Stephen Montoya
Since quitting his teaching job in 2016 to pursue a career as a singer/songwriter, local troubadour David Tribble has mastered the art of being grateful. After all, nothing is certain in the music business, especially when you're going it alone. But Tribble didn’t let this would-be obstacle deter him from chasing his long-time dream.
If Tribble’s name sounds familiar, it could be for a number of reasons.
As of September, Tribble took over as the host for the songwriter contest at Magnolia Motor Lounge held every Tuesday at 8 p.m. Tribble was also one of a number of local musicians who made a trip to Nashville last month via a songwriter’s showcase as a representative of Fort Worth. He’s also the host and creator of a little songwriter’s meet-up held at Pearl Snap Kolaches located at 4006 White Settlement Road every Friday. This is where we found out about Tribble after receiving an invite from another local Fort Worth musician to attend.
Whatever it is Tribble is involved in, there’s a good chance it revolves around music. However, there was a time that this local songwriter was putting pen to paper only because that was all he could control.
By the age of 18, Tribble says he was already playing the guitar and steadily writing in his daily journal (a regimen he’d been doing for years) but didn’t really start writing music until a friend turned him on to a musician named Citizen Cope aka Clarence Greenwood.
“Never before have I heard songs like that,” Tribble says. “What I heard in the music, the way I heard it and the songwriting, the chord choices, the rhythms; I mean, it stopped me in my tracks.”
It would be from here that Tribble’s idea of making it as a singer/songwriter solidified in his late 30s. Combining his passion for daily writing and playing guitar along with trying to capture the essence of a Greenwood song, Tribble would make the ultimate leap of faith.
Stephen Montoya
Up to 2016, Tribble spent his days as a schoolteacher, tackling both science and football at Crowley Middle School. But secretly behind the scenes, he was always playing or creating some form of music. His lyrics would often come from his daily journal, no rhyme scheme necessary, to impart the daily nuances of living. Even further back, before Tribble would make the decision to go out full time as a musician, he would be tempted to take a different musical path.
In 2013, Tribble found himself at a major creative crossroads. He would audition for NBC’s "The Voice," playing a cover of the Wallflowers, “One Headlight,” a song that landed him in Los Angeles, California, a few weeks after his audition in Waco.
“That was tough because I was in L.A. for three days singing and practicing and then I had to take the red eye back to teach school the very next day,” he says. “I remember sitting at my desk in a daze just dangling my feet and thinking about what I was going to prepare for the students.”
Tribble would actually get a call back from "The Voice," however this time they wanted him to come out to L.A. for three weeks to practice with the band.
“I don’t know too many jobs where you can take off for three weeks and still have that job when you return,” Tribble says. “That’s kind of the spot I found myself in during this era of my teaching career.”
Stephen Montoya
After doing some real soul-searching, Tribble passed on the offer for several reasons. Number one was he and his wife just had their first baby, and number two, he didn’t want the quick fame of singing someone else’s songs, Tribble wanted to be known for his own original music.
“'The Voice' doesn't determine who I am, and I knew that,” he says. “I knew what I'd be getting into on that show, and that wasn't a guarantee. And if I did get on the show, I'd more than likely have been made to sing other people's songs, which I never have enjoyed. I've always leaned towards me as an original person and an artist.”
With his decision firmly made, Tribble waited three more years before he and his wife both agreed that he should try and make a go of the “music thing” full-time.
“I’d already been playing several gigs around town while I was a teacher. But when my wife looked at me and said, ‘Why don’t you try and book as many shows as you can,’ that day changed my life,” he says.
With the backing from his number one fan, Tribble soon formed a band with Anthony Peterson on drums, his brother Michael on bass, Ben Miller on guitar, and Sam Jones on keys.
“I found most of these guys when I was teaching guitar and vocals at the Creative Soul Music School for a short while after the teaching thing was done,” Tribble says. “It's just crazy how life works that way. I mean, I didn't like the job, but I found some like-minded musicians there that had the same vision as me musically.”
Now equipped with a bevy of original songs and a full backing band, Tribble has been busy living the life he could only dream about a few years back. In fact, he just finished a five song EP of original material that is still yet to be named. This project came about after Tribble himself won first prize at last year’s Magnolia Motor Lounge Songwriting Contest, a show he now hosts. The songs for this EP were recorded at 7013 Studios, a Fort Worth-based record label and recording studio.
“We ended up getting five songs recorded in the amount of time, we planned on just getting one,” he says. “It just seems, even more lately, that everything has fallen into place per me doing music full time. I guess, I can point some of this to me networking at almost every event I’ve played.”
As for any words of wisdom for you closet singer/songwriters out there, Tribble says “Trust yourself.”
“See yourself as the artist you want to see yourself as. Don't let your environment predict that for you,” he says. “Create your own following and find a place you feel like you belong musically. You're going to have to pay your dues. I mean, we all do. That's been a huge part of my career just finding these little areas of people that are so supportive and get behind you. And in Fort Worth, they’re there.”
