Music & COVID-19

Music in the time of COVID-19

5/9/2020

This pandemic stinks.

I think we can all agree on that. I’m not going to get into the conspiracy theories or the science or the political implications surrounding the coronavirus. No matter who you are, this situation has been difficult for one reason or another. There’s tension and anxiety in the air, when we should be celebrating graduations and getting ready to go redneck surfing on the lake.

For us as a band and me as a musician, it’s been a weird past few months. Last year, in 2019, I played over FIFTY shows throughout the year, and this year, I think I’ve played one (I went back and checked. It has been one show at Sammy B’s Restaurant in Lebanon). We have played some shows online through Facebook Live, but it’s just not the same as having a live audience. You don’t have people in front of you where you can interact and have fun with them. We even released a professionally recorded single in anticipation for the shows we were going to play this year!

… yep. So far, we’ve canceled twelve shows. I’m sure there will be more.

I shouldn’t complain. I’m fortunate to still be able to work from home. There are so many others who don’t have this opportunity, and my heart goes out to them. But music is an outlet for me and for the guys, and it is discouraging to see shows get canceled week after week.

It is so easy to just slack off and binge watch Tiger King on Netflix or go down the rabbit hole of Brad Mundo and Adley videos on Facebook. Learning to cut your own hair and bake bread from scratch is exciting for a little while, but then you’re back in the rut of being lazy and unproductive.

So, what are we doing instead?

Last night, we played another show on Facebook Live. That’s going to become a regular part of our routine until we are at a point where we can go out and play again.

This blog post is another way I’m working through the anxiety and emotions bottled up inside.

I’m also recording a gospel album. It’s going to be raw and live, just like I would perform it in the church. I’ve been working for the past few weeks culling down a list of songs to put on it. I’m pretty excited about it, and I’m hoping to release it by the end of the month.

All of this is a lot more productive than just watching Netflix or Hulu, and it’s definitely healthier than scrolling through Facebook!

How has the pandemic affected your life? How are you coping with this new normal and using your imagination for positive things? Let me know in the comments below.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”
~Proverbs 3:5

1 Comment

Scott S. link

5/9/2020 11:16:21 am

I too hope we can find ways to get ourselves all back together in public spaces again soon! There’s been so much talk about “getting back to normal”, and I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how there wasn’t really ever a good “normal” to get back to. So many of us got used to how things had come to be, and I know that comfort is what people mean by “normal”. But I’d like to propose we get to something better than “normal”, and local artists such as yourself are going to be a big part of that (I hope).

We lose more than just comfort when we stay apart from each other; we lose our greatest strength as a species, which is our sense of belonging amongst each other. Since I can’t stop by a local restaurant or coffee shop or park and just shoot the breeze with other folks, I’ve found myself drawn to reaching out to other local folks through avenues just like this. I saw you mention your new blog on Instagram, so I thought I’d stop by and shoot the breeze with you like I would have done had I bumped into you at the fairgrounds or at Split Bean Roasting Co. or anywhere else in town.

Whereas most of us get set into a narrow track of where we feel we belong in our lives, those that commit themselves to explore their creative potentials are easier with trying new things and new ways of taking care of the business of being a human being. Some of us blog, some of us draw, some of us pick at some strings, some of us arrange colors on a screen. What really matters is that we find ways to share of ourselves with others, even if we can’t do it in person in a physical place. And that’s why we need artists like you sharing when and how you can.

As the world of humans eventually rolls back into the well-worn tracks we all recognized as “normal”, I’m hoping many of us bring this sense of the importance of sharing of ourselves into a new normal.

Good luck with what you do, and keep sharing!

Music in the time of COVID-19

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