Today we’d like to introduce you to Devin Gutierrez.
Hi Devin, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed with your story and how you got to where you are today.
I started singing at the age of two, piano by 3. I started getting local gigs in my small hometown of Sweetwater, TX, where I performed renditions of The Star Spangled Banner from the age of 8. Being blind since birth, I was well known throughout the town, so I was getting asked to sing and play by everyone from the football team to the local chapter of the elks club, and other functions during that time. I ended up changing course slightly in middle school, going down the road of trying to learn computer programming so I could seek employment in that area as an adult. This didn’t work, however, as I quickly discovered I had no aptitude for it whatsoever. Everything changed for me on one random day in 2016 when, browsing through a radio station on Pandora, I was suddenly introduced to the song Superstition, by Stevie Wonder. As a fun fact, up until this point, I didn’t really know his music, having really only been exposed to songs on pop radio and classical music from my piano teacher at the time. I had no idea he was blind as well. The groove of that song, and many others in his catalog, reignited the spark of music within me, and I began taking piano much more seriously. I moved to Austin in 2018, and since then have played at several well-known venues, including Eddy V’s, Far Out Lounge, Sahara lounge, and others.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road of life is never the easiest for a blind since birth individual such as myself. In my mission to bring music to the stages of the world, I’ve faced many uphill battles, to include;
◦1: Finances
As I’ve no doubt you, the reader are aware, it can be quite expensive to live in a place such as Austin.
This is compounded by the fact that as a blind individual such as myself, it can be quite difficult to seek employment. This isn’t necessarily due to my blindness itself, (Unless it comes to flipping burgers or being a fighter pilot) but rather more has to do with the public perception of blindness itself. since only about a tenth of a percent of the US population is blind, I’d wager a guess that slightly more than a tenth of a percent of the population has interacted with a blind person before. this can make it difficult when going in for an interview, as I’d have to wave my white cane around, ask a receptionist for directions, and possibly be guided into the interviewer’s office by someone, which can set a negative first impression and make them assume, Incorrectly, that I cannot perform job duties assigned to me.
This problem has been mitigated thanks to the kind folks over at the Texas School For the Blind, who have hired me on as a contracted music instructor. This boost to my low income helps a great deal in paying my bills, getting bread on my table, and goes a bit further in tackling my next major obstacle:
◦2: Transportation
Confucius says, “He who lets the blind man drive shall suffer the cost of a totaled car, and the death of the blind man.”:)
In all seriousness, however, being blind makes transportation in this town quite expensive in and of itself. While there are a few methods at my disposal to help with transportation, not all of them come at a price of Free.
While delivery apps could help me obtain much-needed groceries or get me that sudden relief from my surprise Mcdonald’s cravings, they come at an extra cost.
Delivery fees, tipping the driver giving me that Burger King at 11:45 at night, and the markups so common with these kinds of apps make it difficult to justify their use just because I, as a blind person, cannot drive.
“Why don’t you just walk, then? The HEB is just five minutes down the road!”
Unfortunately, the brain and eye condition that caused my blindness also knocked out a significant portion of the hearing in my left ear, making it highly unsafe and anxiety-inducing to attempt to cross streets in my hometown, let alone Austin. Try closing your eyes and crossing at 45th and Lamar and let me know if you dare to take the first step. then try stuffing a cotton ball in your left ear and try again. Compounding this issue, the auditory processing challenges presented by my autism make it even worse to separate the sounds of each car and process the directions all the vehicles are moving on the open road. This is the reality I face every day.
Though this transportation problem has been mitigated in recent years somewhat by Uber, (though that isn’t cheap,) and Metro access, (Austin’s Paratransit program which transports disabled individuals to any address within a quarter mile of a Capital Metro bus route,) Even So I don’t know what I’d do without my wonderful drivers/community assistants, paid for by medicade. That being said, though they try their best to help whenever I need transportation, even to gigs sometimes, they don’t tend to stay out too late on weekends, the prime time for gigs. this means that sometimes, quite literally, I have to “Pay to Play at late-night events.)
which brings me to the third and final hurdle,
◦3: Getting gigs as a blind musician
Networking, Networking, Networking. That’s the number one thing you have to do to get paying gigs, so they say… Being blind, with a little autism to go along with it, makes it difficult for me to forge meaningful working connections with other musicians, bookers, promoters, venue managers, and other much-needed supports in the music industry. while this is somewhat mitigated with online platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and other social media websites, sometimes they don’t interface well with the technology I use that reads computer and smartphone screens aloud to me, which can be quite frustrating if I’m just trying to find an email address or contact number. There’s also a heavy emphasis on photo and video posts, which are quite difficult for a blind one-man team to produce to the standard required to really get those clicks in. This is coupled with, again, the perception of the blind by the public. for some who’ve never even so much as seen a blind person in the living flesh before, it can be hard to take us seriously at first, which can prevent people from even getting to know what I’m capable of. This is becoming less of an issue as I’ve gained quite a few strong connections over the past couple of years to the local music scene. I hope to continue to overcome these challenges in order to bring entertainment to as many of you as possible.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a Blind, Autistic musician specializing in Jazz, R and B Pop, and a little bit of country music thrown in on my primary instruments of Voice, Piano, and Chromatic Harmonica. I’ve played at many venues around town, as well as a few in New York City, (Even having the eternal honor of playing at the original site of Woodstock last July!) I teach voice lessons and play piano accompaniment for the choir at The Texas School For The Blind, as well as assisting with sound design and musical directorship in their drama productions. My first signed single, Money, can be downloaded and streamed everywhere, and I have plans for a possible new release this year.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Growing up, I was always attracted to music of all kinds and instruments as well. I grew up in a small town where there were relatively few musical opportunities, but what few there were, I leaped for at their first signs. I was the ‘”smart blind kid” in my public school, a position that gave me popularity, but also had my teachers raising the bar every chance they could get. I had a deep interest in computers, the internet, and technology of all kinds from a young age, leading to me sitting in front of a computer screen for hours at a time. I started putting together the first pieces of what would later become my modest home “Studio” in 2012. I began arranging full music tracks with my keyboards at the age of 16. This led to me spending hours in front of a computer screen for a different purpose, producing music.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.devingutierrez.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/devingxperience
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/devingutierrezmusic
