Artistry in Music

Two nights ago my fiancé and I traveled to Paso Robles to see Needtobreathe and Johnnyswim live at the Vino Robles Ampitheatre and I was struck by a few things.

Firstly, there are musicians, and then there are music artists. Musicians create music, naturally. But music artists, they create something that clearly articulates their heart, their internal state of being. A musician gets on stage and sings about things that are popular or going to attract attention. An artist gets on stage and sings their very soul for the people watching.

In both cases, Johnnyswim and Needtobreathe, it was intoxicatingly obvious that they were there to share a piece of their soul with their audience.

Johnnyswim is one of my favorite musical artists, I’ll never get tired of lovesongs from Johnnyswim. To see them on stage underscored the reason why: They were completely and fully there for each other. It’s one thing when a musician sings a song about a girl to a crowd. It’s another when they are singing a love song with the girl they wrote it about, into their eyes. It’s beautiful, and fully encompasses this idea of meaningful songwriting.

Have you ever experienced this? What’s a time when you had a profound experience at a live music show? Let me know!

Cheers,

~ Mako