Where the Music Lives: Bandmates, Cities and the home within w/Corey Congilio

In this episode, I reconnect with guitarist, educator, and fellow Effortless Mastery retreat graduate Corey Congilio—a musician whose presence in the Nashville scene is more than skill; it’s a standard.   Corey’s work as a pioneering educator has shaped players across generations, with a roster of students that include the likes of artists like Seal and countless guitarists who’ve come to rely on his clarity, precision, and grounded musical wisdom.   But beneath the technique and the résumé lies the real connective tissue of our friendship: a shared devotion to the inner world of the artist.   Our common love and passion beyond the obvious is a vision of a music industry where musicians are more conscious of one of the most underaddresed skillsets of a professional aritist in the current era: personal development.   Corey is a self-proclaimed 'therapy junkie', while I took things to a whole different level by getting certified as a therapist myself and eventually making coaching an integral extension of my artistic practice.   A significant part of this conversation dives into the soul-level decisions behind where we choose to live and create. Corey breaks down why Nashville became his creative ecosystem—not for the clichés, but because the city demanded, shaped, and refined him. I share my own unconventional pull toward Berlin: both choices rooted less in career strategy and more in inner alignment, curiosity, and the need for a different kind of creative oxygen.   From there, we shift into the heart of Corey’s newest chapter: the release of his debut solo EP—a reclamation of artistic identity after years of amplifying other people’s visions in one of the world’s most competitive music environments.   We explore:  

• the psychological shift from sideman to solo artist.
• the intricacies of collaboration and the invisible emotional contracts musicians enter.
• why hiring the right bandmates is an energetic choice as much as a musical/logistical one.
• the realities of touring: mental endurance, boundaries, and humanity.
• the subtle anatomy of a classic Nashville Live-band studio workflow.
• how location, community, and self-awareness shape the art we make.

(This is the official edited release of our exchange. The uncut version lives inside the community.)

Complete Episode

 

https://coreycongilio.com/

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Episode Notes / Text : www.tlwrites.com

 

Music and Audio Production: www.everynowheremusic.com

 

Episode Notes / Text : www.tlwrites.com