Meet Zane Callister | Music Producer, Song Writer, Artist

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

Hi Zane, do you have some perspective or insight you can share with us on the question of when someone should give up versus when they should keep going?
I don’t think giving up is ever an option. It’s more evaluation from time to time as to whether or not you’re being effective with your time and other resources. If I were to set out to chop down a tree, and my saw hit a knot or a burl in the tree, I wouldn’t give up. I’d hopefully find a new place on the tree to saw. That can sometimes look like starting over but your you’re just continuing on from the work you already did in another place.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Well, theres a bunch of questions here so I’ll do my best to hit all of them. I think I am where I am today because I’ve always (for better or worse) lived a little bit in outer space. I’ve been someone who has had a lot of dreams and when I saw something that left an impression on me I always wanted to get closer to it. I said earlier that I don’t really believe in quitting on your dreams, only realigning them. Thats been a big part of my story. I have had seasons of winter and much about what made me a “creative” would lay dormant. But in that time I was still dreaming and realigning. I’m not sure what makes me different per se, because a lot of folks that do what I do all have a similar genetic strand of crazy in their DNA haha. I guess what would make me different is as a producer I do release a lot of music as an artist. Not all producers get the opportunity to also work on their own music all the time and thats been a real blessing in my career. I hope to continue that as I pursue some new pasture in music. You asked about overcoming and lessons learned. I think those two questions work well for each other because I have said for a long time that successful people don’t stand on a mountain of accomplishments, they stand on a mountain of failure. Failure is truly one of the greatest teaches we have. And most successful people learn from every instance of failure. I tell people all the time that I don’t necessarily know more I just have failed more than most. The wildest part of that is I will continue to fail. It’s not like once you hit your 10000 hours you just skip failure, you just fail different. Something I would enjoy having people know about me is probably that I care about whats beneath the song. I love producing, I love finishing songs and writing them, but I have learned along the way that guitars don’t make songs, people do. And the more I pay attention to the people making the music, the better the songs will become.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If they’re in KC for a week I have a few things they absolutely have to do. If they’re drinking coffee were going to make sure to hit Oddly Correct, Messenger, Garden House, and Post Coffee. Breakfast/Lunch vibes they’re for sure checking out Housewife, Billies Grocery, Strange Hall, Tiki Taco, Jun’s Sushi, The Peanut, Town Topic, and The Russel. BBQ obviously gets its own category so Joes KC, Q39, Slaps, Harps BBQ, and Meat Mitch are the must try spots. If were doing a nice dinner my #1 is Noka and following that would be Corvino, Novel, and The Town & Co.

KC is a far better food town than it gets credit for. I think the BBQ reputation tends to cast a shadow over so many of its great offerings. We also have amazing museums if you enjoy artwork and we’ve got beautiful parks if you’re into the outdoors. I would hope that whoever is visiting comes in the fall so they can catch a game at the K or even better, a chiefs game at arrowhead.

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?
I have a few people who have absolutely helped shape me as a creative specifically as well as a few books. If we’re leading with books I think “The war of art” by Stephen Pressfield, and “Garden City” by John Mark Comer. Both have served a lot of purpose in my journey. Helping give language to some of the dreams, imposter syndrome, and process that all come and go in creative work. For people the first would 100% be my wife. When we started dating she was the first person to really encourage me to go full time in music. She had this interesting vision of me on this path and God was out in front of me cutting down the grass and weeds so that I could go down this path. I come back to that from time to time when things get difficult for sure. Being in music theres not always a ton of people that understand the experience of writing every day so a few folks who have been north stars for me on this journey have been one of my collaborators Jared Logan, and our friends Rodney and Nicolle Clawson. It’s amazing the difference it makes in life just having a few folks to pour gas on your fire.

Website: https://www.zanecallister.com

Instagram: @zane_callister

Other: My music can be found on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, etc. under: UTAH, Young Collective, Cardamom, The Invention of Flight

Image Credits
PHOTO CREDIT: CARLOS LIMA