David Blackwell

I grew up in a family of musicians. My dad and aunt could seemingly play any instrument you put in front of them and my pawpaw bragged about his ability to play the radio (but sometimes he would get static on that). I tried my hand at learning piano and music theory under their tutelage. The same with the saxophone and percussion, but I was too busy playing baseball to make it stick. It wasn’t until that dream had run it’s course after college that I started writing the world’s greatest (sarcasm) lyrics and bringing them to my neighbor to put them to music. I quickly realized I had to do something to supplement my lyric writing and learned a few things about the guitar my dad was always playing. My dad’s choice of guitar was a spruce top Ovation that was as much of a Glen Campbell staple as his signature haircut ,that my dad has donned for longer than my lifetime. Mine was a $100 Fender. Left-handed version.

Needless to say I knew about great music growing up. From Mr. Campbell to Vince Gill, from Ricky Skaggs to Eric Clapton. As I started exploring my own musical interests I became hooked on Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Tom Petty, Don Williams, Bill Withers, Buck Owens, Brad Paisley, and way too many more to name. Growing up in New Orleans, if you didn’t like the blues, jazz, and brass band music that saturated the city, then you just didn’t like music. That’s the kind of stuff that just lives inside of your soul.

I’ve been writing for over a decade now and every song I write seems to become better than the last. I’m still learning the craft with every note I write and I hope that never changes. I was always more interested in the liner notes of a record than the artist themselves. I was fascinated with who wrote what song and who played what part. Those are my true heroes. That’s my dream. I live to write whatever pours (or sometimes drips) out of my mind and heart. I’ve been writing for over a decade now and every song I write seems to become better than the last. I’m still learning the craft with every note I write and I hope that never changes. Some people are good with tools, some are good with medicine. Some get paid millions to entertain us, some get paid thousands to teach us. Some are experts with numbers and some are innovative geniuses. I hope one day, somebody will remember aloud: “Man, he poured is heart out into that song.” God gave us music for so many different reasons. I believe He moves through it.