Inspiration: Gregory Douglass

Gregory Douglass is another artist that I discovered on Pandora Internet radio. The first song I heard of his was his amazing track "Sentimental Fury" of his Up and Away album. I was instantly blown away.

His song writing is brilliant and full of lush melodies and captivating rhythms. I instantly bought the album and quickly fell in love. I then searched for videos and information on this dynamic performer. The first video I found was this:



Yeah... Color me impressed. So I bought that album too.

From there, it was a quick collection of all his recorded materials. As I delved into his music, I also read more about the artists and discovered that he was an out gay artist. For me, this was a revelation because at this point in my life I assumed to have any kind of success you would have to stay closeted in the music world. His courage to be completely open inspired me to do the same. in the end, art can only be damaged if filtered through a dishonest filter. And an omission is still a lie.

Watching his guitar playing also inspired me to finally do something that I had been meaning to do since I started writing. Pick up the guitar. I went out and purchased a guitar and played until my fingers bled (literally) I always though that was just a poetic musing in that Bryan Adams song, but it turned out to be factual.

The guitar has definitely opened up a whole new world of writing and music for me, and I have in part thanks to Gregory Douglass for opening up this world.

Here's one more video of his amazing work.

Inspiration: Tracy Chapman

No artist has been more integral to my understanding of social issues and empathy for people who are seemingly different from myself than Tracy Chapman. Many issues that I am passionate about and fight for today were first discovered in one of her songs. Issues of socioeconomics, race and bigotry, and the bi-product of greed in our capitalistic society were not even on my radar growing up a white middle class midwestern boy until they were sparked by her writing.

I remember the first time I heard her song, Fast Car. I was very young, but somehow I could totally relate to this voice and her emotion even though I had no basis to truly understand the situation she was speaking about. It was the first time I can remember feeling transported into another persons life through a song. From that moment, I think I began to really understand the power of music and songwriting. With one song, an entire new world was opened to me.

It wasn't till much later that I really started listening to her. In high school as I began to form my own personal beliefs, I found I was drawn to her songs and began to really study her music. Her amazing voice makes you emotionally connect with what she is singning about, so it was natural to fall into the stories she was telling. While exploring these new worlds, my mind was cracked open and filled with new possibilities and I began to challenger beliefs that had been instilled in me as well as the status quo. As an artist, I feel it is essential to be able to break from what you know and think about every angle. Tracy's music helped to break those molds.

During this time, Tracy became my go to artist when I was troubled with the world. Not only for her insight, but because the emotional depth she has. I'm the type of person who listens to sad music when I'm sad and it makes me feel better that I am not alone. When I feel like I'm drowning in a world gone mad, Tracy's my woman.

She has also become an artist I can trust. When she puts out an album, I buy it. I know that I will love every song and learn something as well. There are very few artist that I trust so implicitly. I think she is one because I always believe what she is saying. There is an honesty in her voice and writing that can't be faked or replicated and that hooks me every time.

It would be hard to pick a favorite album, and impossible to pick a favorite song, so I will pick a highlight off her most current album, Our Bright Future. In the song, Thinking of You she delivers a lyric that makes me strive to be a better writer.

"I used to think, consider gravity
If I placed you on a pedestal, you'd slip and fall for me
But you floated on the air, far away at light speed
I guess some objects do defy the laws that we conceive."

-Tracy Chapman

And here is one of my favorite videos of her.



Ok, and one more.



In the end, she is definitely one of my favorite artists and biggest inspirations. Her talent, songs, and her integrity in the way she has navigated her career without every losing herself in it make her a true icon.

Inspiration: Charlotte Martin

Four years ago this August I moved to New York City.

Four years ago today I was packing up my room in Kenosha, WI and freaking out about the fact that I was moving to New York City.

During the intense packing and preparing that I was doing for the biggest life change I would have to date, I took breaks to take my mind off the immediate. I spent a lot of time on Pandora Internet radio looking for new artists and trying to find music that spoke to my current mood/situation. It was through Pandora that I first heard Charlotte Martin, an artist whose music is now such a part of my life that I can not imagine her music not being on my ipod.

The first song I heard was the track "Something Like A Hero" off her On Your Shore album. I remember feeling immediately that the song was resonating deep inside me with its rhythmic piano punching the down beats. Then her amazingly versatile and emotive voice challenged me to come along for a ride.

"Hello Boys, got directions to the bomb shell factory..."

I was in.

By the time the incredible breakdown begins at the end of the song, I had already opened iTunes and purchased her On Your Shore album.

As I do whenever I buy a new album, I turned off the lights and laid down as the music began. I am still a believer in "Albums" so I love to hear them the first time through uninterrupted as a whole piece. The sound of a small string section crying out in longing pulls you into the first strike of the piano key, and then the album takes off. There are very few albums that I love from beginning to end, but I knew from that first moment that this was going to be one of them.

On Your Shore takes you on an incredible emotional ride that somehow leaves you completely satisfied yet craving more. Four years later, this album still feels fresh and is constantly drawing me back to its shore. So much in fact that every song on the album makes it into my ipods top 50 most played songs list. If you know me and how my ipod is basically surgically implanted onto me, you know this is quite a feat.

That August, when I left everything I knew to follow my dreams, her music was an amazing comfort that filled in some of the gaps inside me. That fall, I got to see her live and met her and after that I knew I would be a lifelong fan. I have since bought every album she has every released and can whole heartedly recommend all of them. She is simply one of those artists that speaks my language, speaks to what I know to be true, speaks to my soul.

If you know her, I'm sure you love her. If you don't, you definitely need to remedy that quickly.

In honor of its placement as the number one played song on my ipod, (Hint: It's over 200 plays... which I am now realizing is almost 12 hours of my life.) Here is her song "Every Time it Rains."