Out to lunch and more documentation

I am off to Chicago Wednesday morning and won’t be posting in that time. If I do not have something to say when I return Saturday evening, the trip will have been a waste of time and a total buzzkill.

When I began this blog almost 13 months ago, it was intended to allow me to join a trend, share my silly little ideas with people with whom it wasn’t feasible to speak everyday, and to document what seemed to be a puzzling time in my life. I never kept a journal, and this seemed to be a reasonable outlet.

Having now lived in Nashville some five months, the blog seems to have become a documentation of my progress in the music business. I hope I never bore you with it (you know what to do if I do!) but I think this is a worthy cause.

Over the last couple of weeks, my attention has admittedly been more drawn to Nashville than it has been since I moved, for a variety of reasons. Since beginning that change of focus, I have definitely begun to feel that I was progressing more rapidly in my professional trip. I have started feeling more and more like I was actually achieving something here (albeit very slowly… just how I prefer it) rather than simply sleeping here.

Tonight was a particularly strong example. On Sunday, I met a writer in the kitchen of the home where the party was held. We’ll call him Don. Don was a quiet guy, the sort of person to whom, as I mentioned a few days ago, I feel I should make it a point to pay attention. As he drank his Dixie cup full of pure water (he didn’t appear to be in “need” of water), we struck up a conversation that was rather dry yet comfortable. I had overheard that he was playing a round tonight, and I asked him about it. After he confirmed the time and location, I mentioned that I might attend. He encouraged this, mentioning that there would be three other very solid writers.

Tonight I went to that show, which was honestly rather out of the way. As I sat for dinner, he made it a point to say hello to me from the stage in the middle of a tune. Over the course of the next hour or so, I realized that his reference to the other writers as “solid” was a wee bit understated. By the time the show was over, I had heard old and new music by the writers of this, this, and this, among others. And I didn’t realize until he played it that Don himself had written this.

At that point, I think I realized that a great deal of the key to becoming a successful part of this community is to genuinely want to be a successful part of this community – not to attempt to get to know people for the purpose of exploiting their own prior success. I would never intentionally use someone, but everyone has heard the phrase “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” before. The temptation to try to develop a professional relationship with the people one meets, without bothering to concern oneself with the real individual, is a temptation for everyone here. I suspect the people who have operated in that fashion have either gone home or soon will.

After the show, Don was very cordial – took the time to thank me for coming, asked me about my week, and encouraged me to keep writing. I thanked him for letting me know about it, and promised to do my best to show the next time he was playing. If a number one eventually develops out of the acquaintanceship, great. If it doesn’t, it has to be enough for what it is – and that in itself is worth enjoying… another friend, another part of the ride, and another story to tell.

For the record, in the midst of listening to the classic tunes these gentlemen were singing, I was reminded of a couple of really important and valuable facets of this brand of music. I had forgotten about the importance of humor in a song, and will try to get back to that immediately. I had also forgotten about the a-ha moment, the live performance of which often results in a verbal expression by the audience indicative of what I like to call The Gospel of Country Music (just my overly dramatic name for a very real phenomenon that I think one can only experience here). I’m sure there’s a post coming on that one day.