You may or may not connect music to other arts. I can tell you they heavily connect to me. Creative process in particular. I think a good album just like is a series of work done in similar concept from piece to piece. Having a wonderful influence from my wife who I cant stress enough influences my artistic ideas and is a wonderful artist herself (Olgamaystruk.com check her out) Keeps me out to see wonderful visual arts and all art forms at that. As an artist I consider all of these other artist that move me inspiration for future music i make. Recently My wife took me to a UT showing of the photographer Anne Hamilton who was showing a Magnificent series of a very simple concept. Using such simple tools as an Opaque piece of Wax paper Between her subjects. I found the results stunning and felt compelled to share her work.
​    Click on the photo below to see more and read about this fascinating artist.

When I was about 12 I discovered the blues. I was just beginning guitar and being without a lot of interest in sports or school, my father in an attempt to get me to have a focus sent me on a journey to a guitar camp he found online (in 1994 this was hard to find and the internet was small..) I was way into grunge and pop culture of the moment NIN and Nirvana (yeah that was top 40 music, different moment) I had a student concert at the camp I did Dead Souls (joy division, but it was NIN from the Crow soundtrack to me!)  My 1st time on stage singing and playing guitar. My show went well and my ego was soaring as i watched the other kids my age play until.. a canadian kid named Yanni played some Albert King. I realized quickly this kid was way more talented and there was music I knew nothing about. He was kind and talked to even though he was 3 years older (at 12 thats a gap..). He was so excited when I mentioned I was from Tx and went to austin frequently. He asked "you ever go to Antones?" . This question changed the course of my life. I went home with a mission and that mission was to play at Antones and become a blues player. Well Stevie and Albert king were my 1st loves in Blues.. Then Muddy Waters and this was a path right to Son House. I found a best of at Antones Records. I didnt like it at first I was waiting for the electric guitar which did not come. Son House over the years I learned is fine wine. 
  I quit being a blues player around 17 decided i was a faker(which we all are if your playing blues at that age..). I was exploring Noise and Ambient music, anything to get away from shred guitar non sense. At about 18 I saw through my new found friend Kyle Ellison( Pariah ,the Meat Pupets, The butthole surfers) an unknown band at emos one night "the white stripes"  on thier 1st US tour. I quickly learned I was a sham as a Blues player for Certain.  So Much Conviction in his voice and it was him not anyone else being copied and Unique blues approach with a Punk aggression I felt honesty in. He played "Death Letter Blues" and the Weight of the story finally hit me through his voice. I went home and pulled out my Son House again. I now saw the intimacy and Honesty in it and I realized this is what Music is about. Letting yourself be honest and open with your audience. It was never the Guitar but the person at the other end who i felt.  Son House is the Beginning and End Game of Music for me as artist. If I can ever let my guard down enough to be truly honest in front of mic. To truly mean the words i speak. Not for money or fame but as contribution to the capturing of the human condition.

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I was in in high school when this came out.  I was a HUGE fan on the Stone Temple Pilots records "Purple" and "Tiny Music..Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop"  I Liked Core but it hit my ears as to much of the Eddie Vedder (who I  loved)rip off phase of the 90s. When I Heard "interstate love song" and "Big Empty" I knew  STP was on its own trip. "Vasoline" unknowingly was turning me onto glam rock of Bowie and T-Rex. Feather Boas and something more sexual was being played with in these STP releases I Just didn't know why I liked it. My friends were moving onto heavier music Like Rage Against The Machine which I loved, but I was already a Young Blues Kid by this point in my life and Pop Rock was Speaking less and less to me.  STP Managed to have my attention with The Deleo brothers guitar work and tones. But I didnt think Weiland was very important to what i liked about these records. The Drug charges were out shining his music at that moment.
   I was just finding in NIN (Downward sprial), Beck (Odelay) and The Beastie Boys(License to ill) The Idea of Lofi music. It was really interesting and reminded me of the blues recordings id grown to love from the late 50's and early 60's. Looking Back its the distorted quality of these recordings that I liked so much. Cue 12 Bar Blues! I was driving with a friend and opened the CD up, lit a joint and we drove and listened. From the downbeat of "Desperation #5 " I was hooked. My friend having quite the opposite reaction. By track 3 He told me take out the record of "Weak SHIT" . I was a little shy to admit i was loving it. It remained a silent appreciation of mine for the next year. Not a soul around me agreed. Then it drifted from my conscience for many years as I grew and Explored so much music once i was free of peer pressure and social constraints of my hometown. Bowie's Berlin trilogy to Django. I  stumbled across this Cd in my collection again around 24. IT HIT LIKE A TON OF BRICKS! I realized Weiland was a huge musical mind at that moment. I then Noticed Daniel Lanois and Blaire Lambs Names on the record who I now knew as Giants. In the wake of Weilands passing I found huge sadness and 12 Bar Blues again reigned at 35 for me.  Great art is not always in appreciated in the moment of its inception but It cant help but grow and travel. Because great art stays with people for years and finds its way into their lives and they share it RIP Scott Wieland. Thx for this wonderful album

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This weekend I went record shopping with my wife. mostly looking through the same old piles of reissues as everybody else. Wondering if I really needed "OK Computer" on the blue vinyl reissue.. When my wife was drawn to a photograph on the a box set I was unfamiliar with. "Bobo Yeye" (Belle Epoque in upper volta) . I purchased the box set without hearing a note based on my wifes interest in the cover art .Her eye for cover art and my willingness to follow it has led me to some wonderful discoveries . This is one them. I was familiar with high life music of Nigeria and Afro funk of Fela and a Handful of others but I have  a limited knowledge base of the continents music otherwise. I was excited as I love most music I know from 60s-80s african music as it merged with the music of the world. High Life guitar playing always had Lingering ring in my ear With its few chords mostly weaving Major Key melodies with bass and drums. What I discovered here when I dropped the needle on the record of the Coulibaly Tidiani and the Dafra Star Orchestra was magic! Guitars influenced by american rock and jazz but the output so unique. Cheap Guitars and amps that were the desperate tools of the musicians of volta as they created the soundtrack of a war stricken revolution  to escape the corrupt government left in the wake of french colonization. Inspired by so much of pop culture that was coming into the nation for the 1st time. the result is raw meldodic horns and wonderful grooves of "The Volta Jazz Orchestra"  ,the wonderful guitar tones and voice of"Coulibaly Tidiani W/ Dafra Star",  dirty fuzztone  and breathtaking solos "Echo Del Africa", and "Les imbattables Leopards".  Im now a fan of the Volta Music scene and the photography book of Sory  Sanle included in the boxset is stunning!

 John Cage where do i begin? my introduction was through old Brian Eno interviews 
around 16 years ago. Eno was a huge influence on me around the year 2001. The post rock music scene in austin was booming. American Analog Set, Experimental Aircraft and A Tiger Named Lovesick(My favorite local bands at the time) were rehearsing in rooms next to me at Music Lab, a dingy rehearsal space facilty.  33Degrees was a Record Store on Guadalupe just before 38th near Hyde Park area. These Places were my hangouts, I was 20 Just quit My blues "Career" (What a Joke I Learned That Word to be in Music) Playing in my 1st real bands not just touring and playing with hire out musicians twice my age. I was watching these bands and hanging out at these record stores with all new kinds of music (well new to me!). I was chasing something more experimental and fascinated with the idea of Minimalism. The Idea that was my saving grace from the guitar solo land I was working in for so much of my life at that point. I had been turned onto to things all the sudden like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and Finding they were connected to My early adolescent post grunge loves Sonic Youth and Jesus And Mary Chain.  The Clerks at 33 Degrees saw my interest in shoegaze and minimal wave and Post Rock. Next thing I know Im handed "Music For Airports" and "Apollo" by Brian Eno. I then Found Books on Experimental Music Because couldn't really find this stuff on the internet it was pre youtube and social media. I was Hooked. The Fact that Music Could Be Made with Concept outweighing all performance and the Intent not needing a listeners praise but there for the listener to ignore. This was  a brave new world to me. The World of Experimental Composers one stripped of the ego of guitar solos and band managers and marketing. This felt Pure to me.. Something being a young teenage musician stuck in a land of vultures I felt had been robbed from me, that notion of Music for Music Sake.  John Cage then Showed me True Musical freedom. My 1st exposure being water walk and I understood through the laughs and radio clocks being thrown off tables. Music is Everywhere we just dont always hear it.  "Sound is Always Acting!"  I Realized I loved the Blues not for its notes but for the personality that caused the action. Its Momentary Grace... This was the basis of My Music from then on.  I thank John Cage for being a great daring explorer and I aspire to follow in his footsteps of artistic freedom.