Grassroots Music
Hey Guys,
Sometimes I get thoughts in my head and just gotta get em out. Sometimes those thoughts turn into songs, poems, emails, discussions and blogs. Sometimes those thoughts stay with me a long time and sometimes they are fleeting, turn into one of the hundreds of songs I have written that will never played for anyone but myself.
Today I have been thinking about being a grassroots musician as opposed to a professional musician. What’s the difference you say? Well I am glad you asked. You see a grassroots musician is one who plays not for money but for the betterment of the community, obviously sometimes money of all amounts is involved in this process. I guess it’s almost like a means/ends discussion.
My main reasons for these thoughts have been sparked by the recent 90th birthday of the great Americana song writers ever Pete Seeger and also by book(Bound for Glory) that I have been by his mentor Woody Guthrie. These two men, along with countless others paved the way for people like RIchie Havens, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Dar Williams, Bruce Springsteen and countless others to make a profit from their talents. But watching the coverage on Pete Seegers birthday party and seeing and hearing about everything his energy has gone towards over the last 90 years got me excited for my journey.
At one point my goal was to make money from music, in some way shape or form. Mostly I wanted to sing but I also really enjoy writing music, which makes the singer/songwriter genre a win/win for me. But after spending some time abroad and realizing the competiveness of the inustry my mind has changed. I think that playing local events and offering up music to the greater good of the community is the way to go, so that the talents of the individual enrich the people and music is able to do what it is supposed to do.
Inspire Creativity amongst the community.
Please don’t misunderstand what I am saying and think that if you are a professional musician you can not inspire the community. I am speaking more to the industry that ropes people in and makes them into something that will sell and in doing so zap all the creativity out of them.
So hopefully that is what I accomplish everytime you come out to a show, we inspire creativity in your life.
Enjy it while you got it
Andy out