Tim Harper
This week, To Be Human takes us to Omaha, Nebraska, where we met Tim Harper, a merchandise manager for a country band from Texas called Joshua Ward, who talked to us about life on the road and living on a tour bus.
Store #09609
Omaha, Nebraska
Tim Harper is from Tyler, Texas, but touring as the merchandise manager with a country band called Josh Ward. It was his first time in Omaha, Nebraska, and he was on a Starbucks run before heading back to the Slowdown, a music venue.
Harper was working a professional “suit-and-tie” job in sales when he started playing the bass, and it wasn’t long before he was working in music full time. “As they say, once you get bitten by the bug, that’s all there is to it.”
On this tour, he was living on a bus with eight other people plus a driver sleeping, eating, chilling and traveling from town to town to play.
“It’s always different. Even if you’ve played the same venue multiple times, there’s always something different. You meet new people, like I’m meeting you guys. It’s always an adventure,” he said. As much as he loves life on the road, he’s always happy to go back to Texas.
“That’s where I’m from. Born and raised. And as they say, you can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy. So, I always figured if I’m gonna travel all the time, I’d rather live somewhere that I want to come home to,” he said.
Apart from traveling, seeing new places and meeting people, Harper – who ordered a trenta cold brew with a shot of espresso – said the two things that make him happiest in life are coffee and sleep. “It’s like one for half a day, one for the other half of the day.”
– Jennifer Warnick
“It’s always different. Even if you’ve played the same venue multiple times, there’s always something different. You meet new people, like I’m meeting you guys. It’s always an adventure,” he said.
