DEBBIE ELLIOTT, HOST:
Here on the eve of Father's Day, we have a story about dads and who they inspire us to be. Eighteen-year-old Ava Gilberg-Stroud picked up the drums at a young age because she wanted to feel closer to her dad. Ava, who lives in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, was curious to learn how her father, Keio Stroud, first got into music. She interviewed him for PBS Student Reporting Labs. We'll pass the mic to Ava to let her set the beat.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
AVA GILBERG-STROUD: Cool, right? That's me. I've had an obsession with music since day one. I blame my dad for most of it. His career as a drummer was the inspiration for me to begin my own adventure in music. I remember my first drum set like it was yesterday. My parents got me a little pink drum kit when I was about 4 or 5, and I wailed on it day and night trying to mimic the way my dad played. I never really got to ask my dad what made him start his career, so I sat down on a call with him to get the answers to my biggest question of all - how did he do it?
KEIO STROUD: Music is a very, very tough career to get into, and a lot of musicians are very, very skeptical about asking - you know, when their kids say they want to do music. You know, and what it was like, for me, and you still want to do this. That's cool. It's not easy, you know, even as a 44-year-old man.
GILBERG-STROUD: My dad, Keio Stroud, is a drummer based in Nashville, Tennessee, and it's safe to say he's made his dream come true. Here is John Rich introducing my dad in concert in his own special way.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOHN RICH: (Singing) Kickety-kick drum. I need the kick drum. I need the kick drum. I need the kick, kick, kickety-kick drum. I kick it now.
Give it up for Keio Stroud on the drums, y'all. Hello, Keio.
(Singing) Say oh, we, oh. Keio.
GILBERG-STROUD: My dad was always apprehensive about asking me if I wanted to do music because of his experience.
STROUD: But I got into music as a child. My dad plays music, and he was in a top-40 band. He also had, like, a gospel quartet. And on the weekends, my dad, we would go to the music store on the weekends, and he'd buy me a pair of drumsticks, and they let me play around the drums. When I was about 13 or so, I realized that I wanted to spend more time with my dad. And the best way to spend time with my dad, the best time that we could do is in the band. The incentive to get good was I wanted to be good enough to play drum set in that band. That was the whole thing that did it.
GILBERG-STROUD: It was then that I realized that me and my dad aren't that different. I started playing music because I wanted to be close to him. He began his career with a last-minute gig and moved away from home, but the road to success was rough.
STROUD: There's only three gigs I've gotten from auditions. One was Rodney. Two was Nashville Star, which I got fired from.
GILBERG-STROUD: (Laughter).
STROUD: Three was Little Big Town. I got fired from that one. I actually got fired from that one. And you were a baby. I called you and I apologized to you for getting fired.
GILBERG-STROUD: But he pushed through, working hard, eventually playing for big names like Big & Rich, Keb' Mo' and many more. Here he is covering "The Lord Will Make A Way" by Al Green.
STROUD: I knew what I wanted to do for a living when I was 5 years old, which is rare. You know what I mean? That means that I eat, sleep and breathe music. But, you know, the ideal of it, you know, is that you - whatever you want to do, you have to engulf yourself into it.
GILBERG-STROUD: I think the biggest takeaway from his story is that no matter how hard it gets, never give up because you never know when success is right around the corner.
Well, that's kind of all I really had to ask. Anything you want to add at all?
STROUD: I love you.
GILBERG-STROUD: I love you, too.
(LAUGHTER)
ELLIOTT: This segment was originally produced by Ava Gilberg-Stroud with support from Briget Ganske, Wyatt Mayes and Genesis Magpayo. It's part of our "On Our Minds" podcast made by PBS News Student Reporting Labs.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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