When Connecticut’s Rusty Gear got started in music, he was playing bass along with his older brother John, who was an accomplished guitarist. At a certain point however, Rusty decided that he too would like to play guitar. “I went to a friend’s house, a guy who was pretty handy. And we drilled a couple of extra holes in it, put two more strings on it…it didn’t work great, but my first guitar actually was a bass.”
Rusty played in bands throughout his high school and college years, including grad school, then after that in a hit or miss fashion, until about 10 years ago, when he got a bit more serious with a mostly-cover band. Then, a few years later, he took the next big step. “I decided to go down to Nashville and record some music,” says Rusty. “For the first time I wrote some original songs to work on in that session. And I enjoyed the process so much and the songs came out well…So I just kept doing it.”
Nine albums later, Rusty is still doing it. Although he has had a wide variety of musical experiences over the years, he says, “Nothing was as satisfying as writing a song, working on it, and then going and getting it cut, and having it come out in a way that you were proud of…Every time I go into the studio it’s just like the first time, honestly…”
“I’ve always been a passionate outdoors person. And if you listen to my songs, there’s a ton of outdoor imagery…” For example, his recent song, “Rest Easy” was at least partially inspired by a 17-year cicada emergence and fishing with cicadas.
As far as the style of his music, Rusty enjoys the freedom that the realm of Americana provides. “It gives me a license to do blues, to do rock & roll, to do contemporary country…I feel free to write whatever comes to mind, and as long as it fits within that very, very broad umbrella it’s really just a question of…how do I promote it most effectively.”