About
Growing up in Fairport, New York, Rick Beato absorbed music from every direction: older sisters spinning 1960s rock, a household full of musicians and music teachers, and a personal journey from cello to double bass to guitar before he even hit high school. He went on to earn a classical bass degree from Ithaca College and a master's in jazz guitar from the New England Conservatory of Music, building the kind of deep theoretical foundation that now drives everything he does. For years Beato worked in the background as a session musician, record producer, and studio engineer, running Black Dog Sound Studios in Stone Mountain, Georgia, and producing acts like Needtobreathe and Shinedown. He even fronted a band, Billionaire, that signed to Republic Records and put out two albums around the turn of the millennium. These days he is best known for his YouTube channel Everything Music, which has pulled in over five million subscribers. The series What Makes This Song Great turned him into a go to explainer for music nerds everywhere, and his interviews with the likes of Brian May, Sting, Kirk Hammett, and Keith Jarrett are genuinely worth your time. Gibson even gave him his own signature Les Paul Special, which is not something that happens to just anyone.