Career dream now reality—Part 2

Note: This is the second part of a series taken from a June 15, 2009, interview with Enterprise native Chris Carter, whose musical odyssey and desire to live and make music in New York began with a trip to New York City while a member of the Entertainers at then-Enterprise State Junior College. But before that could happen, Carter had another stop to make.

After a year in school in Los Angeles and two years working at Pleasure Island near Orlando, Fla., self-taught guitarist Chris Carter moved north.
“I didn’t want a job that became a drudgery,“ Carter said. “All I ever cared about was playing music, not becoming a famous musician. On those nights when things are really clicking and you lock in a groove with your band mates, that’s what I wanted. It’s probably hurt my career because maybe I wasn’t as ambitious as I could have been. Who knows?“
In the 1990s, Carter added to his musical resume.
“I had a chance to get into commercial country music, so I moved to Nashville in 1991,“ he said. “It was really special being there and being around world- class musicians.“
Carter’s uncle, Jimmy Carter, who many remember as the movie critic on “Crook and Chase” on the Nashville Network, was heavily involved in music and television in Nashville, and encouraged him.
“He was there doing movie stuff then, but I was there mostly to be around the musicians. Several musicians from Orlando have moved to Nashville, too, and there was involvement in contemporary Christian country music, among other styles.
“We played a house gig at a big club about like Mickey Gilley’s in Texas. I played with Rodney Atkins, and fell into a crowd of really good musicians and played with guys from Lyle Lovett’s band and Randy Travis’ band, and a member of the original Allman Brothers Band.
“I was in Nashville six years and did a mixture of house band gigs and some road work. I played in bands that did cover work and also some that played original songs. That’s when I got into writing my own songs.
“We formed a band, Babalink, with Steve Allen. Gary Tallent, the bass player for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, played with us. I mainly played lead and some rhythm guitar and sang; I mostly played lead and sang with side bands I played with from time to time.“
Carter traveled extensively and played almost daily before ultimately realizing Nashville wasn’t to be his home.
“I wasn’t really into country music,“ he said. “While I was in Nashville, I worked with a ton of amazing musicians and learned to play on a much higher level. One thing I learned was that Nashville musicians really didn’t like to rehearse. They’d just come in, tune up and play. They used a lot of hand signals, so a group of them could get together for the first time and before you knew it, they were playing like they’d been together for years.“
Through it all, Carter had New York on his mind.
“It all goes back to the trip with the ESJC Entertainers,“ he explained. “The trip to New York just blew me away. While we were there I spent hours on the subway, alone, headed to Brooklyn to hear a musician I’d met the day before play. New York is such an amazing energy source. I knew that one day I was gonna live there.“
Carter needed a little shove before moving to New York.
“Dizzy Gillespie came to Enterprise and performed in the high school auditorium, and I asked my dad — David Carter, then Enterprise High School principal — to let me help Dizzy that day. I took him to eat catfish, which is what he wanted, and spent all afternoon and evening with him and told him about my dream of moving to New York.
“He could tell I was unsure about it, so Dizzy said, ‘don’t worry about the money, that will come.‘ I’d done all I could in Nashville, so I decided to move.
“It took me 8-9 years to get to New York but I finally got there to give it a try, in fall 1997.“