INSPIRATION (&C.)

Practiced last night with "The Risk-Takers," the in-house band that’ll perform at the annual CCIS insurance conference in February. 4-hour set, that will include 4 of my songs. Since we have 2 mandolins in the group, the performance will include a lot of bluegrass music.
As we were going through my stuff (it’s rather a thick stack, now), I got asked the inevitable question: "Where do you come up with this stuff?" That’s asking where inspiration comes from, and I don’t know. All I try to do is create the climate in which it CAN happen, and hope it does. I try to keep eyes and ears open, and confront myself with new experiences as much as possible (that’s where playing with The Risk-Takers came in–it was Something Different)–and always try to keep in mind that the world is a very strange place, and people are very weird critters, and both should be approached accordingly.
"Inspiration" comes from the old Latin verb "inspiro," to breathe, and that suggests two possible answers to the question. First, it’s everywhere, all around you. It’s like air. Second, it’s natural; it’s like breathing. Don’t forget to inhale.
The songs of mine The Risk-Takers are going to do, by the way, are "Armadillo on the Interstate," "Duct Tape," "Eatin’ Cornflakes from a Hubcap Blues," and "Naked Space Hamsters in Love." They may add–they’re still thinking about it--"Dead Things in the Shower," which I wrote with Bobbie Gallup
I was also asked where I come up with the weird titles for these songs. That answer’s easy. I mostly don’t. When I write a song, it’ll have a working title, but when I perform it, I’ll almost never mention a title. I want to see what the folks in the audience call it, when they request it again. (If they don’t request it again, I’m probably not going to worry about it.) So those titles are THEIR titles. And I think they did a tremendous job.
Now, in order for this request thing to work well, you need repeat engagements, and I do work at that. A sideline source of encouragement for me is if a venue wants me back, it means I did them a good job. Last year was the fifth year I’ve performed at the "Moograss" bluegrass festival in Tillamook (OR), the third year at the Harvest Festival in Neskowin, and the second year for the Grassroots Festival in Union and the Union County Fair. I want to make sure all are repeat engagements in 2007. And then there’s the Friday Night Group, which are the "home base": I’ve probably played with them roughly every other weekend for the past five years, and they’re my main testing ground for new material. (And the audience, bless ‘em, keep coming back anyway.)
Every now and then, someone will suggest "your songs would be perfect for...," and it really is something that has to get followed up on. Happened twice this last week. I was urged to pitch my stuff to Garrison Keillor’s "Prairie Home Companion" radio show, and to the Austin Lounge Lizards, a relatively well-known working band with Nashville connections. While I don’t have a lot of hope it’ll turn into anything, I have to make the approaches–if somebody besides myself saw the potential connection, then it’s possible the "target" may see it, too. I have a book, called "Expose Yourself": it’s a promotional manual for working bands, done back in the 1970s, with a lot of good (and I think still applicable) pointers on how to promote, and I’ll follow their suggestions. In this case, what’s apparently needed is a letter, on Band Letterhead (which I have designed), asking permission to send a CD (and asking whom to send it to so it won’t get ignored). This being the 21st century, I’ll precede the letter with an e-mail, just in case.