I'm trying some new ideas with this
outlet. I hope you'll join me and learn and explore with me along the journey.
This is the first of what I intend to write of many notes about me. There will
be plenty of other notes about other topics, of course! But I don't often share
much of myself without being asked or prodded, at least not in ways that most
people really understand. maybe hoping others will somehow learn something
about me at their own prompting, which isn't entirely fair of me. How can
anyone know what I might want to share with them if I never give them any
insight into what that might be? This is my attempt to share some
things with people that I wouldn't normally just share in everyday conversation
but that I want people to know and understand about me.
Music. There is a unique beauty I
find in music that feeds my soul cravings like nothing else I've ever found,
except for photography. Bliss is great music on my IPOD and wandering around
taking photos, preferably in a new place. Music and photography inspire me and
I often find myself wanting to create photos of a song I've heard or put lyrics
to my photographs. They are more often than not intertwined in my mind. Finding
an artist, a lyric, a sound, that resonates deep within me that creates something
in me, an excitement, an inspiration; feeding & creating an insatiable
hunger that is constantly rumbling deep in my soul, louder at times than others.
I often wish I could ingest music like I ingest food, to be able to take it
into my body and feed my soul like food feeds this earthly shell, to somehow quench
that soul-hunger, to soak it up and weave it into my DNA, store it in one of
those little markers that determine and reveal to some degree who we are and
who we might be. This. This is a glimpse of how music speaks to me.
I find myself in these moments when
the aching for inspiration is nearly unbearable, like an addicts' cravings for
the next fix. It's something that sneaks up on me every once in a while,
unsuspecting and vicious in it's attack, unrelenting until I find that . . .
something. Like a panic attack coming on, oxygen is suddenly in short supply,
jumbled & chaotic thoughts, desperation blacking out any other thought or
desire, gotta find that next hit! Gotta find . . . something .. . something Beautiful,
unique, moving, new, something deep that fulfills that hunger that nothing else
satiates, that speaks the language of my soul, that deepest need for . ..
something . . .. a lyric, a phrase, an image, a sound . . . There can be no
rest until it's found.
I listen to a variety of music
styles and often get stuck in one genre for a while before going to another one,
though there's always overlap. One of those genres that comes and goes for me
is country music. It is something I listened to a lot growing up, maybe due in
part to some siblings who also listened to it, or perhaps because I was raised
in a small farming town where country music just fit that way of life. On the
other hand, I also listened to a lot of rap music at the time, too, so my taste
in music covers a broad spectrum. Those 2 genres don't generally go well
together in most people's opinion I think but I've loved artists and music in
both. I love a good story told over a beautiful tracks, regardless of genre. I
think there's something unique about country music that takes me back,
regardless of whether it’s a song from back then or a new one. There's that
something in the lyrics and the sound that make me nostalgic for that time in
my life. Rap music doesn't have the same effect. If it's a song from the nineties
when I was listening to a lot of it, then it may stir that up in me, but the
rap music of today isn't the same to me and I don't react to it the same way.
Country music has that timeless quality.
I
heard a song on the radio the other day, thank you Shazam for telling me who it
was, and it stirred something in me. When I got home and did some exploring, I
discovered Sam Hunt. I'd heard some of his songs before and honestly they
struck me as a little odd for the way they sound, and I didn't really connect
with them before, but this time, something clicked. Timing. Not only is he gorgeous,
he's got an incredible voice that he can do a lot with, a style all his own,
and if the videos are in anyway accurate, he actually seems like a genuinely
good guy. Did I mention he's gorgeous? Man, those eyes and that smile! I
digress . . . a little. But beyond those
superficialities, what I think I love the most about his music is the
uniqueness of it, that he is making music he wants to make. It's not
cookie-cutter and the same as every other country artist, for me anyway. He's
incorporated his influences, which include hip-hop sounds, into his
song-writing and singing in a new way. I think that's part of what I originally
didn't like about some of the songs I'd heard before. I thought it was weird. "Who's
this guy kinda doing this spoken word bit in the middle of what would
otherwise be a really good country song??" That's what I was thinking.
But
the more I listened to his music and watched some of those interviews, the more
he grew on me. Hence, my current infatuation. I can't get enough of his music!
If I liked Kenny Chesney half as much, I'd have bought that $250 ticket to see
them in Seattle
this summer. I didn't cuz I don't. But the very idea that he is doing something
he loves in a way that is unique to him, is beautiful and wonderful. It's one
of those somethings! That hits my inspiration button on multiple levels -
beautiful, meaningful, unique, creative; that both eases and ignites that
craving in me for something genuine, inspired. To see someone living out their
dreams, sharing their passions, using their God-given gifts in such an
incredible way, it speaks to me and moves me like nothing else. Thank you Sam,
for creating music I want to curl up in and float away on, to play on repeat
until my cup overflows.
Music video by Sam Hunt performing Make You Miss Me. (C) 2016 Out In It.
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