💜🎵🎸🎤The Wizardry of Songwriting Part 15: The Show Must Go On💜🎵🎸🎤

The last 6 months have been absolutely batshit. After a total mental breakdown or psychotic break, I was forced to take a break from performing. Thank GOD I am recovering now.

Almost looking at the world with fresh eyes. It's like I yanked the power cable out of the back of my "PC" because everything was frozen and I had too many tabs open - If you know what I mean. With a new job, for which I am extremely grateful, to uggling paperwork for admission to high school for our youngest child, @matthew-williams, both my mother and Matthew's other Gran and their respective health complications... I have been kept thoroughly occupied.

I have also had to find a way around my pain management, which is time-consuming, expensive, and well, painful.

But, if you are a songwriter like me, you'll understand the inatiable itch that comes with inspiration and the only way to scratch it is to get that music down and finish the song. No matter where you are: napping, in the bath, on the road, at work, or in a shopping aisle.

With all of my busyness, I fell into the same trap I did in my last post, where I put brand new strings on my guitar, and then just left it in the case. At least it's upstairs, staring at me and reminding me that it needs attention, and my soul needs to play.

It even moved from right across the room at the window, to right next to my side of the bed, and I played it for the first time in like forever yesterday.

I am, however, horribly out of practice and have found the transition from nylon string to steel string extremely hard. @JasperDick and I swapped guitars (I now have the red one and he has the one we won at the Thoms Competition). The red guitar is smaller, which is great for a lady, but the fretboard is also small.

The fret board thing seems to be common among all the steel strings I've tried, and it means I have to be super accurate and actually put in practice time. Like consciously - on a schedule. There are one or two YouTubers who are awesome, and I think starting at the beginning is actually a good place for me, back to basics. Besides, I have picked up some terrible habits with the nylon string, which is easy and has a wider fret board, as you can kind of fudge missed strings in a chord, and no one notices, but with a steel string, you hear everything.

My sudden inspiration to actually become proficient enough to perform and back myself on stage comes from the itch to rejoin the music community and the insatiable desire to perform and share my music. @JasperDick and his beautiful wife, @JuliaDick, have welcomed a beautiful baby boy into their lives. While I am exceptionally happy for them, it does mean that their lives have been turned upside down (in a good way), managing a baby and a toddler. Gosh, I must say I'm grateful to have older kids now - although that comes with a whole new set of hiccups, bumps, and pressure. 3 adolescents in the house is no joke. I have been dreaming about joining @tydynrain in the forest as soon as the kids are done with school! My passport is ready to go 🤣

But back to music, I am dying to perform again after taking a bit of a psychological sabbatical myself, but my musical partner is no longer available, for the time being or the foreseeable future. I am sure we'll perform together again soonish, but this time with his small kids is really precious. You don't get those years back. Believe me, I know.

But, once again, I am stuck with just a voice and no musical backing or anyone to support me up there on stage.

So, I have reached out to some of my muso friends, and I'm getting the ball rolling in collaboration, but I realise now how important it is for me to become comfortable being on stage alone. There are some songs that I know exactly what I want, and I want to be able to do it myself. I seem to have gravitated towards "hard country" with a bit of "bluegrass," "bluesy jazz," Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald's style and southern gospel (with a lot of swearing (lol). Although there isn't really a fixed genre for what I do, I don't like to box myself in anyway. Besides... The style I've morphed into is extremely soulful, and it matches my style of writing and singing so naturally. I need to invest in some more stesons!

Dark Country's definitely connecting with so many people. Here are a few that have deeply inspired me:

Jelly Roll - "NEED A FAVOR" (Official Music Video) https://youtu.be/P1nRboaLTzU?si=e8N1fpDocdbJdork Miley Cyrus and Jimmy Fallon Surprise NYC Subway Performance 06/13/17 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mda9ms9Xb7I

@zakludick and I actually went to watch an Andy's Club show for date night recently, which really lit a fire under my behind. Watching other musos perform up there made me have some serious realisations about what I have become used to.

It was great, not only to spend time with my love, but to show support for fellow musicians and make or strengthen bonds. It looks like I have a solo slot coming up! This is both terrifying and exciting.

The experience made me have an epiphany that I have relied on a musical partner to handle the guitar and focused solely on my vocals, which is great, and we put on a great show with hats and various musical toys that keep the audience entertained, but I've also been using it all as a crutch.

Take these gorgeous local ladies for a good example: Brig Stanford and Calra Conradie

Lord knows I enjoyed every minute of performing as MobeyDick, and I wouldn't even consider a solo live performance if I hadn't done so many shows with Jasper, but I think I'm ready. Not that MobeyDick is over, it's just life giving me the opportunity to discover myself.

I am ready to strip back the layers, put on my big girl panties and play a whole bunch of songs that just didn't fit with MobeyDick. I am ready to explore who Claire Mobey really is and what she is capable of, now that she's been given a chance to spread her wings!