Open mic at the Roxy. Jan 31, 2023.

I brought the heat tonight. Didn’t feel much like singing, but I did feel like smacking the guitar around. It was my first time playing my more bombastic instrumental songs at the Roxy - Uluru and Close Your Eyes - and I’m glad I did.

Truthfully, I didn’t play all that cleanly, but I tried to just have a good time and make some musical memories. I’ve struggled at the Roxy and I needed something to make it less scary. We’ll see if it worked next time, but I did feel like I accomplished my mission tonight. Lots of folks said a lot of nice things afterward, anyway, haha. That’s not why I do it, but it sure does help.

More importantly, I started to make some inroads in the Denver music community. Some really talented folks wanted to collaborate, and several familiar faces remembered my name and were genuinely happy to see me. One person even compared me to this amazing (and local!) guitarist, Trace Bundy:

I am definitely not at that level yet, but to be mentioned in the same breath with someone like that is pretty awesome. It’s the second time I’ve gotten that after playing, actually. Third time means the universe is conspiring in my general direction (one can hope).

One other thing I’m noticing is that, if I can get over my ego long enough when people respond to my instrumental music instead of (or not as much to) my singer-songwriter stuff, I feel really connected to myself when I embrace this part of me. It feels authentic and like I’m speaking in my native tongue. I suppose these acoustic instrumental songs were the first language into which I wrote my nature. They helped me sing before I could find the words. The notes and melodies are words to me, really. When I’m playing Close Your Eyes, I’m also singing “Close your eyes / you don’t have to cry” in my head along with the melody. And then I get to play a bunch of other melodies I can’t sing, lol. So, bonus voice.

And that’s a wrap, folks. Ye readers of the blog, both imagined and real. I hope to be back at the Roxy next Tuesday night. I have a few new instrumental songs brewing, so maybe one or two of them will be ready by then…