It's amazing to me how much energy I've spent trying to "fit in." The fact is I'm an artist, a vegetarian, and a 20 years sober alcoholic/ addict. I could never possibly fit in! Early in my singer/ songwriter career I was told I "sang like Whitney Houston," (somehow that was supposed to be an insult?!?!?) and that I needed to "show restraint." Now I get it, but then I took these statements to heart in a way which was really damaging to my work and to me as a person. Firstly, who fits in? The idea of fitting in is ridiculous. Human beings are a bunch of weirdos and that is as it should be! Secondly, all of the moments where I've known I was really nailing it as an artist were moments where I let the beast out of its box. I'm really grateful to my friends in the band Red Molly. When they asked me to sing the duet of "Gulf Coast Highway" on the album "James," I sent them a track and they said they wanted me to raise it an octave. I said "basically you want me to scream?" Laurie said yes. I went down to the studio they were working in and I screamed my face off. It was magical. It undid a bunch of bullshit a producer I'd recently worked with had caked on me. I'm done with all that. I'm letting it rip... Excene Cervenka, Iggy Pop, Jim Morrison, Patti Smith, Elliott Smith, Tom Waits... none of my favorite singers showed "restraint." Let it rip!!!!!! Lastly- the musician in the room should never "fit in." We live our lives on a path which is both magical and really difficult, and we should stick out like a sore thumb in any room, because it is sort of the artist's job to BE a sore thumb. Somebody has to make us look at our hands and acknowledge what they do- a sore thumb will do that!

Wednesday, February 8th 2023