Who are your HEART ARTISTS?

There’s a lot of music out there.The quantity & variety of music production & release correlates to two main things: A. the world population: there will always be a barely fluctuating percentage of the general population who make music; and B. the increasing ease that technology presents in sharing the music you make, and how much wider the reach each new technology provides: internet posting is easier & reaches farther than emailing mp3s, which was easier & broader than burning CDs, which was easier than making cassettes, which was easier than pressing vinyl, which was easier than printing sheet music, which was easier and reached farther than standing on a street corner singing your song.

All of that is great – the more the better.But what DOESN’T change is that, no matter how much music we’re exposed to, each of us is still only ONE PERSON.We might be able to access more kinds of music more quickly than any other generation, but we still have the same finite capacity to digest it all.

We’ve all heard about the attention span crisis.People can’t sit with one thing long enough anymore to really get to know and appreciate it.I admit that phones and all the rest make it so easy to bounce from one thing to another, and that capturing someone’s attention for more than ten seconds is a major feat.But the attention span crisis is no newer than any of the other complaints about new technology we’ve heard since the dawn of whenever.

So let’s forget about that and get to the point.No matter what’s changed, what you think is better or worse about the present, one thing that will NEVER change is that any true music lover has their favorites.Their take-to-the-grave bands.Their I-don’t-need-to-wait-for-a-desert-island-to-hold-on-tight-to-these singers.I call them Heart Artists.And this is what makes a heart artist:

You love and accept everything they do.Even when they miss the mark, go on a wild tangent, or get lost in some other way, you don’t give up.Their music speaks to you on many levels – you hear musical & lyrical nuances that tell a more complete story of existence, so you’re connected to what they do beyond the music itself.You feel more awake and alive when you hear a song of theirs, like the air itself is electroshocking you.They’re a direct link to your spark of life creation – the one that exists in all of us.They’re a safe space in the midst of madness.You want others to know how it feels to love them, and to share in that love with you.It’s not that the love is unconditional, it’s that their very existence and way of being and expressing already meet all the conditions.It feels trite to call them a “favorite”.It would take 1000 words to describe why you love them, and even that wouldn’t be enough.You may even get defensive if you feel someone else doesn’t understand how great this artist is.

If you’ve ever fallen in love, or are in love now, you know what this feels like.Nothing in the world beats the deepest connection & sharing of the life spark that loving another brings.And no matter if you’re far apart or right there together, you can take that love with you wherever you go.Your brain and heart know the feelings and are a part of you regardless of circumstance.You know the songs without having to hear them.

We can’t all be together with the ones we love right now. But we can still find as many ways as possible to connect. Heart artists are more than an escape from our troubles, they’re an extension and transcendent expression of the love and acceptance we thrive on from our heart people. Who are yours?