How fortunate for us that you have never given up on your dream filled with music and writing. The struggles have been real but only have made your work all the better. How easy it would be to give up, even now, and just do the nine-to-five, that soul-stomping routine that brings in the paycheck but steals all the energy to either write or play music. Thank you for sharing the journey, which is far from done.
Ben, thank you for writing this! As I approach 28 it is so interesting to read about your life at 29 writing an album that I grew up with. The Overall Distance is still a favorite road trip album of mine and I love singing it at family functions. It's so cool to read about all these guys you worked with as people roughly the age I am now. At the time they were you and my dad's old man friends with questionable facial hair (I remember their music too). I enjoyed reading about the Eddie's Attic scene that was such a backdrop for our weekends out of the house as kids from the perspective of a young adult. The older I get, the younger I realize you all were! It takes courage to pursue your creative dreams at any age and I enjoyed this glimpse into your creative process in your late 20s.
Ben, I remember coming to your concerts at Eddie’s and how you and your family embraced me and my wife Noey and our son, Todd (now Ives) and how fun it was to listen and see them playing and listening with your kids and the whole Wakeman cousins crew. It’s such an honor to hear about your inspiration for the songs and the very hard work by you and others that went into making the CD that I still enjoy listening to. Thank you!
I started reading this thinking I might not make it to the end, but you held my attention. What a fantastic journey. I’ve been thinking about music a lot lately – I make it, too, or I did – and how important it’s been in my creative life. I studied piano as a kid, but sadly I quit before I got “really good”. But it gave me a strong base for reading music and singing, which I did all through school. I noodled on the guitar, too, but never managed more than a few chords, just enough to sing angsty ballads about boys I had crushes on. In college, I majored in Musical Theater Performance and sang in an acapella group. I performed on stage for a lot of years. Really right up until the pandemic which kind of put the brakes on everything going on in public spaces. Sometimes I really miss it, but other times I realize that I’m not sure I really have in me what I need to be really great/successful at performing for the reason you gave in your piece: “The artist must put themselves out there in that same vulnerable way to strangers. You have to be willing to make yourself and others uncomfortable. It requires some combination of confidence and/or desperation that most of us don’t have.” Confidence, or a lack of it, has always been my achilles heel. Even when I was delivering great performances and earning audience accolades, I always knew I was holding back a little. Or maybe a lot.
I’m focused on writing now, which is another area where my confidence ebbs and flows. I’m hoping that as an older/wiser person I’ll start to care less about outcomes and put my heart into the process of making things and putting them into the world and let things happen as they may.
I picked up bass guitar after I got married and before I had kids. Always wanted to play blues, and I found a great teacher and learned a ton, played at some blues jams even. I never got really good technically, but I can hold down the fort, so to speak. I started playing with a singer/songwriter who was a friend from college – actually he married my friend from high school, but they met in college. We started playing out as a duo and eventually recorded a couple of albums. Small time stuff, though. We didn’t have John Mayer telling us he dug it. LOL. But it was cool to be a part of that for a while. My band mate still plays a lot solo, and I think he’s better off for it. His kids are older, and he can book himself anytime he wants, so it’s good for him. But I recently told him to give me a shout next time he hits an open mic, because I miss playing and singing. If you’re interested in listening to what we made, here’s a link to our "freshest" album on band camp. https://twodaysfrommonday.bandcamp.com/album/season-left-behind
It's not blues. Acoustic rock, but I play bass on the whole thing. And sing lead on a few tracks and harmonies throughout. Would love to hear what you think. Just remember, we’re not pros. But we don’t totally suck either. LOL.
It was fitting that I stumbled upon this story today, because I recently thought of a song I wrote a million years ago. I got this idea in my head that maybe I could throw the lyrics at you, and you could smack some chords and a melody on it, and we could serve it up as a collaboration. I dug around until I found the lyrics, but discovered they were a lot shittier than I remember. LOL. So, maybe not this time. But if you’d ever be interested in doing something like that down the road, let me know. You’re making a ton of stuff here, so if it’s not in the cards, no worries. I really enjoyed this essay.
Oh, and I 100% got goosebumps when you described the bass line at the end of The Overall Distance. I didn’t even listen to it yet!!! Got me all jazzed to dust off my bass just reading that part.
Forgive my lengthy comment, but this was a terrific read. And got me musing. Take care, Ben!
How fortunate for us that you have never given up on your dream filled with music and writing. The struggles have been real but only have made your work all the better. How easy it would be to give up, even now, and just do the nine-to-five, that soul-stomping routine that brings in the paycheck but steals all the energy to either write or play music. Thank you for sharing the journey, which is far from done.
Ben, thank you for writing this! As I approach 28 it is so interesting to read about your life at 29 writing an album that I grew up with. The Overall Distance is still a favorite road trip album of mine and I love singing it at family functions. It's so cool to read about all these guys you worked with as people roughly the age I am now. At the time they were you and my dad's old man friends with questionable facial hair (I remember their music too). I enjoyed reading about the Eddie's Attic scene that was such a backdrop for our weekends out of the house as kids from the perspective of a young adult. The older I get, the younger I realize you all were! It takes courage to pursue your creative dreams at any age and I enjoyed this glimpse into your creative process in your late 20s.
Ben, I remember coming to your concerts at Eddie’s and how you and your family embraced me and my wife Noey and our son, Todd (now Ives) and how fun it was to listen and see them playing and listening with your kids and the whole Wakeman cousins crew. It’s such an honor to hear about your inspiration for the songs and the very hard work by you and others that went into making the CD that I still enjoy listening to. Thank you!
Hi Ben!
I started reading this thinking I might not make it to the end, but you held my attention. What a fantastic journey. I’ve been thinking about music a lot lately – I make it, too, or I did – and how important it’s been in my creative life. I studied piano as a kid, but sadly I quit before I got “really good”. But it gave me a strong base for reading music and singing, which I did all through school. I noodled on the guitar, too, but never managed more than a few chords, just enough to sing angsty ballads about boys I had crushes on. In college, I majored in Musical Theater Performance and sang in an acapella group. I performed on stage for a lot of years. Really right up until the pandemic which kind of put the brakes on everything going on in public spaces. Sometimes I really miss it, but other times I realize that I’m not sure I really have in me what I need to be really great/successful at performing for the reason you gave in your piece: “The artist must put themselves out there in that same vulnerable way to strangers. You have to be willing to make yourself and others uncomfortable. It requires some combination of confidence and/or desperation that most of us don’t have.” Confidence, or a lack of it, has always been my achilles heel. Even when I was delivering great performances and earning audience accolades, I always knew I was holding back a little. Or maybe a lot.
I’m focused on writing now, which is another area where my confidence ebbs and flows. I’m hoping that as an older/wiser person I’ll start to care less about outcomes and put my heart into the process of making things and putting them into the world and let things happen as they may.
I picked up bass guitar after I got married and before I had kids. Always wanted to play blues, and I found a great teacher and learned a ton, played at some blues jams even. I never got really good technically, but I can hold down the fort, so to speak. I started playing with a singer/songwriter who was a friend from college – actually he married my friend from high school, but they met in college. We started playing out as a duo and eventually recorded a couple of albums. Small time stuff, though. We didn’t have John Mayer telling us he dug it. LOL. But it was cool to be a part of that for a while. My band mate still plays a lot solo, and I think he’s better off for it. His kids are older, and he can book himself anytime he wants, so it’s good for him. But I recently told him to give me a shout next time he hits an open mic, because I miss playing and singing. If you’re interested in listening to what we made, here’s a link to our "freshest" album on band camp. https://twodaysfrommonday.bandcamp.com/album/season-left-behind
It's not blues. Acoustic rock, but I play bass on the whole thing. And sing lead on a few tracks and harmonies throughout. Would love to hear what you think. Just remember, we’re not pros. But we don’t totally suck either. LOL.
It was fitting that I stumbled upon this story today, because I recently thought of a song I wrote a million years ago. I got this idea in my head that maybe I could throw the lyrics at you, and you could smack some chords and a melody on it, and we could serve it up as a collaboration. I dug around until I found the lyrics, but discovered they were a lot shittier than I remember. LOL. So, maybe not this time. But if you’d ever be interested in doing something like that down the road, let me know. You’re making a ton of stuff here, so if it’s not in the cards, no worries. I really enjoyed this essay.
Oh, and I 100% got goosebumps when you described the bass line at the end of The Overall Distance. I didn’t even listen to it yet!!! Got me all jazzed to dust off my bass just reading that part.
Forgive my lengthy comment, but this was a terrific read. And got me musing. Take care, Ben!