high five!
I would like you all to stop right now and give yourself a high-five. Seriously, Liz Lemon style - high five. You are really doing something here. I have seen incredible art, making, food, reflection, action, commitment, joy, tears, support, and community. You are amazing. I am grateful for you.
xo Shannon
Shannon Brags on Rebecca:
At one point in my life, I owned a house. I didn’t know what to do with a whole house, so I started hosting house concerts. My venue name was – Shannon’s super fly house of tunes. Naturally, it was the coolest. There was this website where you could host musicians on tour. Basically, you gave them a place to stay and hosted a house concert with them on their off nights from the real venues they were playing in so they could both save some money and make some additional cash. I got really lucky and got to host Rebecca. We became friends and she would stay with me whenever she came through Chicago. Now she’s stuck with me forever. She is so fucking talented, and she is as delightful as she seems. AND not to brag BUT I’m totally in her music video. If you want to see me freezing my ass off in the tundra of Chicago here you go.
About Rebecca (formal edition):
Over the past decade, Austin-based troubadour Rebecca Loebe been steadily building her audience the old-fashioned way: driving hundreds of thousands of miles in an old station wagon, performing in listening rooms and theaters across the US, Canada, Japan, Europe, and the UK. Along the way, she’s released five full-length albums borrowing equally from the worlds of intimate folk, ear wormy pop, and no-holds-barred Americana. She’s also won multiple awards for her songwriting and was a fan favorite on the first season of NBC’s The Voice, where she sang her acoustic version of Nirvana’s, Come As You Are.
Her favorite pastime, however, is a little sneaky: “I like to write catchy songs about topics that are meaningful to me but use fun hooks to put words in people's mouths.” She admits, “My favorite thing is to get people singing along before they even realize they're singing about women's equality or their own self-worth.”
Home from touring indefinitely, Rebecca has spent her time recently writing, running her small business, and launching a YouTube series about what really goes on behind the scenes in the lives and careers of independent musicians.
Today’s Inspiration:
I'm not a super devoted horoscope reader, but in 2009 I got one that I've never been able to shake: "Radiating your highest integrity is the truest form of self-promotion." To me, it was a clear message that as a professional, touring songwriter I could make my career stronger and more satisfying by resisting the urge to make artistic compromises for the sake of business.
The word 'radiate' has been a simple mantra for me ever since - I focus on it when I'm nervous and have even written it on a scrap of paper taped to the top of my guitar before big performances.
My prompt for you today is to focus on your highest integrity. How does it appear in your life? What can you do to protect it and keep it safe?
Connect with Rebecca: