Luckily for me, I had a daughter who developed a love for music at an early age. And over a period of time that love proved to be highly contagious. As I listened to her play the piano and watched her enjoyment grow with each new piece she mastered, I eventually found myself jotting down little phrases on pieces of paper; things I’d think of randomly and that sometimes didn’t even make sense. But the seed had been planted and over the next several months I began to jot down more and more until I had formed writings that bore some very general resemblance to songs. Then I began to experiment with singing my songs and, to my surprise, I found this to be absolutely exhilarating. It was a feeling of being able to craft something out of nothing and make it your own; make it an extension of yourself and what you believed in and what you wanted to say to others. That feeling is what got me hooked. And it was then when I decided, with a secret only I knew, that I was going to become a singer/songwriter who would create songs that could be heard and enjoyed by many, many people.

Cool dream, right? Well, there were just a couple of obstacles that I’d need to work through. One was that I knew absolutely nothing about creating music … or playing music or reading music. I knew zero music theory. Zero piano. Zero guitar or any other instrument. I had no vocal training and no knowledge of songwriting technique.

Oh, and I was forty years old and had spent the past twenty years as a computer geek.

Everybody knows the mold for aspiring singer/songwriters – they grow up with a guitar in their hands and seek to make a name for themselves as twenty-something year old’s; if not teenagers.

Beyond that, I knew nobody in the music industry to point me somewhere and show me what to do.

I was starting from rock bottom as an ancient rookie with no skills, no contacts, and no resemblance of any sort to the stereotypical new singer/songwriter.

All About the Grind

Two years after I started learning music I released my first song, “Against the Tide”. In many ways, it was the soundtrack of my life, a song about pursuing your dreams no matter your circumstances. I also released a music video for the song. Shot in four locations across the Nashville area, it was essentially a short movie. It was the first of several elaborate videos I’ve done for my song releases.

People sometimes ask me “why” – why do you do all this? You’re not a star. You’re not going to have millions of people listening to your music.

But my philosophy is if you can’t visualize success, you’re all but guaranteed never to have it. And that’s why I swing for the fences every single time. It’s why I sweat over every detail of every song I record and every video I create. That’s just who I am.

Moving On

Several song releases later, I’ve received multiple accolades from one of the world’s most widely recognized songwriter organizations and praise on the potential of a number of my songs for TV or other media. I had one of my songs recorded by a Nashville artist and break into the top 50 new country music releases.

Most importantly, I’m continuing to hone my craft. Continuing to write. Continuing to improve. Continuing to believe in the power to create art that will speak to many people.

A journey fueled by passion is a journey that will endure.