had always revolved around music. After football temporarily removed music from his everyday life, discovering Logic Pro X opened an entirely new world: music production. That path eventually led to studying audio production, moving to Atlanta, becoming a full-time producer and engineer, and learning the music business through real experiences—including encounters with Jill Scott, Dallas Austin and Leslie Brathwaite, and getting the opportunity to produce with Adam Levine vocals for Maroon 5.

But succeeding behind the scenes created another problem: becoming so useful as a producer, engineer and music professional that being an artist kept getting pushed aside. A trip to Brazil became an important turning point when someone finally took his voice seriously and encouraged him to sing. From there, the journey moves through artist identity, live streaming, building an audience, letting people into the creative process, and discovering a sound influenced by gospel, Brazilian samba, R&B and Black rock & roll. After nearly a lifetime in music, becoming the artist feels less like the end of the story and more like the beginning.

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Key Discussion Points

(00:00) - The Story Behind My Music Journey

(04:30) - How Drums Became My First Memory

(10:00) - Growing Up Around Music in the Church

(17:00) - The Musician Who First Inspired My Showmanship

(24:00) - Learning Piano by Ear Instead of Reading Music

(31:00) - Engineering Audio Before I Even Knew What Engineering Was

(38:00) - Performing on Drums for the First Time

(45:00) - Why Teachers Kept Giving Me the Wrong Instruments

(54:00) - How I Fooled Music Teachers Without Being Able to Read Music

(1:02:00) - The Teacher Who Finally Recognized My Musical Ability

(1:10:00) - “Are You a Music Man?”: The Report Card That Said Everything

(1:18:00) - Finally Getting to Play Drums in School

(1:27:00) - Drumline and Learning How to Read Music

(1:36:00) - Football Made Me Realize How Much I Missed Music

(1:43:00) - Discovering Logic Pro X and Falling in Love With Music Production

(1:48:00) - Choosing a Career in Music

(1:52:00) - Moving to Atlanta and Entering the Music Industry

(1:57:00) - Meeting Jill Scott and Learning How to Treat Artists

(2:05:00) - The Music Industry Lessons I Learned Behind the Scenes

(2:11:00) - Meeting Dallas Austin Without Realizing Who He Was

(2:16:00) - Quitting My Jobs to Pursue Music Full-Time

(2:20:00) - How I Almost Had a Song With Adam Levine at the Super Bowl

(2:27:00) - Brazil and Being Seen as an Artist for the First Time

(2:34:00) - Why Producers and Engineers Aren’t Your Competition

(2:39:00) - The Mixing Advice That Changed How I Work With Artists

(2:44:00) - Becoming Too Much of a Producer and Not Enough of an Artist

(2:49:00) - How Live Streaming Became Part of My Music Career

(2:54:00) - “Give Yourself First”: Why Good Music Alone Isn’t Enough

(2:59:00) - Building an Audience Around the Person Behind the Music

(3:04:00) - Finding My Sound Through Gospel, Samba and Rock

(3:10:00) - Discovering Black Rock & Roll and My Artist Identity

(3:17:00) - Why I Don’t Want My Music Put Into One Genre

(3:22:00) - Turning the Music Creation Process Into the Show

(3:27:00) - Why My Journey as an Artist Is Really Just Beginning