Happy 1/11/11!
Before I start talking about exciting things to come, I want to take a minute to reflect. 2010 was by far one of the most successful years of my career. I moved to NYC, released my first solo EP, went on my first coast to coast tour with Tony Lucca and Ernie Halter, and proceeded to do tour for the rest of the summer with Jason Reeves, Brendan James, and Ingram Hill. And in the process of touring, traveling, and recording I met some amazing people, and had some incredible experiences.
Now I've had a lot of crazy, what some people would call "small world" experiences in my life, but I refuse to believe things happen by mere chance. And, I've never read the book the Secret, but from what I've heard, I definitely buy into the message. Furthermore, I'd go so far to say that it's these experiences that have shaped the corse of my life and career and here's an example of why:
Before I left on tour for the summer, Norma Garbo, my vocal coach in NYC, told me of a good friend and student of hers that I had to meet when I went to Nashville. She didn't give me her name or contact info, but told me to remind her before I left for the tour that summer. Of course, I forgot to tell her to remind me and left a few months later for the tour.
I arrived in Nashville halfway through the summer tour, played a great show, met some cool people, and ended up partying with some locals after the show. One of them was this girl named Gabriella Caspi (definitely check out her music) who said she was a singer, working on songwriting both for herself and other musicians in Nashville. She told me how she hadn't even planned on going out that night but some friends convinced her to go last minute. Not only that but she was going to leave before I played that night but she decided to stick around a little longer. Turns out she was also from NYC so we were able to share our crazy music experiences in the city. Before the night ended we did the super cool person thing to do, and friended each other on facebook, and I continued on my tour.
I'm sure you already know where this is going, but to my surprise she sent me a message a week later, and asked me how I knew her good friend/ vocal coach Norma! Turns out, Gabriella was the girl that Norma was telling me about months earlier, and we had actually found each other without her help!
Five months later, I'm happy to report that Gabriella and I have not only stayed in contact, but we've become good friends, and writing partners. I recently visited her in Nashville, and we were able to write a few songs, and record for my new record which is to be released in the spring of this year!
Call it coincidence, but it's experiences like this that have helped me along the way, and I really believe that I will keep having them. Not only that, but I'm actually looking forward to it! Bring on the new year!
