He's a blowhard for the revolution; he has a lot of great ideas on why the industry's broken & what it'd take to fix it. He LOVES music.
Only one problem. He seems to think those who live for the art of it, to write a great song, chase the muse, or bring an audience to its knees died off around 1985.
We know he's wrong. The world is fuckin' overflowing with talent, amazing young artists coming of age in a DIY world.
So here's my response to his blog on creativity & James Taylor. (his original rant here.)
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Dear Bob--
People still write like this...every day.
They stay up 'til 3am, even though they have to be at work 'til 9am, because they know there's something longing to be said if they can just be patient enough for it to emerge.
They show up late to important business meetings and dates with pissed-off boyfriends or girlfriends because they were obsessed with nailing down that last line to the bridge, because the hook took off good but didn't land quite right.
I just spent 4 days in a Marriot hotel in Memphis for the Folk Alliance. Hundreds of artists (a few agents, labels, promoters, but mostly artists) cramming into bedrooms & jamming, usually unmic'ed, 'til 4am every night. The whole time, I hardly left the hotel. I got to sit in a song circle with Ron Sexsmith, and he was just as humbled by the talent of young New York, Texas, California writers there as we were by him.
I am not a folk artist but damn am I glad I went. Because now I know I'm not alone in my madness. And that 90% of what I worry about when it comes to "making it" (read, building a career), while important, doesn't matter to me half as much as BEING GREAT.
There's a lot of us out there who are hustling and sweating... ticking off the 10,000 hours... wanting nothing more to write a great song, make a great album... one that captures all the whimsies and soul and comi-tragedy of life, of us.
There are a lot of us out there who think Nashville is bullshit... who constantly devour music and have no clue what's up in Top 40 world. And we pour out songs that would make James Taylor, or you crack a smile and lose the everything-great-happened-30-years-ago speech.
I wish you would talk more about us. We're out there. We do it because we can't not. And we're trying desperately to connect with you, with all the great music lovers still out there.
~Jessie Torrisi
