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535 - Jeff Kerestes: Returning to a Life in Music After Burning Out and Stepping Away

Author
Working Drummer
Published
Thu 11 Sep 2025
Episode Link
None

Jeff Kerestes is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and educator who spent most of his career in New York doing touring and session work and a handful of Broadway shows. During Covid, he left New York and stepped away from music entirely. He and his family eventually settled in Portland Oregon, where he rediscovered his love of music through the drums and the community there. He is a freelance drummer, bassist, producer, and founder of The Ukulele Project, a music education organization that works with public schools all over the Pacific Northwest.


In this episode, Jeff talks about:



  • The year before Covid being his busiest to date

  • Being out of balance long before he realized it 

  • Confronting who he is apart from being a musician 

  • Living in an RV for over a year before deciding to live in Portland 

  • Reconnecting with music through the drums

  • Starting The Ukulele Project

  • Likening therapy to taking lessons

  • Finding the right place to live, not just work


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