It's a work day in Gunn Studios. The life of an indie musician, seems work is never done. It's a wonderful challenge. It's also great seeing up and coming musicians. At The Summit Farmers Market yesterday, this maybe 13-year old girl approached me. “Are you an indie musician?”, she asked? I set my autoharp down. She started talking about her dreams of being Beyonce.
In years past, I wrote a lot about following your dreams. Making a living as an indie musician is not an easy task. It's not the great mystery to me as it once was. It took me six years to quit my day job once the Brobdingnagian Bards began performing. However, my dream started in 1992. What's that then, thirteen years to to actually becoming a full-time musician… At the time, I wanted to be an indie rock musician. Then in 1998, I turned into an indie alternative folk musician. That didn't get me there either. I ended up in Celtic music. If you asked me in 1992 what kind of music I would be playing twenty-one years later, it wouldn't be Celtic music. I barely knew what Celtic music was back then!
So to hear a thirteen-year old girl sound like she knew more about the music biz than I did at thirty… I was impressed. It gave the itch to mentor again. Yet, one of the reasons I quit writing The Bards Crier Music Marketing ezine was that I felt I should decide if I want to be music marketing professional or a musician. I chose the later.
So with all that said, I'm gonna lay out some of my goals for the day.
- Finish listening to Memories of Middle Earth. Andrew remixed and remastered it. He sent the finished album to me. Sounds awesome so far. We will debut the remixed album at DragonCon
- Mixing Scottish Songs of Drinking & Rebellion
- Brainstorm new Pub Songs Podcast (more below)
- Record a song or two for upcoming albums.
- Mail Victims of Irish Music to CD Baby. The album is blowing up over there. Selling a lot of that compilation!
- Make a Celtic Invasion Vacations brochure. Not sure I'll have time to do this… but here's hoping. Anyone good at making brochures?
Being the podcast recording junkie that I am, I keep brainstorming how to simplify the Pub Songs Podcast so that I can produce one weekly. I know, I'm a bit of an idiot. My latest idea is to turn into a completely live recording. I could record it live on Google Hangouts and also spend less time in post-production… I could finish the show in an hour or two tops instead of the 3-4 hours it usually takes as I edit all the vocals and mix in music.
Anyway, that's the idea. I'd love to hear your thoughts on all of this. So post a comment. If nothing else, just write a nice, “Hello!”
Slainte!
