Dear all,
As mentioned in my blog at the back end of last year, the beginning of this year is much less gig-intensive than in years gone by. I really had reached a point where I was very keen to get new material penned and ready for albums and gigs as I felt in need of a refresh. There’s also the little matter of the upcoming arrival of baby number two in April and the fact I generally tour less these days to be at home with my family (see previous blog for details!).
But I have made a BIG change in my working life. I realised that a big part of the reason for my drought of new material, songs in particular, was that my working life is now so busy that I unless I actually block out time for creativity it won’t happen. This might sound obvious…but I suppose it rather crept up on me. When I was a full-time tourer, if I wasn’t driving or gigging the time was there to write plus of course the motivating factor of needing new material for albums and gigs. Now I teach 42 banjo students, run a subscription page which involves cooking up plenty of videos and tabs each month, gig in local care homes, do session work and of course still do gigs! I realised it was vital for me to start scheduling creative time and stick to it. This is quite a hard thing for a self employed person to do – there’s always the feeling of ‘I should be earning’ and there is tangible instant earning from lessons, Patreon, session work etc in a way that there isn’t for writing new material. This feeling is of course also increased by being a parent and bread winner!
But I had to do it. Mentally, it has transformed me being creative again. I didn’t realise what a massive part of me had been lying dormant! I feel like a born again creative musician and loving it! New album is to come and I am super excited as I genuinely feel I’m writing my best work for years. Super exciting!
Many thanks to the lovely folks who have watched me play this year – great nights had in Norwich, Lowestoft, Bridgnorth and elsewhere. You didn’t think my gigging was going to go altogether did you?!
Cheers y’all,
Dan