Category: Featured Artists

“Do one thing each day that scares you” – Eleanor Roosevelt

For Pacific Northwest songwriter Laura Berman, this quote embodies her approach to her music and her life. While she acknowledges that there are scary things that should be avoided, many of our scary things are self-created. “Your instincts are smart and generally on-point, so listen. But sending an email about booking, or writing a bridge, or reaching out to a friend who is hurting? When you drop into it, those are not the things that are doing the ‘scaring’ – there is something underneath. Once you get okay with that scary underneath part, you live your life in a deeper sense of freedom.”

Her own journey into that freedom arose from the structure of piano and violin lessons in elementary school and orchestra, choir, music summer camps, county and state choirs, and voice lessons throughout junior and senior high school. Berman recalled, “Music always made me feel good. From an early age, I knew it must be a part of my life. Whether it was joining choir in junior high school, joining bands, or writing songs and playing out, I just put one foot in front of the other and did the next right thing that felt good to me.”

Berman began to approach songwriting with greater intent after a move to the “Big Apple”. She remembered, “I had written songs here and there but didn’t start songwriting more seriously until I lived in NYC in my twenties; I was doing quite a bit of singing in cover bands and being introduced to lots of different songwriting styles, musically and lyrically.”

Inspired by the exposure to a wide variety of styles, Berman began to follow her own muse. “One day, I sat down at my keyboard and started writing, and it just became part of who I was. I bought a cheapie acoustic guitar later on and started writing just by ear on guitar, too. I played lots of gigs in NYC and at the beginning was still very green, but I just threw myself in. It was scary, but exciting!” She faced her fears and found, “The best approach for me has been to think less, and do more.”

Berman again followed the advice of Eleanor Roosevelt and dove into her creative “scary things” as she continued her career. Berman shared, “I’d been afraid to perform on acoustic guitar because I’m a pianist. But I started bringing my guitar with me to gigs and sharing a song or two. What was the worst thing that could happen? Why would I care what anyone thinks? Sure, I played wrong notes and, sure, I didn’t have the facility on guitar yet, and yes, it was scary to be that vulnerable, but I was compelled to not let my monkey-mind negative thinking prevent me from growing.”

Opportunities to perform and grow abounded during her time living in New York City. “There were fewer Indie singer/songwriters and artists than there are out there today, so there was definitely less competition for those slots at the clubs. Gigs were pretty easy to book. Back then, there wasn’t social networking, Facebook, etc., so promotion was basically making phone calls and handing out postcards – old school! But it was always a thrill to see your name and gig listed in the Village Voice.”

As she has continued on her songwriting journey, Berman’s process is as diverse as her life experiences. “I generally have a melodic hook singing itself over and over in my mind, and then I pick up the guitar, or sit at the keyboard, and find the best chords to fit with that melodic hook. Sometimes I’ll adjust the melody if there’s a better chord choice… I can sing the whole song with a hum, or a ‘la la’. It’s fun to sing! No one would have an idea what I’m talking about because it’s just gibberish instead of lyrics. The lyrical ideas take a while because lyrics don’t always come so easily to me that way.”

However, her lyrical approach does have times when inspiration strikes and the process becomes more fluid. “Sometimes, if I have an interesting song title that pops into my head, I’ll go ahead and create a Word doc with that title and lyrics come out pretty easily. Something about being at the computer, in an ‘office’ type setting uses a different part of my brain. The writer in me loves that approach. I go ahead and print it out and it signifies to me a new songwriting start. I’ll edit the lyrics when I’m finding chords and melodies, but it feels so good to have a printout as a starting point.”

For songwriters who are starting out, Berman offers up her advice for how to become a better writer. “Listen to really well written songs! And songs that are in different genres of music, even genres you don’t gravitate towards. Listen to the Top 20 Countdowns in Pop, Folk, Country, R&B. Read stories of how good songwriters came to become really good songwriters. And be open to having those who are better than you listen to your songs and critique them. Surround yourself with those at your level or higher – that’s how we grow!”

Not just one to give advice, Berman shared how she made use of experts to help improve her writing. “The representatives at BMI were always really open to meeting with me when I’d travel to Nashville. I got some really great feedback on some of my songs when I was there and was grateful for the time they took to sit down with me. Also, whenever I find an artist I like, I listen to their music online (and buy it, important!).”

But improving as a writer is only part of the equation. Berman additionally seeks to widen her community of musical inspirations. When she encounters a new favorite artist, “I always like to read their bio, and if they have a blog, I read that too. I also like to see who they write and perform with and how they all influence and inspire each other. All of this has helped me to not feel so alone – we are all in it together.” She adds her own advice hoping to inspire other writers, “Don’t stay too attached to your songs, or what others think: write it, listen to it, let it make you smile – then let it go. You’ve got more in you to write!”

In reflecting on her own journey stepping through her fears, Berman offers additional advice for aspiring singer-songwriters. “Do that one thing you’ve waited on, one thing you’ve been delaying, something as seemingly small as writing just one line in Verse 2, or sending an email to thank someone, or sending a check to an organization that inspires you. As we practice doing this one scary thing, the fears of doing it wrong, or not seeing where it’s leading, etc. sort of lose the charge, the energy of fear.”

Berman does not consider herself a ‘prolific writer’. She explained, “It takes me a long time to finish my songs, and when I’m in the thick of finishing my songs, I forget that it’s my process and that is okay. Each artist has his/her own process and timeline.”

A part of life that impacts her process is stress. “The stress of having to make your living as a full-time musician can often have a negative effect on your mental wellness, and especially your creativity. Stress of any kind, at least for me, can stifle my creativity. It’s all about balance – creating a balanced life system that supports you. What works for another may or may not work for you. Life has to feel good!”

Her own sense of balance as a working musician has developed over time. “I’ve gone through stages of my life where I’ve been doing music full-time, touring, etc., and it’s really hard on me, being away from home for so long, and it can be taxing on my body… so I’ve created a balance for myself where I pick up side projects here and there inbetween music-making, things that have nothing to do with music. This helps clear my mind, and I can make some consistent money for a while.”

This approach allows for Berman to take the time to let the process of living life become an inspiration. “I’m inspired by people and good things happening in the world. As I’ve gotten older, it happens less and less where I think I’m supposed to be ‘doing’ music and songwriting – I’m more focused now on doing/being happy, healthy, and balanced, and not letting any one thing define me. It’s not the thing you do, it’s who you are being! Creating opportunities to stretch and grow is what brings me to life.”

As she begins recording her new record in January of 2018, Berman reflected, “It often feels daunting to know what you want to do, what you want to pursue, how you want to live and be in the world, but not know which direction to take, where to plant your first step. And the energy underneath all of that is often fear of not succeeding, fear of making a mistake or a misstep, or turning down the wrong road.”

Pushing aside all the worldly expectations and fears of writers, Berman shared about her new album, “I’m really excited about this one – writing these new songs for me, with no expectations for any further success or visibility – just for me. It feels so good.”

In the final analysis, Berman shared that becoming self-aware is an important key to personal discovery as a writer. She challenges writers to, “Be aware of why you do or don’t do the things you do. Is it a scary thing that is covering up some old patterns? Does it feel scary because you’re stretching and growing? Does it feel scary because it’s frightening and not something you’ll ever do?” But she added as an encouraging note, “Whatever and however, enjoy the process. One day you wake up and you realize it’s you that’s standing in your way. And you will breathe in deeply and feel relieved because you are free.”

Berman is standing in her own freedom now, arms open wide and, if there are scary things ahead, she is unafraid to face them head on and continue the journey.

Ask a songwriter when their writing journey began and you will usually find memories tied to a certain age or a certain musical experience. But for Pacific Northwest singer-songwriter Val D’Alessio, the writing muse is inextricably woven into a specific place – one whose unromantic nickname belies its effect on her songwriting career: a group of cabins affectionately known as ‘the Lumpy Dumps’.

“I remember exactly how I started writing songs. I had been playing and performing music since the age of 10 but I had never been able to write my own songs until I reached the ripe old age of 33. I was living in a group of cabins affectionately known as ‘the Lumpy Dumps’ in Bellingham, where a lot of creative crazies lived. It was the perfect setting for me to discover the joys and success of songwriting for the first time. I sat down with my guitar and started noodling and didn’t stop until I came up with something! Low and behold, I was visited by the muse right there in Lumpy Dump #11, where I wrote all the songs on my first CD, in a relatively short period of time.”

Val recalled that she, “felt like the Grandma Moses of songwriters at that time because I was around a lot of musicians who were quite a bit younger than me, and they were already boldly writing and performing their own songs. I was determined to write some songs, and I wasn’t going to let my inner critic prevent me from moving forward with that intention anymore.”

Though she started writing later than some, Val’s passion for music began in childhood. After an early start where she “taught herself to play Beatle songs at age 10, sitting in her room in Winthrop, Maine,” Val moved on with her brother to form a classic-rock band and then to acoustic music when the band broke up. After this time, she explored the guitar stylings of James Taylor, Mississippi John Hurt, and other blues artists, as well as the tunings of Joni Mitchell.

Val, according to her bio, “moved across the country, covering songs in various music configurations including solos, duos, and bluegrass bands, finally playing lead guitar and singing harmony vocals for Bellingham, Washington-based acoustic-pop band ‘Men Without Pants’. She loved the band’s name and their catchy songwriting. However, she still found herself playing the same support role as she had in most of the bands she had been in before. She passionately wanted to develop her own musical voice and songwriting. And it was at the Lumpy Dumps that her passions became a reality.

Val admitted that her writing process now differs from her early process in Bellingham. “Probably like most writers, my process varies. Typically, I noodle around on the guitar waiting for a riff and chord progression to find me. This immediately gives me the feeling or mood of the song. I then start singing a melody over the chords and let dummy lyrics, or a stream-of-consciousness with words flow, until I find out what the song is about. Once I get a sense of what the song is about and get on a creative flow with lyrics, everything else seems to fall into place for me.”

Though this is her “typical songwriting process”, she also explores other avenues for coming up with a song. “I enjoy having a song topic or title come to me in the form of a complete idea. For example, my song ‘I Hope I Screw This Up’ was a title I saw and lifted from a T-shirt someone was wearing. Less often a melody comes to me first in either a complete form or in pieces. I love it when that happens. I love a great melody! It brings me into a song and great lyrics keep me there.”

Oftentimes, writers comment that their ‘zone moments’ come when they are least conscious of a process. Val herself commented that, “The best ever is when a song comes more through me than to me. It comes almost in complete form with melody and lyrics. This doesn’t happen very often but when it does I am always very pleased with the song.”

A career as a performing singer-songwriter, while rewarding, is also fraught with challenges. For Val, “My greatest challenge as a writer is to relax and allow creative flow to happen without pushing or struggling. It is a challenge of focus and intention, in which I allow the muse in without letting the distraction of negativity prevent the creative process.

“My challenges as a performing songwriter are similar: It is to relax and go with the organic flow of the evening. I want to allow myself to ‘screw up’ and recover without losing my focus or allowing negativity to distract me from my intention of connecting with an audience. My desire is to be fully present with the music and let it flow with the intention of connecting with those who are receptive to my music. I want to stay in an attitude of gratitude of appreciation for my audience and the opportunity to perform, without being distracted or derailed by negative thoughts. I like to imagine that I am in my living room, after I have just finished writing a song, as I am performing for an audience. I love that feeling of being on fire with a creation, when the self-doubt goes away and I am most present and connected to the music.”

As a musician trying to make a living, the struggles are not tied to the externals of money but rather to internal dialogues. Val explained, “The greatest challenge… is to value and honor my dream of making an abundant living as a singer-songwriter without allowing the mind-clouds of negativity to distract me, mainly self-doubt. The challenge is to be happy with where I am as a performing songwriter and excited about where I am going at the same time. When I am able to hold that focus, everything about making a life as a musician seems to fall into place.”

In the songwriting journey, writers often seek inspiration from the world around them, and for Val D’Alessio, that inspiration comes from community, which she says is, “an absolute source of inspiration for me as a creative person. I adore the SiS organization and all the people who contribute their time and talent in this community.”

Another part of her community that inspires Val is children. “Children are such natural ‘allowers’ and generators of creativity. They naturally understand the value of their creations and can offer them freely to others. The ‘young songwriters’ in my life, children who have come to me through my music teaching practice, have been my greatest teachers. They often model how to allow creativity to flow in a much easier way than adults. They are my teachers by example, and they hold a wavelength of purity and love like animals do. In fact,” she added, “I think of my cat, ‘Little Cat Stevens’, as my spiritual advisor.”

Because Val is inspired by the spontaneity of children, she advises adults who want to write to do what children instinctually know how to do: “Relax and allow yourself to feel the joy of the journey with songwriting. Know that your creative expression matters and you have something to express in a way that only you can. At the same time, let yourself be light with the process. If you set out to write songs because it’s fun, you can take the pressure off yourself and allow creativity to flow. You don’t need to worry about writing a ‘great’ song or even a ‘good’ song when you’re starting; just get it out. You just have to remember how you would do it when you were a kid.”

For adults, she also cautioned, “Don’t engage with those nasty, negative, critical voices that say, ‘this song sucks’ as you’re writing it, or even after you’ve written it. Love yourself and get over yourself at the same time. You don’t need to carry the burden of profundity with your lyrics or try to be dazzlingly original with your melodies. If you allow yourself to be who you naturally are in your creative expression, you can’t help but be original.”

She went on to explain, “I believe you learn to write songs by writing songs. You will discover how to edit and craft your songs as you go along. Trust that your songwriting process will develop over time but that the main thing is to get in there and mingle with the muse. Find out what you have to say and have fun with the creative process. That’s where the magic begins in songwriting.”

Once the song is finished, then the ‘how-to’ of performing becomes a next-logical-step. In Val’s own journey, “When I first started writing music, I played at Victory Music open mics, sometimes three times a week, because I knew they were a very supportive, inclusive songwriting community. I also had the advantage of performing my songs for some very developed performing songwriters who were my friends when I first came out as a songwriter. I knew they would give me insightful feedback and would be encouraging as well.”

For writers who are first testing the waters of performing, Val suggests what worked for her: “Play for people who you think will be supportive and encouraging of your growth as a songwriter… you have to get out there and play your songs for others in order to learn how to perform.” One question that looms for many is to puzzle out where the best places to play would be. Val advises, “First ask yourself WHY you would like to perform your music for others. I find that when I perform my music with the intention of connecting with others because it is fun and I believe I have something to offer and receive from them, I have much more fun, and I feel successful in the process. Feeling appreciation for my audience and the opportunity to perform frees me up to let my creativity flow in performance. It also allows me to be receptive to the gifts of my audiences, and there are so many! Performing is a very co-creative, organic process for me.”

Val utilized the resources of place and community to help her develop, but she credits her best career and life resource as, ‘the Source’, or what some people refer to as God or a Divine Presence.” She continues to rely on this source as she begins the next step in her career – one that also involves place and community. “I am in the process of connecting with a musical partner(s) with the intention of traveling around the US and eventually other countries, as we perform our music to receptive audiences, while making an abundant living from it. Right now I make the bulk of my living from my music teaching practice. I am excited to have it be the other way around at some point. I want to be traveling and touring frequently with my music and continuing to assist others with their creative expression in some capacity.”

Val D’Alessio is the living embodiment of one of her favorite Carlos Santana quotes: “If you stay in your heart you will always be inspired. If you are inspired, you will always be enthusiastic. There is nothing more contagious on this planet than enthusiasm. The songs become incidental. What the people receive is your joy!”

Val’s joy, this following of her heart, led her to a place where she could truly say she was centered in her calling. “Later on in life, when I began playing my songs out, I was more certain about the rightness of my decision to become a performing songwriter. It is an amazing feeling to feel like you have connected with people in a meaningful way with the songs you write.”

Though now fully immersed in songwriting, which she describes as both good and addictive, Val D’Alessio still gives a nod to that birthplace of her songwriting muse in Bellingham, Washington. “The belief that I was doing what I was ‘supposed’ to be doing by becoming a songwriter came gradually. I think I subconsciously knew it immediately in Lumpy Dump #11, where I first began to experience success at getting my music out of me.”

The owl, in ancient traditions, is symbolic of wisdom…a guide to see beyond the obscuring veil of deception and illusion. The spirit of the owl is associated with an ability to see beyond what is hidden to most. And thus, it comes as no surprise that the journey of Seattle songwriter Tobias the Owl is one filled with deep revelation and insight, both personally and musically.

“I often wonder what makes music such an inherent part of the human experience,” he mused. “Songs become the soundtracks of our hearts and minds, and our brains feel sort of ‘hard-wired’ to resonate with music. Alongside the earliest cave paintings of humanity, there are patterns of attrition and attenuation on stalagmites, suggesting that tens of thousands of years ago, early humans may have been rhythmically beating on these structures in patterns creating early expressions of music.”

Tobias the Owl’s own expressions of music began in early childhood. “I’ve always had melodies and songs in my head as long as I can remember. I remember being a toddler, watching other children play, and writing melodies in my head. Music has always felt like it’s in my nature, as a listener and as a musician,” he noted.

That early love of music did not correlate with an early start as a performing musician however. “As a teenager,” he stated, “I was always working. I never had the time or resources to focus on making music. I paid my own way through school without taking any loans. As a student, I grew to love physics and the sciences. There really was never time to pursue music in any serious way. I was also very transient in my youth, and I never kept a musical instrument. It wasn’t until my twenties that I really had my own guitar.”

A health crisis a few years later became a catalyst to bring that guitar to the forefront of his life. “I was diagnosed with cancer. I wanted to play some of my songs before I underwent chemotherapy. The show that I played was with Jonah Tolchin, who started covering one of my songs. After I convalesced, Jonah had become very successful, and my song was on his album. I’ve always felt tremendous gratitude to Jonah and other folks who have spread my music,” he reflected. “It was really because of Jonah’s success with my song that I had the motivation and momentum to pursue music in a more serious way.”

That pursuit led to a writing process that is liquid. “Sometimes a melody is really compelling. Sometimes a phrase is really resonant. So my writing process is a little different for each song. Some of my songs are built around a lyrical idea or theme. Other songs are built around a skeleton of a melody. Some songs are finished within minutes. Others take months to evolve.”

“The only consistent aspect of my writing process,” he commented, “is that I record songs as soon as the inspiration hits me. I write down any lyrical notes right away. I try to at least make some recording of each musical idea immediately as well. I think capturing inspiration in some recorded way as soon as it hits is immensely valuable.”

Since his first shared show, Tobias the Owl has experienced the blessings of working in community. “Music is a very communal form of artistic expression,” he said. “My songs may start in my head, but each of us has a musical journey that I think is meant to be shared with others. I was also very motivated by hip hop artists. There’s a really strong sense of collaboration in the hip hop community on regional and national levels. I’ve felt like inviting others to participate in my musical expression has been a huge part of the process of finding a home for my music.”

Though he is well accepted and appreciated by his fellow songwriters across many genres, Tobias the Owl shares the challenges many creatives face. He reflected, “I’m sure every artist has paroxysms of intense self-doubt. For me, those moments of insecurity and doubt have been really acute and very frequent. I think that I would have pursued music more seriously and sooner, if I weren’t so frequently petrified by such intense self-doubt.”

Outside of the writing process, performing his music also comes at a steep cost. “As a performer, some of my insecurities manifest as really intense anxiety whenever I perform. In fact, I used to throw up before almost every performance. I would often avoid any meals on the day of a show so that I didn’t vomit. I now take beta blockers in order to dull the anxiety that I feel before performing,” he elaborated.

With such a high personal price to pay for persevering as a singer-songwriter, Tobias the Owl identified the factors that keep him moving forward in his creative endeavors. “Although I’ve found that the pursuit of music is really rewarding, it’s also been really arduous. People have often asked me what my goals are in pursuing music, and for a long time, I didn’t really have an adequate answer. The answer finally came to me in an email that I received from a fan in Germany—someone that I’ve never met,” Tobias explained. “He told me that he was going through a difficult time and that my music really helped him in facing his challenges. Because there have been times that I’ve heard a song that seems to ‘fit’ in my mind like a key in a keyhole, knowing there is someone in the world who will have that feeling with my songs keeps me motivated when the journey gets difficult.” He further elaborated, “I’ve come to realize that there are a lot of measures of success that are really elusive, but I’ve found my purpose in knowing that my music fits in the soundtrack of someone’s life somewhere. For me, having a sense of purpose has sustained me through some of the moments of self-doubt that I’ve had.”

In his own life, Tobias the Owl has a “soundtrack in my mind is a really dynamic landscape,” and “maybe the song ‘Murmurs’ is particularly poignant to the themes that I try to focus on. I write a lot of songs about what it means to be human in a universe that seems to overwhelmingly dwarf the scope of our existence, and ‘Murmurs’ is a nice encapsulation of that sentiment. It’s a song about feeling overwhelmed by the vastness of the universe, and feeling anchored by human connection.”

Tobias the Owl is reluctant to offer any advice to other writers because of the uniqueness of each writer’s journey. But he did offer that, “One important thing is to capture every moment of inspiration. Find some way, as portably and as easily as possible, to record every idea that you have.” Additionally, he stated, “I think it’s really important to figure out what you want to express with your musical voice. What is the unique lesson that you want to teach the world? What is the unique aspect of your experience that you want to communicate? I think, for each of us, honing our unique perspective on our place in the world is an important part of developing our voice.”

Using his own background as an example, Tobias stated, “I try to write a lot of songs that are born out of my passion for the sciences. We’re lucky to be living in a period of prolific discovery. We’re uncovering so many more dimensions and parameters of the universe that previous generations of humanity never could have imagined. I feel like my voice as a musician is in delving into the spiritual and philosophical ramifications of our expanding view of the universe.”

Building on his own rich experience with collaboration, Tobias the Owl reiterated its importance. “I would encourage young artists to build relationships with other musicians and friends. Don’t let your bedroom or recording studio become a dungeon of solitary confinement. Figure out ways you can evolve and grow in a community, and figure out what you can do to help your community evolve into a fertile soil for other artists.”

His advice is rooted again in his experience. “There are a ton of people that have connected to my music and have helped with the journey,” he said. “My co-artists, colleagues, listeners, and friends have been the most helpful, most rewarding part of my life as a musician. I often try to reflect on the fact that every note is a wave, and a wave has to be fixed at two points or nodes in order to oscillate. Music has to flow from a creator to a listener, and no song is finished until it’s been shared with someone else.”

Tobias the Owl’s latest release, “Every Eye is a Universe” has now become part of that wave of creativity flowing to the listener. He considers this album, “the best composition that I’ve produced.” But the universe continues to flow, and so does his creativity. “I’m writing new songs, and we’d like to make one more album. But at the moment, I still feel like our new album is very fresh. We did an initial tour in support of the album, but since its release, we’ve made a lot of new fans around the world. In the coming months, I’m hoping to do some further touring to some of the communities that have really embraced our new album.”

Steeped in his early love of the sciences and ever searching for wisdom and insight, Tobias the Owl finds himself musing on a quote from Georg Cantor: “The least particle ought to be considered as a world full of infinity of different creatures.” And now that ‘least particle’ is being examined with the eye, the mind, and the spirit of the one creature whose wisdom has been noted from ancient times to the present: Tobias the Owl.