Last night I was in Atlanta with my wife, Mary, for a photo shoot. She finished earlier than expected and, since we were in Decatur, we decided to head over to Eddie’s Attic for Open Mic Night.
Eddie’s is an intimate, acoustic venue that is set up with singer/songwriters in mind. It has a small corner stage surrounded by cozy, cafe table seating, it sounds great, and it’s a place people come to listen, rather than talk over the music. It’s been the center of a thriving songwriter community that has produced artists like the Indigo Girls, Shawn Mullins, John Mayer, and Sugarland. When he was starting out, I’m told John Mayer used to work at the door, taking tickets.
Every Monday night, they have an open mic contest. The winners of each night go on to a final round, held twice a year, and the winner of that night gets a cash prize and time in a recording studio. On any given Monday night you can usually hear aspiring songwriters who can barely play three chords, seasoned hobbyists, and professional troubadors stopping through on tour.
I’ve played the open mic night a couple of times, and I remember how nervous I was the first time I got up on that stage. It’s tough playing in a bar where everyone is talking and no one is listening to you, but it can be even tougher playing for a crowd that’s quiet and listening to every word! I wondered if I had picked the right songs to play, wondered if the audience would like them, hoped I’d remember the words, and wished my voice would stop quivering.
Watching a nervous first-timer last night, I realized how far I’ve come as a performer. I still get nervous before every show, but I’ve done it enough to know that I can deliver the songs well, and that confidence enables me to push through the nervous energy. I saw another established performer last night who sang and played with a smooth, pitch-perfect delivery and intricate finger-picking technique. Quite simply, he was much more skilled than I am, and it motivated me to practice more! The truth is, there’s always going to be someone better than you, and someone worse. So don’t get hung up on comparing yourself to others, worrying how you measure up. In my experience, winning a contest has never amounted to much in the long run. Just go out and play and you’ll get better.
That first open mic at Eddies, I didn’t make it past the first round. But I made a contact that night that led to a series of bookings that have been some of the most fun and best paying gigs I’ve done. The best advice I can give anyone who wants to be a musician is:
Play all you can. Have fun. Make friends.
Aside from that, it’s a lot of ugly business. And it’s really not worth doing if you don’t focus on these three things first.
“One of these days you’re gonna find what you’ve been running from…
…and one of these days you’re gonna find it’s what you needed all along”
- “21″ , The Beggars’ Guild
The Beggars’ Guild is now T.J. Edmond & The Beggars’ Guild.
Why? ( In no particular order…)
1. Because I think The Beggars’ Guild is a good band name, with some recognition, and I don’t want to drop it altogether.
2. To eliminate confusion when playing solo gigs and consolidate branding. (Billing one guy as a “guild” is goofy, and promoting “T.J. Edmond” and “The Beggars’ Guild” separately means duplicating a lot of effort and infrastructure while achieving less brand awareness for each.
3. The band lineup has changed back and forth numerous times in the last year, and it has caused some confusion as to “Who IS The Beggars’ Guild?”.
I’ve been fortunate to have–and build friendships with– a lot of great musicians in this band. I started the band with a couple of demos I posted on Myspace, and soon found a group of like-minded musicians (Jon Chalden, Gregg Shapiro, and Will McNeill) willing to play with a green, fledgling songwriter. For the first three years, It was the same three guys and me, and I owe an enormous debt to them for how much I learned and grew from playing with them. Over the past year, with all of our various gigs, families, etc., the lineup often rotated from gig to gig (including Bret Hartley, Dave Anthony, Ryan Stephens, Jeff Beach, and Jamie Crossland) depending on who was available, but the one constant has always been me, up front. So, I suppose it’s time to call it like it is and put “T.J. Edmond &” on the front of the band name. [Ironically, a lot of bands I know have been making the opposite move lately, like (Bain Mattox &) Shot From Guns, and (Andrew Nelson & The) Shotgun Lover(s).]
The truth is, I started The Beggars’ Guild because I didn’t want to be a solo artist. But if you really boil it down, I’m a songwriter fronting a (mostly) rock & roll band. Songwriting is where my heart– and the long-term potential for my career–is. I’ve realized lately that for me to grow as a writer, as a musician, and as a performer, I need to practice all of those more. So I’m going to be playing more solo shows (as T.J. Edmond) as well as shows with the band (as T.J. Edmond & The Beggars’ Guild). I’m going to write more songs, learn more of other people songs, and just play more in general.
In reality, not much has changed. I’ll still be playing some of the same songs with many of the same musicians. But I’ll have more freedom to play more shows, and make more music even if it’s not always the same lineup behind me.
I recently got to hang out and catch up with some friends of mine, Zack Arias, who is an astounding photographer, and his wife Meghan, who is an equally astounding singer/songwriter.
In the last few years Zack has become widely-respected leader in his field and stays busy teaching his sold-out photography workshops all over the world. It was refreshing and inspiring talking to him, because Zack talks about the picture the same way I feel about the song. He’s a passionate, driven artist whose talent has brought him a good deal of success and earned him the respect of many in the world of photography. But he recently posted a video, called “Transform,” on his blog about the difficulty artists sometime face in improving, growing and measuring ourselves against others. Sometimes it’s tempting to to just give up, feeling like you’ll never be as good as others around you. At end of the video Zack offers the resolution:
“Transformation takes time… but it’s worth the wait.”
Over dinner with Zack, Meghan, and a bunch of photographers in town for his workshop, I heard many of them share how they were impacted by the Transform video, and how they were encouraged and motivated to keep taking pictures and improving by reading Zack’s blog. And I was inspired.
I’ve started this blog to share my journey as a songwriter and musician in the hope that others might be inspired and encouraged, or maybe just be entertained and learn from my mistakes. The dialogue between musicians and their listeners is usually pretty one-way: email blasts, myspace and facebook invites, posters, and static websites. With this blog I hope to open up some conversation with listeners and readers as I dig into the processes of writing and recording songs, dissect other people’s songs, try to improve as an artist and reflect on the creative (or sometimes unproductive) life. I hope you’ll find something helpful in it.
Cheers,
T.J.
Watch the whole video. It’s good for more than just photographers.
Last night I was in Atlanta with my wife, Mary, for a photo shoot. She finished earlier than expected and, since we were in Decatur, we decided to head over to Eddie’s Attic for Open Mic Night.
