The Highwire

Tomorrow, January 31st I will be releasing the Farther Shores EP to you-The World. I have said so much about these songs and have lived with them for so long and I am excited to give them new places to inhabit. I hope you’ll take them along with you wherever you may be heading.

I wanted to share an old post from blog I used to tinker with. I hope this rings true with you

The Highwire

south of san francisco there is a light house at pigeon point. built in the late 1800′s, it has been blocked off due to erosion, and the light now shines only on special occasions.  the cliffs it sits above are jagged and rough, but the fields that lie behind it are covered in blankets of yellow flowers this time of year. the most overwhelming part of the scene though, is the ocean itself. vast and relentless, it sends wave after wave towards land. it rises and falls with frustration around the rocks it will eventually crumble and rumbles with the driven wind across its expanse.

what does this place have to do with highwires?

light houses walk a highwire. we stand them up tall, delicate, and shining against a huge unknown entity hoping to find some safety in the warning they provide. at any point a lighthouse could be swept away, fall, and crumble. if the very rocks they stand on are not guaranteed to always be there how is the light house?

this frailty is where their beauty, and i believe, much of the beauty we see elsewhere in the world comes from. what we describe as “beautiful” is that razors edge of a moment when something, a sound, an image, or a light house, is perched on the edge of destruction.

the film “Man On Wire” is the perfect example of this, and the reason i make the high-wire comparison. the highwire walker that strung a line between the twin towers and then performed thousands of feet in the air with no protection is the human personification of the light house. he put himself, delicate and human, in the face of a huge power beyond his control and that, we say is beautiful and poignant.

i feel this same delicate wire walking in performances by musicians as well.  a live concert is a highwire for any performer. putting oneself out on the line with no fall back or safety net beneath the stage is the same as walking a wire between two high rise buildings.  the same sense of delicate balance and un-nerving sense of imminent destruction are there. performing a song can feel like setting up a light house next to the ocean, letting it throw its light, however feeble, into the waters of the unknown.

i look for this highwire walk in the music i listen to, buy, and share. i like words and rhymes that hang on the verge, but turn out brilliant and cutting (See Townes Van Zandt). i like discovering new musicians that take me places ive never been (see Willy Tea Taylor, Joe Pug, The Low Anthem). and i especially like hearing my friends perform their highwire walks

the bigger picture

So by now you know that Farther Shores EP is going to be released on January 31st. And you know where to get it. And hopefully you know who I am.

But do you know how important you are to this whole process of sharing music with each other?

I’ve written before about my definition of Independence is. I hope you’ve read that post, it was a turning point for me to write it and solidify my ideas about it.

If you did, then you have a small idea about how dependent I am on you for keeping me going with music. I’d like to talk about that a little more.

I, nor any other musician makes music in a vacuum. We all have a context in which we create or are informed by. and for an independent musician, you are the most importnat element of that context. you are who I am trying my hardest to connect with through music. you are the reason I spend hours working and re-working songs. you are why I love this.

Because I get to show you who I am and in turn get to know who you are. We get to connect through these songs. I get the joy of being in community with you, whether that is in-person, or simply on the internet. And I love it.

I am trying to build our little community that is growing slowly but surely around these songs. So far it has been the greatest adventure and one of the hardest tasks. And honestly, I would love your help. There are so many ways you can join me in building this thing into something bigger than I or you can probably imagine.

The first way is for you to simply purchase or download my songs. This is the simplest, most basic form of exchange we can have. Your purchase goes right back into helping me make more of the thing I love to share with you. Thats the best way I can think to say it.  when you buy mine, or another independent artists music, you are investing in that persons creativity and that is no small potatoes.

The second is to share music with your friends. We live in a digital world dominated by social networking, blogging, and emails. No time in the past has had so much communication been possible. And at no time has it ever been easier for you to communicate with others. Independent artists love it when you connect with them, or connect your friends to them. Please, it can’t be asked enough, please share our music.

The third is to come see us play/perform/or exhibit. Digital is all fine and good and serves an essential purpose in the life of the independent artists, but there is nothing as powerful as meeting and talking face-to-face. So please help us get more chances to play for you by coming out when we announce a show. It is the single most important way to encourage your local independent artist.

Hopefully by now you are all charged up and ready to hit that like button, tweet that link, press the send button, or just tell a friend about my music and the music/projects of your friends. Thank you for helping out and being such a integral part of our community, you are essential.

Farther Shores EP

Today is January 9th.

In 22 days on January 31st I will release to the world 5 songs that have become my friends.

I count them as my friends for many reasons. My experience of songwriting has been scarily similar to other songwriters whom I admire and respect, in that they view the songs as personalities and forces outside of themselves. I think any good songwriter would tell you that the songs you want to keep around do not come from inside the mind of the writer. The writer so often serves as simply the scribe for a force outside of themselves that is slowly entering the world through their pen and/or instrument.

So I’d like to introduce you to my friends that I have slowly been getting to know as I’ve written, re-written, recorded, re-recorded, and explored.

The five songs on the EP are titled:

1. Voices On The Sea

2. Set Your Mind

3. Come Back

4. Sunrise On The City

5. Farewell Old Friend

Each is the story of of someone leaving/returning/being separated from/ or discovering home.

They are all set near coastlines, oceans, or rivers and are very much inspired by my time in San Francisco.

And they all have felt like ghosts at some point in their process of becoming.

Let me give you a little more insight into each one:

1. Voices On The Sea

This song came to my wife and I when we were in Point Reyes National Seashore. There is a beautiful light house there that stands at the very edge of the vast Pacific ocean. It is also where many believe that Sir Francis Drake made a landing in the 1500′s. There is also a hill covered in trees on the way to the lighthouse. Down the hill is a sign reading “Lifesaving Station Graveyard”. If you stop a this beautiful spot you might meet some of the ghosts we found lingering there as well. This song is dedicated to them.

2. Set Your Mind

Folk music is all about understanding, accepting, and then utilizing your traditions and influences. This song is what I consider my truest folk song. I wrote this while wandering the halls of a museum as a security guard. Its a song about looking for the wrong things and meeting the wrong person. Be warned.

3. Come Back

This song started as something completely different than what it turned out to be. My wife and I moved back to our hometown after a few years in San Francisco and that brought up lots of thoughts, ideas, and questions about what home is and what its effect on us it would have. This story found its way out of some notes I had been writing as I collected my thoughts. It is the first half of a story that is continued in the song that closes the album “Farewell Old Friend”

4. Sunrise on The City

While in San Francisco, we had the honor of living right next to the Bay. This was one of the most beautiful and humbling experiences I will ever have. Many mornings I had to be up at sunrise and I got to watch the freight liners and other ships silently and slowly making their way into the bay. This got me thinking about the men onboard and who they were, how many times they had come to this port, and what that must feel like to arrive safely. I pulled the camera back a little bit (so to speak) and wrote this song as a welcoming song to any travelers/sailors returning home.

5. Farewell Old Friend.

This song is dedicated to my friend Pat and Joanna McGinn. They probably don’t know how important they will continue to be to me. Pat served in the U.S. Navy and he and his wife became good friends in Berkeley. The song is about the necessity of leaving and the pain that comes from this experience we have all shared. This song is the second half of “Come Back” and they are both repeating answers to each other. I hope you find some comfort in these songs and can find yourself in one or both of the characters who inhabit them.

So now that I’ve done my introductions, it will soon be time for you to get to know these five. On January 31st please visit them here:

jacobfurr.bandcamp.com

Take some time to get to know your music.

Whether its your own that you make, or the music you listen to, let it become your good friend, it will not disappoint.

Thanks for reading, I have quite a few more thoughts about music and this album in particular so please keep checking back in.

-Jacob

on being independent

independent.

this has been a hard word for me to apply to myself and my life.

i look around me at all the people, places, and things i AM dependent on and the word starts to sound a tad vain.

a cornerstone of my life the past few years has been to not let people, places, or circumstances define or restrict me and this has been much harder to apply and live up to than i so ignorantly thought. and honestly, it has not worked. i think for good reason.

because being independent does not mean going it alone. or refusing to be a part of a place or people out of fear that it may change you.  it definitely doesn’t mean that you have no ties, no connections, and no place. no, being independent means accepting and valuing all of your connections to people, places, and ideas that make up who you are. it means understanding yourself in the context of these influences as a unique combination of them.

it means being glad and happy to accept and adapt to the push and pull of whatever is surrounding you. that is what i have come to define as independence.

this applies to me in a very important way. i consider myself, and am defined by the music marketplace, as an independent musician.

i have no ties to a manager, record label, publicist, or music corporation. i am just one guy, making music i like.

and you are my context.

i am not independent from you. my music is informed by you, tailored to you, shared with you, and most importantly…

SHARED BY YOU.

the only way i can keep doing what i love in any  sustainable and long-term fashion is to share with you and to ask you to share with those around you.

and that is the conundrum of being an “independent musician”:

 

i am not so independent, in fact my ability to stay independent requires that i depend on you.

 

all that to say: if you listen to my music and/or have downloaded my music, please share my music. give it away.

and don’t do it just for me.

do it for every musician/artist/business owner/creator you know, they will not forget your influence on their craft.

at the moment

Just a quick thought that occurred to me the other day:

Since beginning this blog, starting my little studio, and pursuing my songwriting in earnest, I have had many Moments.

Moments of extreme doubt, Moments of extreme happiness, and most important Moments of learning.

The learning moments happen when i have been beating my head against a scale, song, lesson, or project to no avail and begin to feel behind the curve.

They seem to come out of nowhere except pursuit of my goals and trust.

Let me explain:

I suppose I define Learning as a combination of clarity and cohesiveness.  It comes in the PROCESS of working out a problem or task. Maybe I should call them the moment of integration. It is the split second in time when what was once just gibberish on a page, or a not-so-well developed idea suddenly makes sense (after much repetition) in the larger picture of what I am trying to accomplish. It is when i truly feel that i can now APPLY some skill or tool or lesson with confidence to my projects. And they only happen when I am willing to fully devote my time, mind, and resources to them.

I really enjoy those moments.

Even though they feel so rare…

 

Behind The Curve

This has been the way I’ve been feeling as I’ve started working on building my songs and a way I think a lot of people feel when they endeavor to start something new and slightly terrifying.

I just want to fill you in on my process through this and hope that it will ring with you and maybe encourage you.

Starting out as a serious songwriter has been terrifying. There are so many people who I admire and constantly compare myself too that it sometimes becomes defeating to think that I could have anything to offer the world of songs. I don’t know that I will ever get over this, or that anyone should get over this. I can tell yu how I have been using it though.

I use it to learn. If something or someone intimidates me with their guitar skills or writing ability, I try to turn that into a learning experience for myself. I research what about that particular riff, line, or production technique makes it that powerful and then try to incorporate that into what I will be working on. I have had trouble applying this to my past work though. I seem to write a song and then it gets locked in the way I originally wrote it. Obviously, this is not a great way to approach my songs so I’ve been trying to incorporate the things I’ve been learning into these older songs and re-work them with my new ideas.

 

Another aspect of my feeling behind the curve has been where I am at in my life as a songwriter. There are other songwriters out there younger than myself and who have been gigging and working on their craft for much longer than I have at this point. There are others who are my age and are further along than myself in the same way. And then there are those songwriters who are much older than me and have been doing this writing thing for waaaaaaaay longer than I even imagine being alive (ha).

 

This is where I think a good dose of humility and humbleness takes its place in a songwriter or guitar players life. I have been learning to happily accept my place in this continuum of writers and be glad that I am even getting to wear down this path with all those on it with me.

 

This all said, I think it has become vitally important to me not to compare my songs or my guitar playing to anyone else. I am doing what I want to do (a gift most don’t get) and so are all those writing with me and around me. I’m just happy to be here with them.

 

Josh Ritter’s “Bone Of Song” has been running through my head for days now as I write this post.

 

Recognition

“When an artist is able to experience this kind of re-cognition while putting a talented shoulder to a hard-turned wheel so that it may be expressed in a way that allows those of us who take in their art to gainsay our own act of recognition-one that tells us something essential about our lives-there is often nothing for us to do but stand in wonder nodding yes as we try to breathe”

-Levitt

(From the Richard Diebenkorn Catalog)

New Starts And New Ideas

I have been meaning for a while to post here.

It’s been a crazy busy 6 months since my wife and I moved back to Fort Worth and I started the studio, began teaching, and settling in to the rhythm of working on my own music (jacobfurr.bandcamp.com).

I have waited too long to update here and now I have so much to write about. I guess thats a great place to be in, all things considered.

Let me begin with a quick update as to the projects I am working on right now.

First off.

A local songwriter named Wayne Floyd is working on his debut album/EP  in the studio on Monday evenings and whenever we can get together. We are both learning a lot about the Workshop and how to operate creatively within its space. It has been a great time so far trying to capture each moment of Waynes songs. I have a lot of thoughts on the idea of the momentary life of a song now. One of the reasons I find music as an art form so beautiful is its transitory nature. Each note sung or played is here for a split second and dissolves into the next, yet somehow they all combine invisibly to form the life of a song. The life of something mysterious and fleeting that inhabits the space between people and then passes away. It’s been great fun to interact with the songs Wayne has brought into the Workshop.

I’ll be posting some pictures of the process as Waynes album finishes up. Stay tuned.

Secondly.

I’ve been working on my own songs as an exercise in the studio and to work on the craft of songwriting. This experience has given me so much to think about and now that I’ve decided to share it with you, quite a bit to write about.  here goes.

I was encouraged in 2010 by my close friends in Berkeley CA to pursue songwriting and performing seriously and to consider myself AS A SONGWRITER. This is really a massive simplification of what really happened though. For years I have toyed with songs of my own, writing one every now and then in between playing once or twice a year at a local coffee shop. I got the chance to play them for some new friends in CA and the feedback I got was just the spark  I needed to set this whole thing off. All the encouragement from my family and friends in Fort Worth had been building like tinder under the logs of the desire to do this for a long time, but the comments I received from Christina, Kevin, Joanna, Pat, Jody, and Emily  made me realize how badly I wanted to undertake this path.

So I’m setting out here with my songs. I’m writing like a mad man these days. I got a notebook (something I never did in the past) and I’m writing everything down good or bad. I’ve devoted a large portion of my days and weeks to just playing music (i.e. practicing/learning new things on guitar, working on my vocals, refining my set list, and writing every song that comes my way whether good or bad…)

I’ve got a new project beginning to stir in my mind and I look forward to meeting the songs that will fill it out over the next few months.

I am writing this in public for many reasons among which is that by inviting you to join me on this journey, i hope you will lend your support, input, and listening ears to keep me challenged and growing.

So here I am in Fort Worth building up a studio to help other people that are on the same journey as me.

i am recording 5 tracks for my third album titled “Farther Shores”.

I will be releasing it in January or February.

I want to count on your support and listening ears when I do because I want so badly to share this new fire with you.

Will you come along with me?

-Jacob

ps

I will be writing more about the songwriting process i am going through and keeping you updated on all that goes on in my Workshop.

A quick update

My lovely wife C, who writes and shares pictures at cupoftexas took some pictures of the studio on her AE-1 the other day and I’d like to share them with you.  Check out the Recording Studio Tab at the top of the page to see a few pictures of the instruments I’m using right now and the surface of the workbench itself. C is heading back into the studio soon to take some more as we work on projects so check back to see some more works in progress.

Thanks for reading!

Why We Make Music

In beginning any project one has to ask “why?”.

 

Why do I want to make this thing?

Why is it important?

Why has no one else done this?

 

These kinds of questions drive any project. And the question “why do we make music?” is what I want to talk about when I talk about The Work Shop Studio. I’m not much of a philosopher so I will limit my reasons to my own experiences.

I make music for a lot of reasons. I love the community of musicians, writers, and, and producers that work hard at a craft that goes back a long way. These people are my friends who I have shared a lot of my life with and who, through our common knowledge and love of music have had a major influence over my life. So I love making music because it connects me to other people.

I make music because I enjoy the process of getting consumed in a musical project. I love working out the parts, problems, and puzzles of music.  This is a trait I’ve inherited from my Grandfathers. Both were problem solvers who liked to look into the “why” of the objects around them and work out solutions. I want to apply this tinkering ideal to the music I make.

I make music because I like creating something out of nothing. The human mind has an amazing capacity for creativity and I was blessed to have been introduced to music at a young age, so my  mind is wired to create sounds from a boxy piece of wood with strings on it. It is in the vey core of humans to want to create and build, I love creating and building music.

These are just a few of the reasons why I am starting this Workshop Studio Project. To craft, to connect, and to tinker.

If you’re considering working with me here at The Workshop as either a student or recording client, please ask yourself “why?”.  Getting started on this question will bring a clarity to your work here and will fill your work with meaning.

I can’t wait to work with you, please contact me here or at:

theworkshopstudiofw@gmail.com

 

 

-Jacob