This is all about the job of a solo singer-songwriter artist on tour, and the considerations he/she takes. Let’s say the artist has three shows on the books for a Thursday, Friday, Saturday. The Saturday engagement, a folk music series concert, is the “money” date, as is often the case. That is the night of week where the chance of strong turnout is best, thus the earnings will be on the higher end. For this particular artist let’s say there is a $600 guarantee plus lodging in a guest room of someone with a large home. Other artists might consider $250 a big money night, others could garner $1,500 as such. This artist sees $600 as the ”cash cow” of a night. On the night before (Friday) said artist is in a town 4 hours and 38 minutes drive away from the Saturday show site. As Friday night is the NEXT BEST NIGHT OF WEEK for success it has a $400 guarantee. Both Friday and Saturday events allow for extra monies beyond the guarantee (overage), provided the turnout is really good. There is no lodging thrown in for the Friday night, so the artist must fend for self in booking a hotel stay, finding a guest room possibility, doing a campground, sleeping in car, etc. But, before these two engagements begin there is a Thursday night gig. It was booked as a “pick-up” date. See, the artist lives 700 miles from the Friday show, and Thursday’s performance is a way to earn some money while cutting drive time down. Of course, it is not a prime weekend night, and the restaurant/bar is paying the artist $150 plus a meal. There will be a tip bucket in front of the stage and any “extra” dollars will go toward justifying taking the engagement. If $60-$75 is made from the tip bucket a cheap hotel stay could be covered. After fuel costs, the artist could actually profit some $90-$140 on the day’s work. If tips are paltry it looks more like a $60-$75 day. Here is the potential problem for the performer: the Thursday gig calls for three hours of playing and singing. After three hours of pushing metal strings against the fretboard and singing 30-40 songs the artist has placed a certain amount of wear and tear on his/her fingers and voice. On the following two nights this performer will be expected to deliver a strong performance. After all, there is guaranteed monies and lots of prep work put in by the presenter(s). The Saturday night audience and presenter will not be thinking about performances that took place on previous nights, only the one at hand. The artist is aware of this and feels a responsibility to deliver a top notch presentation. Now, in the weeks approaching this cluster of dates it has become possible for the artist to add a Wednesday night engagement to this little tour run. That would be great, right? A fourth date, a bit of a heftier little tour outing. However, it is a rare offering of a midweek house concert, with no guarantee. The expectation from the host is that 15-20 friends/co-workers/neighbors/family will make up the audience. There is a “suggested donation” of $15 per person and a guest room awaits the artist afterward. The performer has to really consider the wear and tear on those fingers and voice over these first couple of performances. Having elected to agree on the house concert the artist drives to show #1 of 4. Upon entering the living room and setting up some gear for the performance, the host’s phone begins to blow up. It is cancellation after cancellation from those co-workers and friends, those neighbors and family members. Oh, well, the audience is now to be 9 or 10 people. Hmmm…the artist knows the earnings will be much slighter than hoped. The intended monies of $225-$300 look more like $135-$150. Wait, if some merch is sold (CDs, Flashdrives, DVDs, T-shirts, etc.) that could amp up the overall take. And, the audience knowing there were lots of no-show audience members, will surely want to buy merch. Right? Not necessarily. As it turns out, the turn out is 7 people ($105) and the sales are dreadful (1 $15 purchase). Furthermore, the 7 folks in attendance (all wishing to be praised for attending on a Wednesday night) seem to expect lots and lots and lots of “talk” time. After all, they are in direct access to the featured artist, with little competition. Questions after questions after questions target the troubadour. The artist knows something, cares about something, that no one else is thinking. SATURDAY is my money date. I need to be, have to be strong in that performance. And, TOMORROW, on Thursday, I am due to play a pick-up gig in a restaurant, where they hired me for three hours of music! The damage to the fingertip skin from pushing down those metal guitar strings, the soreness, coupled with the potentially overused voice could render me lesser than I want to be for that folk series on Saturday. The date that was booked a year in advance, and giving me the $600 guarantee. AND, with an inspired performance on Saturday the audience could buy significant merch numbers. The artist is thinking, late Wednesday night, I have to do as much storytelling and song set-up talking as I can get away with, on the Thursday three-hour restaurant gig. I have to stay away from certain hard playing guitar parts or repetitive chord voicings, things that cause substantial exhaustion to my hands. The upper range songs need to be excluded, if possible, or adjusted, vocally, to reduce the strain to my voice. Yes, these things are being plotted by the artist. Friday requires a solid performance. Saturday requires a solid performance. Where does the planning begin? Way back to when the dates were booked. And, as the tour develops, such as adding a Wednesday engagement that had questions attached (many questions, in fact) the artist has to be considering many things. It is her/his job. For those who read let me make it very clear, in case your mind tells you otherwise, touring singer-songwriters are doing a job. It is something to be considered.