Photo courtesy of State Library of Queensland

Share and Tell.  At the heart of all music is the desire to share, a desire to relate and a desire to connect to both others and the ever-changing world around us.  Somehow, the beast of the music industry seems to lose that.  Play in an arena?  Be so high up with lights in your face that you don’t even see the faces of the people who have paid copious amounts of money to see you.  Not exactly the original intent probably.

Connection is what people are seeking when they go to a show.  They want to engage with the artist, and they want to know they can respect you.  You know when you meet someone who was a childhood legend to you?  And you know when they happen to be some terribly rude and arrogant person?  It really is a let-down and though you may still buy their music, it’s almost as if it loses some sort of magic.

How do we get that back?  

As artists- we have to get off our high horses and be with the people.  We have to relate, stand at our merch tables and learn about those who are interested in our music.  Once we understand them, we will be better at creating music that speaks to them and connecting with them.  We also need to take time to use these gifts for the greater good and not live for the praise of men.  What are some ways that your gifts, even other than music, can be used to spread goodness around your communities and groups?

As music fans- we should support people who are the full meal deal.  What do I mean by that?  Well, do you have specific local artists you really love as people, possibly see them around town doing the same things you do, and respect their art and they causes they support?  Music needs to get back to the people, sort of like a neighborhood and community.  Sure there are ugly (i use that word as an action thing) people who still create great art, but their being can really be a turn-off after awhile. I have met and know personally various local artists that are talented and I have coffee/tea with them or have the opportunity to chat with them around town.  I choose to support and appreciate those musicians who I connect to and who have deeper meanings in their lyrics than just the here and now.  

Funny isn’t it that spreading music and “marketing” doesn’t have to be something so deep.  It’s really just looking at humans on a natural level and watching what trends happen naturally.  We love to tell and share and connect.  How will you use that to spread good seeds around?

~lme

Photo: courtesy of the Smithsonian flickr photostream

Labels~ a poem

If I was meant to be a clone

My face would look like hers

Calmness in the earth never inspires

The winds of change to stir

I kneel on my own two knees

Bow in the sugar of the shoreline

As I sleep on the island mackinaw

With the great lakes at my feet

I am certain of my

Beckoning call

Chorus:

So tell me,

Do you like your label?

Slapped on you like

Processed food

On the shelf

What I create has no label

For I am my own self

 ~~~~~~

I always played the part

Of supporting actress

For those who will never get what I do

Or believe in what I know is true

Many lights in the harbor serve to

Point me home

I lift my heart up, as slow as it beats

Who I am will not melt away

Even if no one should ever hear or see

Chorus:

So tell me,

Do you like your label?

Slapped on you like

Processed food

On the shelf

What I create has no label

For I am my own self

Bridge:

Raw and real is what you should digest

Organic notes are the best

In Simplicity is felicity

I believe in the things I sing

Thanks for reading and have a lovely Friday.

~lme

Photo Credit:  this Flickr Stream

If the music industry as we know it is a dying horse, then why are we putting so much effort into the things we used to do?  A little ludicrous if you ask me.  So what should we do you ask?

1.         Cut out the middle man.  Why spend all your efforts in screaming look at me to a label or a promoter that probably won’t give you the time of day until you prove to yourself and your community that you deserve to be noticed.  SO, why not take that energy and actually work those fingers to the bone.  Be your own little marketing manager and sit for an evening a week and think about what you can do that no one else has done in terms of something marketing wise…. Through video, sound, creative implementation or ways to give your fans what they want.  If you can connect to people and resonate with them and their needs, you will begin to see your tribe building healthily around you.

2.         Stop being lazy.  No one is going to do that work for you.  I can say this because I bought into this mindset for a long time.  If only I can get a label to notice me or find myself a manager that does all the hard work for me, then I’ll be set.  Wrongo.  You need to look at yourself honestly and say, do I love this art and what I do enough to work many hours a day to see it take off the ground?  If not, perhaps you’d better go find yourself a different avenue to walk in.

3.         Be a musician, but don’t join the “music industry.”  I have decided this is my tagline now.  I’m a musician, but I don’t play in the games of an industry that is crumbling around me.  I am picky about the places I play, the people I choose to work with and the way my art becomes manifested.  And I’m allowed to do that- why?  Because I am my own manager and creative mastermind.  I steep myself in blogs, research new things and think about what works for me and my specific business model.  I don’t let some big wig at label control what I do and how I do it.  I am on the level of every independent farmer, business owner and artist…. You know, the way it was always meant to be.

Think on these things…. And please share your own thoughts about being a performing artist in this ever-changing landscape.

~lme

Photo Courtesy: Norwegian flickr photostream

We sometimes fail to understand that there is power in our feeble hands, no matter if we have trouble learning to stand.  If it’s not for a greater purpose, then what’s the purpose.  Let us not strive to own this world, but merely inhabit it and let our clay feet sink into the earth while we are here.  May we leave it better than how we found it.  I will take these feet where He leads.  I feel an itch in my feet to let them breathe and move around.  I cannot deny my desire to traverse the earth.  Driven to share talents that have been bestowed by a great Creator, my hope is to encourage others to let their beauties come to light and reflect His glory.

Music pulsates through my veins like an untamed river running through the mountains.  To feel those melodies and lyrics that are sewn into my skin, my pockets and all of my kin is an impressive gift I have been given. One step after the next onto a better home and may we all learn to love and give and sacrifice on the way. 

My imagination revels in successive pictures that I see every day.  I write because I must, because I want to share and tell the world my stories through song.  We are all In Pursuit of something…. What good things are you pursuing?

~lme

Photo Courtesy:  Library of Congress

Sometimes it takes awhile to get to where you’re going.  This musical road trip took me from home to east Texas, to Austin and finally to Nashville where I await the release of my first EP titled In Pursuit.

I was a songwriter at five, writing ditties while my dad filmed.  I basked in the glow of a world I created all alone.  Classically trained in piano since 6 prepared me for using the piano as my main instrument.  Poetry took hold of my heart through the middle school years and once in high school, I became involved in choir and musical theatre.  The stage taught me how to share my gifts with those who loved the arts.   From there, I decided to learn how to sing and play with my book of pop songs.  This was somewhat difficult as I had always struggled as a sight reader.  So I began writing songs in my college bedroom amidst the east Texas pines.  I shakily performed an original song at my college open mic night with my music professor’s encouragement.  After a move to Austin, I began playing at open mics and coffeehouses around town.

4 years after, I now reside in Nashville. I am blessed to have learned what I am made of and to know somewhere deep in me lies grit that runs in my family.  I anticipate the release of my first EP due out September 24.  To hold such a completed project in my hand will be an accomplishment in and of itself.  It is a gift to arrive at a goal and I look forward in hopes that it is warmly received by those who like it.  I have had an amazing opportunity to tell a story through song in the last six months in the studio.  I’ve molded and sculpted these little works of heart.  It has been days and hours of creating something I have wanted for 5 years.

So it is with open hands and a warm heart that I give you something I hope will be well received.  If you would like to receive In Pursuit, please message me your address or send it to me at leahemusic@gmail.com.

Have a lovely Tuesday 🙂

~lme

Photo Credit: This flickr photostream

I am myself. 

I wanted to be different. 

They told me to just give up. 

I say no. 

Launching out on the waters of musical pursuit and with the winds of naysayers blowing in my face, I will prevail. 

I once used to listen to fear as it whispered. 

Nevermore. 

I will look fear in the face and tell it to take a hike. 

I will not let others tear me down. 

I won’t spend time graveling at the feet of people who do not care about me.

I won’t look back in the darkness.  Onward to the light.

Photo Courtesy:  Archive of North Carolina

She whispered in my ear

Welcome in

To something you must simply see

People in a people gallery….

Perhaps we are all just

traveling exhibits

with a plaque

beneath our feet

telling the reader

of all that our eyes have seen

Those who have been joined in marriage

off to the right

and in the great hall

are the lovers of the night

those who never find it

a gallery of shattered hearts

what pains each of them

now to everyone is art

Far less dirty

once we’re framed

and behind glass

to be analyzed now

and lumped together

with the mass

again and again

In perfect temperature

set to preserve us

as we once were

though the lights are too revealing

of all our faults you’ve heard

Chorus:

On display

for all your eyes

raw and exposed

love led them home

But love was our demise.

~lme

Photo courtesy: Field Museum

I read this on Seth Godin’s blog recently.  

Immersed.  It can change you.

If you aren’t following him and getting his updates, you are missing out.  I don’t think we realize how true this immersion concept actually is.  Take a person for example. We can’t truly know them until we have worked really hard to tear down any pre-conceived notions we have about them or what he have heard.  We won’t be able to love and care and help until we get our hands a little dirty.  We also can’t truly benefit from a situation, a career endeavor or striving for a goal unless we are able to really work on it, dedicating time to fulfilling it.  Do we immerse ourselves in God and the spiritual aspect of our lives?  Or do we just run in the sprinkler, getting ourselves just a little refreshed?  Immersion requires conquering fear.  Immersion requires a commitment.  And immersion will require pushing ourselves when we don’t “feel” like it.  We must ride the waves, hold on in the storms and reassess who we are and where we stand in relation to God.  

And sometimes, the first jump may be the hardest step we have to take.

May your week be profitable and blessed 🙂

love,

lme