Recently I had brunch with three friends, all fellow musicians. We were catching up and pondering what it means to succeed in music. One friend expressed that she’d been feeling creatively uninspired and paralyzed by self-criticism, and she felt that […]
While watching the Golden Globes a few weeks ago, I was reminded of The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle, a book I read for a college course. It’s a good read for pretty much anyone who has ever tried to […]
This is how it happens: I have an idea for a song, I start working on it, and then it starts to get difficult. I have a good lyric, but I can’t find anything to rhyme with it. I have […]
As a general rule, I try not to put too much pressure on the turning of the year to bring seismic change. I will wake up on Jan. 1, 2018, and nothing will have changed overnight: I will still be […]
Yes, that’s right, this is another “Best of 2017” list! 2017 was, in my opinion, a very good year for new music. This year seemed particularly full of addictive songs. You know the kind I mean: a song that grabs […]
In a recent column I wrote a bit about how much I love the structure of touring: it’s repetitive to the point of being ritualistic, and as a creature of habit, I like getting into a rhythm on tour. I […]
“I’m traveling in some vehicle/I’m sitting in some café/A defector from the petty wars/That shell shocked love away” – Joni Mitchell, “Hejira” I’m writing on a train from Amsterdam to Brussels. On either side of the tracks I see fields […]
Many independent musicians make their living from a chaotic patchwork of gigs, recording sessions, teaching, and the occasional side job. My parents, both independent musicians and music teachers, taught me by example that it’s possible to make a decent living […]
When I was 18, I showed up at Berklee College of Music as an experienced and confident performer whose recording experience mostly consisted of a USB microphone plugged into GarageBand. Four years later, when it came time to record my […]
Two weeks ago, jazz bassist, singer, and composer Esperanza Spalding launched an ambitious project called “Exposure.” It was a 10-song album that would be, unbelievably, written and recorded with numerous guest musicians in the course of 77 hours. And the […]
