Labels

Musically, I have never been very fond of labels.  They are handy, but sometimes feel to me like they put into a too small box of what you do.  Our first band, The Blood Mountain Boys played mostly bluegrass music and I played banjo almost exclusively in that band.  But I did not want to be known as a 'bluegrass band', though we probably were, with some progressive tendencies.   There have been times we have played a lot of gospel music and performed in different churches, but I did not want to be known as a gospel group.  David and I as Buck & Nelson, played a lot of old time and traditional music, but I did  not want to be known as an Old time musician either.  I was an am a mixture of all of these and started using the label Roots music more than anything.  A label that could be and was applied to Doc Watson, David Holt and other musicians I have tried to emulate.

Those labels can help to define a type music you play and sometimes to help you find a place to play, but I still have discouraged using them a lot.  There is one label that I would not mind earning.  That is the label of singer/songwriter.
I have written a few songs over the years, but hav not felt them good enough to sing regularly.  Like everything else, I think songwriting takes practice to get better, and I do plan to do much more songwriting.  I have lines and parts of songs that have been lying around for a while.  Some of these I will try to finish, some to incorporate in new songs, and also I have several ideas of songs I want to start and write.

When I look back it seems most of the people I admired most were songwriters and singers.  The Beatles were a band, but most were also songwriters.  Even Elvis wrote a song or two.  The one I followed most when learning to play was John Denver and how many great songs he wrote.  I still do a few of his songs.  James Taylor and Gordon Lightfoot were and are two other favorites.  Of course Bob Dylan is in there and some of his songs were the first ones I learned.  I do a couple of his songs now and have another one or two I want to learn.  Willie Nelson can fit there, though he is mainly a country singer, he still wrote many great songs. 

I am working on a CD and plan to include some original songs on it.  Hopefully someone will like them enough for me to start performing them.  Maybe I will someday be able to honestly claim to be a singer/songwriter.  I'm getting a little long in the tooth to be starting something, but maybe it takes a lifetime of living for some of us to be able to write the songs we feel in our hearts. 

There are many ladies that fit this genre too, and several that I have come to admire, though I only mentioned the men above.  There are many others out there that I have not yet listed.  Men like Jerry Jeff Walker and Jimmy Buffett.  Country singer Shania Twain, Clint Black.  Didn't realize it for years, but Lester Flatt wrote many songs he and Earl did.

Other writers are doing excellent songs, but have not yet had a lot of commercial success.  These folks are the heart and soul of singer/songwriters.  Traveling the country, playing small venues, and writing the stories of their lives and those they meet.

I am not looking for, or expecting to be, some great commercial success.  I am just hoping to write some songs I would be happy and proud to sing, and a chance to share them with folks.

See you down the road.

Nelson Thomas