I’ve been working on some song ideas I’ve had for a while and it feels great to just sit down and actually put them together. It’s amazing the amount of distractions that come up vying for my attention when I’m trying to focus on this. Sometimes I feel this impulsive desire to go to the woods with a guitar, notebook and tape recorder for 6 months straight. I’m not quite doing that (yet) but am trying to schedule in more time for writing. You can’t really schedule in inspiration but songwriting is like any craft and scheduling it in helps make it actually happen. Instead of not happening. Right?
In August, I went to the Musicians’ Union for Musician’s Well-Being Week. It was a really incredible and inspiring experience. Lots of workshops including tai chi, yoga for musicians, Alexander Technique, posture, autogenic training, hearing education, understanding common injuries, dealing with performance anxiety and stress in general. I enjoyed how it all the workshops were so interrelated and connected, as well as bringing in new ideas and ways of looking at things. I now have a new found appreciation for my skeleton. I met lots of great people and just having the opportunity to get together and talk about our experiences as professional musicians was great.
Looking to do some recording before the end of the year and have a new album out next summer. When my sister and I did our roadtrip last year through the South, it gave me a whole new appreciation of how music is something you do with people. It sounds pretty obvious but it got me thinking about my records where I’m playing all the instruments and how that’s all fine and good but right now I’m really excited to get into the studio with my band and let everyone bring themselves into the songs. The live music we saw, the music we played and the places we visited (Rock & Soul Museum, Sun and Stax in Memphis, RCA Studio B and Ryman in Nashville, Clinch Mountains in Virginia) gave me so much can-do energy about music in general, as well as the power of music to bring people together in a positive way. It’s a pretty great thing, music.
It’s strange not having upcoming gigs scheduled but sometimes you just have to make time to write.
