TUNING UP

          Last week I had the good fortune to spend time in the recording studio with ace guitarist/producer, Joe Reyes (Buttercup; The Swindles) and mandolin/violin whiz, Hank Harrison (Tennessee Valley Authority). Both are among the finest, busiest musicians in South Texas, with long, successful careers spanning several decades, multiple instruments and a wide range of musical styles, and I felt very blessed to be working with them.

Although they had never worked together before this session, Joe and Hank helped produce my new single, “Grandma’s Mandolin” in record time, with minimum fuss and maximum fun along the way. Just a quick set-up on acoustic guitar, mandolin and vocals, then a couple of takes on each track, and we were done. It felt great and sounded pretty good, if I may say so myself.

CHECKING IN

           Afterwards, as we were packing up our gear, we congratulated each other on a job well done and marveled at how smoothly the session had gone, when Hank casually remarked “It’s so much easier making music these days, now that I’m no longer trying to get rich and famous.”

           We all cracked up over that and shared a good laugh, wordlessly acknowledging the fact that each of us has spent over thirty years being professional musicians – and that for a goodly portion of that time, each in our own way, had spent vast amounts of time and energy working toward “making it big” in the music biz. Not just making the best music we could, but trying desperately to fit into an illusory future that would somehow make us feel bigger, better, richer, stronger, if only the right booking agent or record company representative would show up at the gig; if only the next show would provide the Big Break; if only the next record would yield a hit single; if only…

SHOWING UP

           Fortunately, we’ve all managed to attain a fair amount of professional success and satisfaction over the years, despite ourselves and our ambitions. But in that moment of shared laughter, we were acknowledging the unnecessary pressures we’d put on ourselves back then, making things much harder than they needed to be, by virtue of trying to be somebody other than who we were. And how much easier, and more fun it is these days, to simply show up at a gig or in the studio with the intention of doing our best, without needing to attach any larger expectations to it.

Now if I could just remember to let this lesson carry over into the rest of my life more often…

With gratitude and blessings,

Rudi

PS: I hope you’ll check this song out, now that it’s been posted on my website www.RudiHarst.com where you can hear it for free, and find the link to download it for just 99¢. Or perhaps you can hear it live, as part of the Cave Without a Name concert I’ll be performing with Hank Harrison and his stellar bluegrass band, TVA, along with several other, top-notch musical friends this Saturday night.