I was nominated in early 2016 to be a Black Fret grant recipient.

Over the last seven months, I’ve had my mind blown and have felt so nourished and supported by this amazing organization. We live in a time when music has no value to 99% of the population, and musicians and music business professionals alike are looking for new ways to keep this sacred tradition viable for the folks who keep it alive and well. In my experience, Black Fret is a bright beacon of hope in a time of darkness and despair in the music biz.

Black Fret is an Austin-based music patron organization who nominate and vote for musicians they feel are doing excellent work in the community and beyond. Members pay $1,500/year to join, they nominate, vote and attend beautifully curated and produced shows throughout the year in wonderful venues. At the shows, Black Fret showcases nominees, previous grant winners and artists they believe are hopefuls for future years. In the spring they nominate 20 artists and in the fall they vote on the varying grants the artists receive. Every artist receives a grant, the amount is determined by fall voting.

It was SUCH an honor to be nominated this year. But wait. It gets even better.

Not only is there a community of hundreds of devoted voting members who attend shows, listen with their hearts and genuinely care about the greater good of the local music community as a whole, but we nominees and grant winners from past years have access to an amazing group of music business professionals mentors/advisors who are happy to spend time nurturing our plans and goals.

These music business professionals vary from booking agents to grammy winning album art designers, to world- class producers, musicians, managers, radio promoters and more.

I’ve been so blessed over the last several months to meet with over 15 of the 30 members of the advisory board and each meeting was AWESOME. Lightbulbs turning on all around the head sort of stuff. And for a 20 year professional musician, I have been newly inspired to shift some of my goals, the way I work, overcome some fears I had around success and reaching for it . . . I’m beyond grateful and I’m psyched to include all of this wisdom and these new relationships to the release of my new record.

I’d like to gush on and on about each mentor and what they have done to help, but I will save that for another blog . . .  I still have some meetings on the books!

But be assured,  this organization is doing the things that are the future of a healthy, thriving musically blessed world.

Here’s a little video of my Black Fret showcase performance last Saturday night.

Want to learn more? Become a patron of local music? Join Black Fret.

Want to talk about bringing Black Fret to your city? Connect with these awesome folks.