Category: Artist Highlights

 Here is one of our many members who have brought life to our community. We are grateful to see the process and progress our members share with us, and we are honored to give them the spotlight! Their story is our story. Read on to be inspired by our latest Member Highlight interview…

Meet Curtis

Curtis is from Charlotte, NC, USA

What do you do during the day?

I teach Delta Airlines Ramp techniques to their contractors. Its a dangerous job with loud machines that have their own rhythms. I end up hearing melodies that I often have to leave the ramp to go write down.

What Day of 100 is your piece from?

Last year. Part of the Mission 22 Project. Addressing the fact that 22 veterans commit suicide in America everyday.

Lyrics:

... Sometimes the darkness seems so powerful

And I know sometimes the light brings no relief

Just know that you are in my heart and on my mind

And I'm praying for your strength and for your peace...

Listen here:

Click here to listen

Is there anything surprising about your musical taste?

The variety of artists that I listen to surprises me. As long as I can see images in their sound I'm with it. You'll hear anything from Mozart to Montell Jordan to Men at Work to Metallica

What does your songwriting habit look like?

I get snippets of song in my head constantly. The voice notes on my phone is full. I create mostly at night when I get home. Occasionally I awaken from dreams and have to put ideas down immediately.

Who are your influences? How have they shaped you?

I was exposed to story telling artists as a child.

What challenge are you facing with songwriting?

Completing the piles of song ideas that I generate on nearly a daily basis.

Tell us an early memory about a song that woke something up inside you.

I remember listening to Earth Wind & Fire's brazilian rhyme (ponta de areia)... All of a sudden I could see snow falling around me. As if I was transported to some mountain top at night with lightly falling snow that I could almost feel. I've been trying to create works that "transport" ever since. I wanted to take people places with music.

Check out their work here:

www.curtiswaynehurley.com

Instagram

Youtube

Apple Music

Here is one of our many members who have brought life to our community. We are grateful to see the process and progress our members share with us, and we are honored to give them the spotlight! Their story is our story. Read on to be inspired by our latest Member Highlight interview…

Meet Robin

Robin is from Deming, WA, USA.

What do you do during the day?
I get to work with kids, this year it is 2nd and 3rd graders, mostly on reading skills, but often I get to run music/art classes from a curriculum I have been assembling, and it is always heart-filling. Up until the pandemic, I was in 4 musical groups, now I have only 1 (if that) rehearsal a week, and few gigs. Sigh. But.. silver lining, I joined this community that is really filling me up!

Is there anything surprising about your musical tastes?
If I had been born in the 40's I just know I would have written show tunes for lovely old musicals. I don't know how surprising that is...

Official music page:
https://www.facebook.com/bandZandt

Here is one of our many members who have brought life to our community. We are grateful to see the process and progress our members share with us, and we are honored to give them the spotlight! Their story is our story. Read on to be inspired by our latest Member Highlight interview...

Meet Thomas

Thomas is from Ringsted, Denmark.

What do you do during the day?
I teach classroom music 6 lessons a week, conduct a string ensemble, coach a band and have a large number of guitar students. On weekends, I perform as a sideman in a covers band, sub in other bands, and do the occasional solo performance here and there, either on classical guitar, or in my singer/ songwriter capacity. I am also available for remote session work - mostly on guitar - from my home studio that has steadily grown into quite a capable little operation, and where I have a LOT of fun creating.

In short, I am living the dream. I get to make music every single day.

I also get to be a husband and a father of two boys, which is endlessly rewarding and challenging.

Is there anything surprising about your musical tastes?
I usually say - and I mean it - that my favourite piece/ song, is whatever I am working on at any given time. This means, that one week, I can be completely immersed in a simple, bordering on corny polka and love it dearly for its simplicity, relatability and earworm qualities, and the next day feel like some avant-garde postmodern piece of atonal music is the best thing since sliced bread, and breathtakingly beautiful in all of its dissonant glory and break-neck technical difficulty.

What does your songwriting habit look like?
In the current 100 days, I have created a very gentle songwriting habit. If I do anything songwriting related during a day, it counts as keeping the habit alive. I don't have a set time of day or a number of lines to hit. I just try to let the muse in every day. In the previous period, I had a more ambitious rule, and it was clearly more productive, but I have to be realistic in my goals, and with in-person teaching and regular gigs resuming, I knew that my availiable time would be much more limited. The more gentle rule means no feeling guilty, and I have still managed to write a few songs, that I am happy with.

Who are your influences? How have they shaped you?
Most weeks, one of my guitar students will say something, that makes me think differently about something. My wife and two sons also have a tendency to spark my creativity in one way or the other.

What challenge are you facing with songwriting?
Accepting less than stellar songs in between the ones that get me all fired up. Especially now, that I don't write as much. But I'm getting better at it all the time!

Tell us an early memory about a song that woke something up inside you.
I don't remember the title of the song - but on a Friday night prime time family entertainment show, Billy Cross, who used to play with Bob Dylan for a while, was playing with his band. I must have been 7 years old at most, and immediately decided, that I wanted to play guitar. I still want to play guitar - every day, and I do. I even make a living doing it; most through teaching and a solid portion through performing.

What Day of 100 is your piece from?
On and off from 50/100 to 73/100 on the spring 2021 100 DOS

About the song:
This song was written in the previous - my first - 100 days, around halfway in. I was frustrated with the muse not presenting itself, and out of my frustration grew the first few lines, and the rest more or less wrote itself.

Listen here:
Click here to listen

Official music page:
https://thomaslyngpoulsen.bandcamp.com/

It has been fun getting to know John Gehrke over the last year-plus. His thought-provoking lyrics, sense of humor, and willingness to try something new in front of everyone add so much value to our community.

Meet John

What do you do during the day?

I am honored to introduce Sonam. She has such a fresh sound, bursting with creativity and mind-expanding harmonic complexity. I have truly enjoyed seeing her process as she develops songs and steps out on a limb to share them with the world.

Meet Sonam

What do you do during the day?
After highschool I did a year of a BA in Creative Writing. After that I completed two years of a Music Technology/Audio Engineering program, which I just finished a few weeks ago! Throughout these last three years I've been working as an Arts Editor/Journalist at a student newspaper called the Other Press. Now that I've graduated I'm currently job hunting for a second job.

I have immensely enjoyed getting to know Rado over the last few months. Not gonna lie, I'm a little biased because we share a love for blues, soul, and funk, which clearly influences his compositions. I appreciate his willingness to give us a peek into his process—the way he teases out a juicy chord or harmony and massages it into a song is super inspiring!

Meet Rado

It is my joy to introduce Devin. When he first started showing up at our meetings, he was ZOOMing in from Guatemala, doing music full-time. The way his songwriting has evolved over this past year illuminates how dedicated he is.

What do you do during the day?

I’ve recently relocated back to the US after living abroad for some years. So right now, songwriting and music is what I’m continuing to work on while looking towards what and where the next step is.

I am so glad to highlight this fine fellow. Clark has been with our community for a few seasons now. Besides being super supportive to his fellow songwriters, sharing his unique process and wonderful music, he holds a special place in my heart. Clark gave me a nudge at a crucial juncture in the life of this community.

Last year I was struggling with our platform. I spent way too much time chasing down tech issues and worrying about crashing the website. I wanted to build a community. Clark suggested I look into the Mighty Networks platform. After researching it, I begun the monumental process of moving our community to a new platform. I am so grateful I did. Now, I get to focus on building an infrastructure that nurtures humanity—more events, workshops, discussion topics, collaborations, to name a few. It's also freed me up to focus more on my songwriting. Thank you, Clark! This community would not be what it is today without you, my friend.

Meet Clark

Clark is from Bozeman, MT, United States

What do you do during the day?

I just finished grad school in November and am currently seeking employment as a nonprofit program evaluation consultant.

Within three seconds of meeting Louis, I knew we would be in each other's lives somehow in the future. We first met at the 2019 CD Baby DIY conference in Austin, Texas. I discovered that we share a vision for supporting and lifting up fellow musicians. He provides a performance space called tinystageconcerts.com. Check it out if you are in the Charlotte, NC area. After about a year of slow-drip invitation, I finally talked him into doing a hundred days with us. This fall, he jumped in with fingers and pen blazing. Both his output and encouragement were incredible. It is truly a pleasure having this genuine and kind-hearted soul part of our community.

Meet Louis

What do you do during the day?

I am a copier technician/network specialist for an office equipment company.