Songs that Stopped Me in My Tracks, Vol. 1
I’m creating playlists of songs I love, centered around a story about one song that stopped me in my tracks. Volume 1 centers around Patty Griffin’s “Every Little Bit”.
* * * Volume 1. The Ghost that Got Away * * *
When I was a freshmen in high school, I was obsessed with heavy metal and industrial music.
I know. Weird, huh? Probably hard to picture me walking around in a KMFDM t-shirt (which I did, while attending my first high school dance at Divine Child High School.)
Honestly, I embraced all styles of music as a teenager, but when I found an acoustic guitar at the crossroads, I took a turn and never looked back.
One song that stopped me in my tracks was hearing Patty Griffin’s “Every Little Bit” on Acoustic Cafe. I was floored by her voice, by that acoustic guitar, by those intimate lyrics:
“You left open the window till the morning/And the winter walked in
Reality fired her wooden bullet/Splintered under our skin
They say I’m walking on freedom/This is freedom/now I know…”
Before the Internet, when I heard a song I liked on the radio, but missed the name of the artist or song, I felt like my life was incomplete. The song became a ghost that haunted me. What if I never heard that song again?
And that’s what happened when I first heard Griffin’s “Every Little Bit.” I missed who sang the song and the title. I didn’t hear it again for a long time.
For a few years, I simply called it, ‘That ghost song.”
“I still don’t blame you for leaving,baby/It’s cold living with ghosts”
When I was learning guitar, I accidentally discovered the the chord pattern, the way the G chord form floats up to Bb and C on the guitar, the droning strings in the middle…I still didn’t know who sang that song or the title, but I had found the chords!
* * * * *
I forget when I finally discovered Patty Griffin, the author of the song that haunted me for years. I think it was during college. Today, I can simply type in the song on my Spotify account. The ghost is now captured in the digital cloud, but it still stops me in my tracks.
Music might be easier to find now, but songs can still be ghosts that haunt us.
Musicians have the best conference rooms in the world.
My close friend–best man, first bandmate from high school– Adam just finished his MBA program this year. He also has a Master Degree in some sort of science field I can never remember (Natalie calls it “A Master in Fighting Cancer”), and has worked extensively in labs seeking the answer to that mission.
Adam gets numbers.
He’s also a drummer who loves music. I love chatting with him about the similarities of business, science and music.
Adam and I were recently talking about how we spend time in our fields of work. Creating, researching, test, marketing, networking. Artists often hate to use those terms, but in a way, we are doing that.
In one of Adam’s MBA classes, a general rule was that 10% of each week should be spent cultivating relationships, networking. Interactions with people matter, just as much as product.
In the music business, we often feel dismayed at the statement, “It’s all in who you know.” I hate thinking that way, too, but there is a positive spin to this if we think about the places where music networking happens: at concerts, venues, studios, art events…
Thinks about it. We have fun conferences rooms!
If 10% of our week should be spent “cultivating relationships,” then we have a weekly reminder to get out of the house.
Go to a concert. Go to a house concert series as an attendee. Go to an art exhibit. Attend a conference. Get together with a new songwriter and try co-writing. Visit a music venue in a town outside of your city on a lark. Connect with another art form and see how if music can bridge between it.
Dedicate 10% of your week to connecting, and that doesn’t have to be time on Facebook.
Schools are now on summer break, which reminds me that this is my third year doing music full-time and Natalie’s fourth year of being a freelance writer.
This year includes a major success for Natalie and I. In May, Natalie and I were approved for a loan on a house mortgage. (Thank you, Dan Gilbert.)
In a way, this felt like having a hit song on the radio or a book on the New York Times list. (I’ll ignore the obvious difference of being in debt till we are grandparents.)
After two months of stressful offers, counteroffers, appraisal debacles, further negotiations, and dog walks with Lois, we’ve finally did it. We bought a house!
It was the first house we saw during our house hunting.
We saw dozens and dozens of houses in the Ann Arbor area, but Natalie and I knew when we walked into the Cape Cod fixer-upper, this could be our house for decades.
We didn’t know that negotiating on a foreclosure would be worse than a root canal, but we’ve survived it.
Here’s a photo from what soon will be Natalie’s office:
As a musician who wears a lot of hats to make a living, I often forget to stay optimistic and positive. I lose sight of the forest for the trees.
This morning, pessimism crept through the cracks of my attitude, as I read some blogs about the music business, and felt down. I couldn’t put my finger on why. We aren’t all built to become stars, but why must music be portrayed as a fool’s errand?
So I went on an hour long walk with Lois. Returned home, brewed some coffee, sat down to write this blog to clear my head. I realized something.
Not one person actually knows anything about the music business. It’s all bullshit.
Like politics, it’s easier to talk about music than it is to write or perform it.
Sure, some folks know how to analyze what has already happened, but the machinery of the music business runs on its own food sources, and no one has figured them out. Some of us just hop on the machine and see if it will carry us.
Here’s one thing I do know: the art of music is powerful. Being moved by a song changes our lives. Learning to play music is a beautiful craft.
The art of music isn’t a food chain.
And when I get my head out of the clouds, see what’s really important in life, I find I’m happier.
* * *
So I’m incredibly happy to move out of our rental. Trying to live, create, and work in a small habitat has been a challenge for my songwriting. Having a basement to create a studio is going to do wonders.
Natalie pointed out that half of the first floor is about the size of our entire rental:
We will also have a garage, where we can put Lois when she’s being annoying jumping over couches when guests visit. So friends and family, it will be safe to visit us again.
PS: I’ve probably talked about this too soon, since closing is later in the summer; but Natalie said, “Since I’ve already ordered backsplash tile, you should allow yourself to write a blog.”
Searching and Finding New Music: Playlist 1
Here’s some great, new music I’ve been enjoying:
I was inspired by Matthew Altruda’s post on his Facebook feed addressing the need for folks to stay actively engaged with new music. Do we still check out our favorite music venues listings? Give a new band a spin on Spotify? Take a chance on seeing a show of unknown acts?
So I’ve titled the playlist “Searching and Finding.” New music I’ve sought out, or stumbled upon..Stuff that’s not mainstream. Stuff that lyrically moves me, or stuff that got my foot tapping.
One of the best ways to get excited to write music is to listen to music that excites you. I find that when I’m not writing, I’m often not enjoying or interacting with music much, too.
Then, when I get a gig that excites me, or a gig that requires me to learn a few covers, my inspiration returns to me. New song ideas will pop up as I’m working on a learning a song or set list.
This summer, Natalie and I are house shopping (yea!), which has been extremely stressful and interfering with the quality of my writing time.
To combat this, I’ve been exploring some new music to keep myself musically energetic.
