The Artist
The stage lights have dimmed. The building is empty. The show is over. My tour is done. It was fun. It started in Austin and ended in New Braunfels. Two stops. Two stages. Two days. There were no trucks, no crew, no dancers. It was just me and my guitar and my kit bag. I sang my songs to mostly appreciative audiences. It should be noted there were other people on the bill at every stop, so I wasn’t ever close to headlining. Still, there I was. On tour.
I was much less nervous this time around than the first time I stood on a stage, after many years of silence. It helps to write your own songs, because no one knows how they go, and those that do are pretty forgiving. That’s a confidence builder. On the performing side, I tried to stand straight and tall and look out into the audience and be entertaining. My mind, when singing however, still has a tendency to wander which can be detrimental to the musical cause. So, while I still look, I try not to notice. I made mistakes, but I played right through them.
Overall, I’m lucky, I think, to have a fair number of people who support my music, dare I say, even like it, just as they support this writing, and even like it. And I feel grateful to have them and to be able to share works that evoke feelings of sorrow, or joy. It’s a nice arrangement that feeds all of our souls. Maybe one day the well will run dry and the friends wander off, but I suspect as long as I can think, I’ll probably always have something to say, even if it's just to entertain myself with the sound of my own voice.