Through the Badlands (NP)

Having recently finished recording a handful of songs this year for the debut EP, by the time I took to South Dakota to explore, I really wasn't in the mode of making new music, or even working on my existing originals or covers. Sometimes I just like to clear my head - and with that means listening to my faves; indie/folk and dream pop like stuff. I find it helps to occasionally take a break from music creation.

Badlands was certainly the kind of place one can just take in. No pre-conceived notions about what to see or what to think - just go and see where the road leads. Definitely my kind of place.

I'd been out to South Dakota precisely 5 years prior on a trip to Sturgis and missed out then on the opportunity to go through Badlands so this time it was top of this and it certainly didn't disappoint.

The best part was siting out at night watching the heat lightning strike off in the distance over the formations.

I'm learning to meditate as part of connection with the spiritual realms of the world under the realm of my connection with God via prayer. Sometimes the world's talking and we just have to stop and listen. The takeaway from this trip was that my musical journey will stay exactly as I intended from the beginning. I simply put the songs out there and let them be part of the journey itself.

This was partly on my mind as the next chapter entails what to do with this EP that I'm now polishing for release. I'm not really big on paid promo type stuff. I hear everyone say you have to promote your music or it just won't get heard. Sure, maybe that is the case. But when I first started this journey, it wasn't really about trying to get songs to take off like some artists envision. For me, it's truly about building a meaningful collection. I'm in this for the long haul. I'd been writing songs for years and just finally decided that I'm tuning 45 this year and it seems like a good time to get the first EP notch on the belt. I expect to be doing this for a while and just thought it would be nice to have a few albums out by the time I'm 50, good Lord willing to keep me around that long.