Songwriter, Artist, or Musician?

I was a little surprised when I first moved to Nashville to be asked on more than one occasion whether I had come to be a songwriter, artist, or musician. It had never occurred to me that I was supposed to choose one of the three…to me these were interrelated roles - things we do - not identities or things we ARE.
Part of the problem is the way we define “artist” here in Nashville. We’ve gotten so “inside” in the way we think and speak that the work “artist” has come to mean “performer with industry backing” as opposed to “one who applies artistry”. I’ve written on this topic before, it’s kind of a pet peeve. If you create and do it with integrity, you are an artist. If your creativity produces a song, you are a songwriter. If you used music to create this song, you are a musician. Not all musicians are songwriters, but all songwriters are musicians. And all good musicians and songwriters are artists.

So let’s redefine that word “artist”. To be artistic is to take raw materials….be they in tangible, visual, or aural form….and put them together in some way to create something new. Because we all are distinct and unique individuals, no two people are likely to put those materials together in the same way. Our perspectives and methods come from our life experience, education (formal or informal), personal taste, and aesthetic judgment. When a body of work shows a common thread connecting the individual creations, we call that style.

Picasso painted in many styles over his long life, influenced by the work of others that came before him but creating something completely and sometimes shockingly new. Viewed as a total body of work, his explorations demonstrate an ever-evolving but always cohesive artistic sensibility. The simple line drawings of his later years look nothing like his early and most famous Cubist works, but in each phase of his career you can see the elements he was playing with to define that particular style.
The Beatles did the same thing in their much shorter creative period as a band. It’s a long way from “Twist and Shout” to “A Day In The Life”…but you can hear the metamorphosis from one year and one album to the next. Like Picasso, they took raw materials that already existed and put them together in a new and instantly recognizable way.

Obviously Picasso and the Beatles are examples of creativity and artistry at its peak. They were blessed with tremendous gifts and talent. But all of us, as we work with our own humble abilities, can look to them as examples of how far an exploration can go….and just how much room there is to create something totally new from the everyday. It’s a lofty goal, but did we come here to aim low? The teacher and author Marianne Williamson wrote (though I’m paraphrasing), “we do not serve our purpose in the universe by thinking small”.

So be an artist. Think big. Be musical in your songwriting and songful in your musicianship. It’s all part of the same journey we share and the process we love. It’s OK to have a focus….to be a writer first and a performer second, or a player first and a writer second….but know that these are all just parts that form a whole. And that’s a worthwhile goal….to be a whole artist.