Every song writer is different. Some songs are complicated but, the best songs are simple and memorable. People often ask me the very question I asked Bo Allen five years ago when I knew I was full of this uncontrollable passion and undeveloped craft as if he could wave a magic wand and POOF youre a good artist! He told me one of the most important things that has led to my small time success that shows all the signs of a breakthrough by way of the statistical growth in such a short amount of time. He says, Tony Cross, you need to stop looking for the finish line and get in the race first. He was basically saying that this is a marathon and NOT a 100 yd dash! He said, there is an entire Independent world being created (due to the corporate mentality of the conglomerates wanting to control all supply and demand). He said, I can only lead you to water but its up to you to drink it. In other words, he led me to the right Producer and to the players that could bring my songs to life at a very high level BUT, only if I was ready to call my work (Lyrics) finalized AND INVEST IN MYSELF would anyone believe that I believed in me FIRST which is the ONLY THING THAT MATTERS. Nobody else can get up there for you and knock down an opportunity. The time you spend off the stage and out of the recording facilities WILL DETERMINE YOUR ABILITY TO COMPETE. Music is a wonderful journey. #1 NOBODY can ever take your ability away from you directly. #2 You will NEVER stop learning. Even if youre Ben Lacy who is our guitar virtuoso master 4 generation black belt or Paul Paulie Felice who is a child of ROCK or Tristin Morin who is a new age prodigy even these guys will tell you they are STILL learning everyday. Its a very slow start for many. I did fly through to number #1 in two weeks (LUCKY) but I was prepared and you should be too, for it to take some time to develop. The songs just now getting recognition have been wrote for almost 12 years ago. So the priceless messages Bo gave me was to practice getting better at my craft everyday, keep myself progressing, diversifying, rewriting lyrics (just to see if you can make a line cooler or easier to project in a melodic note) and my actual productivity must continue to be moving forward constantly. I might add that being able to measure the productivity is something that is very important. To my young musicians and artists, ONLY rent a studio when you can play a song front wards and backwards. It is NOT a place to practice but, to finalize that song forever in the pages of history. If you do not have a professional recording capability or budget and only seek a demo quality recording than GREAT! You can get that at someones home studio and depending on the engineers understanding of their tools you CAN get a really decent demo. If you take that quality of recording to pitch, to sale or to solicit for commercial applications, YOU ARE ONLY SPINNING YOUR WHEELS in todays market. Also, have a good relationship with your publishing company whether ASCAP, BMI or etc. They can place your music and catalog it for you. Folks at first I thought he was only brushing me off. I too thought it was like the good ole days where a record company comes along and changes your world over night and whallah youre a star! Not anymore. I was wrong. This is the problem about those who are threatened, deny and can never get passed the truths of life. Where at first my immaturity thought he was only give me the run around, he actually gave me the golden key! NOBODY can create your brand but YOU! WHO KNOWS YOU BETTER THAN YOU? I am really happy to see parent getting involved with their children and developing them with stage time, networking and really supporting their loved ones. THAT IS WHAT IT TAKES. Shout out to Toni Willoughby Karpinski, Allison Cubit, Gina Shuffitt Knight and all the other parents to the future child phenoms on the horizon that has also been privy to the going ons of this new altered and brand new landscape of combining the aspects of live exposure/ public appearances, practice/rehearsals at home, staying connected to the experienced artists and also supporting one another. At the end of the day, none of us can do this alone. If I were to hit a song in the top 20, I would use a significant portion of the residuals to somehow create a pipeline between the major markets and the state of Kentucky. The National Break out music competition here in Louisville is my main focus at this time. With my boys from Nashville, they are going to blow your mind and as I long as I can remember what I have learned, it will be good show. We can go for a month straight playing nothing but originals and our category is Singer Songwriter. Kentucky already has a handful of key players and supporters in Nashville trying to pave the way for you, me and whoever else is dead serious about their music. There has never been a better time for us to remember who we are and get the job done. I have never been short on words and I guess that is good for writing songs but no so good for Facebook. If you read this entire post then I believe in you and more importantly, I believe in US! #BELIEVE #UNITE#CONQUER#INDEPENDENT#KENTUCKY
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 20:59:41 +0000
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