Artist Development Clients
Since Performance High’s 2009 inception, we have worked with thousands of artists locally in Colorado and across the globe. They tend to be fun people who are serious about achieving their music goals, whether music is a bucket-list item or a career.
Here are some examples of how we helped them on their journeys.
Jacob Larson
Eric Golden
Alden Groves (Evoke)
Alden Groves (Evoke) had developed a Soundcloud following of over 10K and had over 5 million online streams of his music when he came to Performance High for help refining and finishing an especially ambitious upcoming album, as well as putting together a plan for the next stage of his career. Working with Justin, Alden finished writing and recording his album, built a successful social media strategy and began working a promotion plan for his upcoming release. In addition, Justin has worked with Alden to build a live show that makes the most of his original sound.
Patrick Rita’aho (Samsara)
Patrick Ritaaho is a Denver area metal guitarist, songwriter and producer. While Patrick was already producing and playing in the local music scene, he felt he wasn’t reaching his goals as quickly as he wanted. Justin worked with Patrick on mastering Pro Tools, the industry standard recording platform, and on creating a strategy for career advancement. After this work, Patrick started landing paid production jobs and headlining shows, and started to tour.
Jacob Larson
Jacob Larson is one of the most electric and confident funk/soul performers in the Denver area. When Jacob was ready to start writing his own songs, Justin helped him write melodies, riffs and lyrics. The songs that resulted from this work became Jacob’s second album. Jacob sings at festivals, weddings and corporate events and has released multiple original albums.
Leslie Tom
Leslie Tom, a classic country vocalist from Texas has signed autographs for lines of fans camped outside her shows in Europe – came to us to help her resume her career after leaving it on the back burner for family. We helped her regain her confidence, tune up her voice, and restart her career. Now she plays both nationally and internationally, and has collaborated with some of her music heroes. She released her third album, the eponymously titled Leslie Tom, in 2017.
Hawley Penfold
Hawley Penfold is a busy teen actress, dancer and pop singer, with numerous commercials, films and and a Top 40 pop single to her credit. Hawley works with Adrienne and Justin to perfect her vocals and stage performance before her most important performances and showcases . In 2016 she was a winner of the Stars of Tomorrow competition and in 2017 she performed at The Young Artist Awards in L.A. Her song “Three Strikes” is currently in the Top 40 on several radio charts as of February 2018.
Meagan Thwaites
Meagan came to us to prepare for a national competition that could land her on the main stage of Heavenfest, one of the country’s largest Christian music festivals. Working with Justin, they selected and arranged her top three songs for live performance and she went on to win the entire competition, landing her an incredible spot in front of several thousand people at Heavenfest 2015.
Kelly Augustine
After changing careers to work on music full time, Folk/Americana singer-songwriter Kelly Augustine came to Performance High to jumpstart her progress. While Kelly was already had a busy performing schedule, she hadn’t started positioning herself as an original artist. Justin worked with Kelly to refine her musical style, create a brand that fit, shape the songs and plan the album. After encouraging Kelly to contact the producer who had done her favorite records, Justin worked on pre-production and session musician selection to help maximize her studio time.
Donnie Schexnayder
Austin-based musician Donnie felt like his voice didn’t match his music, and as a result was having trouble pinning down his identity and sound prior to recording his second album. Justin helped Donnie define his brand and sound and helped Donnie write new songs that fit the new direction they had developed. Justin assisted Donnie with pre-production, production, and choosing session musicians and recording studio. Once the album was finished, Justin and Donnie worked together on the promotion strategy for release, as well as the post-release plan for live shows and growing Donnie’s fanbase.
Morgan Pittman (Morgan Station)
Morgan Pittman came to Performance High as a dissatisfied health-care worker with a burning desire to sing for a living. After two years of vocal work with Adrienne and several career strategy sessions with Justin, she learned to write songs, formed an active and in-demand cover band, learned to run live sound, and moved from Chicago to Nashville. She and her husband, a recording engineer and guitarist, now gig several times a week, run live sound, record other artists in their home studio, and record as Morgan Station.
Cover to Cover
Justin worked with the Seattle band Cover to Cover as they prepared to perform on their largest stage ever. He helped each band member understand their roles on stage at different times, and how to execute their roles for the most dynamic and interesting performance. Cover to Cover continues to grow in the Seattle scene, playing some of the best venues in the area.
Sydney St. George
Sydney St. George, a high-school ski-racing champion from Colorado Springs, was ready to pursue a new passion – and she was determined that music was next on her list. After working with Justin and Adrienne for a year, Sydney became one of only five artists to be accepted into an exclusive artist development intensive program at Tom Jackson Productions in Nashville. She now lives in Nashville, co-writes regularly with top songwriters in the area, and performs and records her original music.
Andreas DeValera
A naturally talented multi-instrumentalist trained by the likes of Joe Cocker’s keyboardist and Christina Aguilera’s guitarist, Andreas came to Justin when he was looking to share his prolific indie folk songwriting with the world. Justin worked with Andreas to define his image, build his online presence, and develop his abilities as a live performer. Justin and Andreas also worked closely to produce his debut album at Colorado Sound in Denver, selecting and arranging the songs. In between producing the record and booking gigs for Andreas, Justin also helped prepare for his successful application to the Berkeley School of Music in Boston.
Drew Frank (Stuart Shepherd)
Country artist Drew Frank came to Performance High ready to take his performance and songwriting to the next level. While working with Tyler to improve his vocals, Drew and Justin worked together on his songwriting. Justin helped Drew mold his songs to have the catchy, radio ready sound Drew was looking for. After working together on the songs, Justin produced Drew’s first album, which was released last year.
Lee Clark Allen
An R&B/blues singer and pianist, Lee Clark Allen came to Performance High to rebuild his career after moving from Texas to Colorado. He worked with Justin on songwriting, branding, and networking. Justin also guided Lee on the steps to take to begin performing publicly and forming a band.
