Thank You to the Kind Voices

“Please tell me this isn’t like when your mom sings in church or something,” my friend said.

I, the practicing musician of over 40 years and semi-professional musician with a few hundred appearances under my belt, replied “Hunh?” in my most coherent and intelligent way.

“Yeah, I mean it’s a great hobby and all…”

Dear reader:

It means the world to me that you are here on this journey with me. I’ve said that many times before and I absolutely mean it. It is very difficult for me to fully express to you how heart-filling it is to have someone take the time to engage in and appreciate the art that one creates.

Many of us had to pursue different professional paths early in our lives and felt that we left our art somewhat neglected. Now, when we find ways to truly embrace everything that has been dear in our hearts, it feels all the more vulnerable to share those aspects of ourselves with the world.

For those artists – please know that there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of examples of great artists who came to their craft late in life, and for whom their expression came after multiple other professional stages. Be true to everything that you are, including and especially your art.

For those who surround and support these artists – please recognize the tender and striving heart within your friend or loved one. While you may not be a fan of what they’re producing, you are their friend, and loved one, and your thoughts and words matter.

For the fans – oh my god, for the fans – truly, everything the artist does is because they think they have stumbled onto some form of truth, or observation of life, or some form of beauty that they want to share. Hopefully, this means the art created for you brings you joy, or peace, or knowledge, or even grace.

Anyway, this is a bit of a roundabout way of saying this, but on the eve of releasing the new single, and while I am still nursing my hand back to being performance-ready, I really just once again wanted to say thank you for all of your support. There is more recorded and live music coming (and don’t forget to pre-save this one), I promise!

While we’re at it, here’s something I recorded on internal voices that you might enjoy as well. This was from a songwriting workgroup I’m part of, and it’s about finding the confidence to find and use your own voice: