It never feels like the right time, but now trumps tomorrow.
Sure, we could wait another year to release that song, that record, that project–but what if we are too busy “next year”? Or worse…
“But you need to wait six months to a year to promote it correctly!” says the pr person, and she’s probably correct; but what if those pitches don’t get that much coverage in the end? The best promotion is still releasing the work, sharing it, seeing if it makes an impression: If people share it or respond, you’ve got something.
No one can share the unfinished project still in your head.
Strike while the iron is lukewarm; coals take time to get hot.
Alan Lomax’s field recordings, Matt Jones’s River Street Anthology, and you
The American Folklife Center is celebrating it’s 40th anniversary this year, and they are hosting a showcase performance of folk musicians redoing songs from Alan Lomax’s field recordings at Folk Alliance this weekend.
I’ve been rearranging a song Lomax recorded at Beaver Island in 1938, the same year Natalie and my house was built. The song’s called, “Don’t Judge a Man by the Clothes that He Wears” sung by A. Gallagher.
I was thinking about that trip Lomax took, that ambitious journey; how Matt Jones is doing the same.
Attending Folk Alliance? Here are my Folk Alliance showcases appearances.
Alan Lomax didn’t need permission to go out and start taping. He just did it. Matt Jones started recording artist for fun in his basement with lo-fi equipment, without a major idea of his project’s goal. But then project grew into the River Street Anthology, capturing many songwriters from Michigan.
My wife wrote one of the first stories about Jones’s River Street Anthology here.
And we don’t need permission to create own projects, nor do we need to know where we are going when we start.
The closer we get to a destination, the more obvious it appears.
Having a vision is simply looking at something long enough to see what potential awaits.
Audio Acres Video Session: A World That’s Bigger
Excuses? Naw, find five minutes everyday
It’s Folk Alliance week, and I’m heading to Kansas City!
I was going to compose a blog that I was too busy to write my blogs, that I was going to take a week off from my daily posts; but then realized, I could write a blog in the same amount of time it takes to write the excuse.
So nope, the blogs will continue all week.
Usually, our excuses are true. But that’s because we already made the choice for them to be a self-fulling prophecies…
Ten minutes a day this month adds up to is 4.8 hours of work done.
- Remember how Hugh Macleod’s claim to fame was drawing on the back of business cards while he was bar hopping in NYC?
- My friend Brian Walker, an elementary school art teacher, took a pledge to work on his own art every day, for a few minutes, and he’s been using his Instagram account to share his illustrations.
Instead of composing an excuse, let’s find five, 10, 15 minutes to create.
“Burning Bright” live at Coffee Amici
Vintage Fisher Price record player makes a great bandmate who doesn’t rack up a bar or coffee bill, gang!
I’ve been road testing sets for Folk Alliance International & the spring tour. Here’s “Burning Bright,” taped by the James Adkins, a killer songwriter and guitar player. Big thanks to Mike Gentry (video of Mike here) for sharing the ride and stage, too.
Read the story about my relative David Plawecki’s dying wish and the song, “Burning Bright” here at American Songwriter Magazine.
New bandmate
