How 3x Grammy Winner Bryan Sutton Gets Out of His Own Way | Performance Neurology Podcast

Bryan Sutton is a three-time Grammy and ten-time IBMA guitarist of the year winner, yet he's driven home from sessions thinking he'd never work again. In this conversation we get into how he built his playing growing up immersed in the mountain music of Western North Carolina, why performing under pressure is a completely separate skill from playing well, and the mental shift he uses to get out of his own way. 🎯 Take the Pressure Profile at https://performanceneurology.institut... LINKS: 📖 The Genius and the Impostor is out now: https://geniusandimpostor.com 🎸 Bryan on Instagram:   / bryansutton28   🧠 Josh on Instagram:   / brainjojosh   🎵 Music by Julienne Ellen (  / julienneellencomposes  ) ✉️ Brains, Banjos and Beyond newsletter: https://joshturknett.substack.com Subscribe for new episodes of the Performance Neurology Podcast. CHAPTERS 0:00 Open 2:16 "What do you do for a living?" 4:25 Growing up immersed in Western North Carolina mountain music 6:45 Why learning felt natural (watching the guitar at age 3) 9:39 Teachers, and branching into jazz, classical, and electric 12:44 How he practiced: a steady, nonstop diet of playing 13:56 A word on the book: The Genius and the Impostor 14:24 Realizing he could make a living at it 16:20 First session work as a high school senior 17:15 Going all in: no plan B, and the first impostor syndrome 19:31 The gap: performing on demand, stage vs. studio 22:36 Getting out of your own head — mistakes as feedback 24:41 The Inner Game of Music: internal vs. external attention 28:05 Playing as a listener 30:10 What it feels like when everything clicks 32:10 Two brains, one brain: the Chris Thile jam 34:16 The crowd that rattles him isn't the big one 37:40 Rituals: box breathing and "allow it to be slow enough" 41:16 Seeing the music: waveforms and the control room 42:33 When pressure steals the joy 47:07 You're not born different 49:14 The Takeaway