A Lament & A Note of Encouragement

I’ve started so many blog posts over the last few weeks, only to leave them half done because I get discouraged - it feels like I’m beating a dead horse.  When it comes to the music industry, there are others you can watch (Rick Beato) or read (John Strohm) who are much better positioned and equipped to talk than me.  And those are just two examples, there are many more.  I do like breaking down albums and concepts and putting them into writing, but that takes a different brain power than the musician brain power.  So, on that note, my book is also on pause.  I’m still listening to those Indiana artists, but the podcasts and interviews and research are on pause, I don’t have the bandwidth.  

I know I’ve talked about this before, but it is exhausting; working a full-time day job, being a husband and a father, writing and demoing songs, doing social media, mailing out CDs and handwritten notes, emailing promoters and radio stations, doing anything I can to get heard.  Don’t feel sorry for me, I don’t feel sorry for me, but the hardest part about friends and family not giving a shit isn’t whether or not they like my music, but they seem to gloss over the work that goes into it.  If I built a car, even if it wasn’t a car they would drive, they’d say, “oh wow, good job.  You spent a lot of time on that and it looks good.”  But with music, it’s just crickets.  It’s not tangible in the same way.

I feel like I waste a ton of time, and I do.  When I get mentally bogged down, I often freeze for a bit until my brain is rested enough to get back on the horse.  However, I take pride in doing the most I can with what time and money I have.  Right now, and especially as we approach a busy hockey season (my daughter made the competitive travel team this year), I have very little time or money.  But the band plays on.  

It has to.  I don’t know how else to live this life.

I do love to work.  Some days more than others, but it feels good to do it.  It’s not about the results, it’s about the work.  Not every song gets finished, not every album tops the charts, not every CD mailed out gets listened to, but it feels good to try no matter the results.  It’s hard to tell kids there’s no shortcuts when they see TikTok people blow up and they watch American Idol, but as small of a chance as there is of you “making it”, there’s an even smaller chance of you “making it” one of those ways. Yes, there’s Bieber, Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood, but those three would have made it no matter what because they have what it takes and they were willing to do the work.  

I’m not complaining because I wouldn’t change anything (other than music as the day job) but you can call this a lament.  If I’d been more serious when I was younger, maybe it’d be different.  Maybe not, but maybe.  That’s why I spend time mentoring young musicians.  They probably feel like I vomit information and opinions on them, but I’m trying to give them as much as I can in what time we have together.  I want them to succeed at this if that’s what they want to do.  I still struggle with frustration and insecurity, but unlike the younger me, I power through now.  I refuse to give up because I believe in the work and I believe my work is good.  It’s not good because of how many streams it has, or how many tickets I sell, it’s good because I’ve spent a lifetime studying the craft and I know it is good.  

To end with some encouragement, if this is you, keep at it.  It doesn’t matter if it’s music, photography, business, coaching, whatever.  Just keep at it.  There are no secrets, there are no shortcuts, you just have to do it for the thing.  Don’t worry about what the thing can give you, worry about what you can give to the thing.  When the thing itself is the goal, that’s what success is.