WEBVTT

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- So what made me interested in writing music

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and playing the guitar, in particular,

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when I was a little kid, my brothers and I would go

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to my grandmother's house, and she just had a gang of stuff.

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She was just a little old lady with a lot of stuff,

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and the one thing that stuck out to me was this guitar case,

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just beat up.

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You could tell that it's been through a lot.

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And I'd find a lot of joy in just opening it up,

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pulling the guitar out, and no matter if it had six strings

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or one string, I'd see what kind

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of sounds I could make with it.

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So once I got acquainted with it

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and I kinda figured out what I was doing,

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she'd eventually tell me that it belonged to my grandfather.

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He was a singer/songwriter that he grew up and stayed

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in Iowa his whole life.

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He was actually in the Navy.

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He found a lot of his joy the same way I do,

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just writing and playing music.

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Now, he was mainly a gospel guy.

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Though that's not kinda the music I gravitate towards.

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But just knowing that my grandfather kinda left behind

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that legacy, you know, that's kinda how I discovered music.

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I was picking up something that he had left behind.

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(gentle acoustic guitar music)

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♪ I used to write a lot ♪

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♪ Sometimes I still do ♪

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♪ These words are for me ♪

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♪ But I'm singing them for you ♪

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♪ If you wanna know me best listen up ♪

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^Some of the obstacles that I encounter

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^while at sea, obviously, it's loud out here.

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That's the one thing.

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Songwriters, creative people altogether, artists, poets,

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and songwriters alike, we all kind of search

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for that quiet place to gather inspiration

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or just clear our heads, but it's kinda hard

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when you got jets taking off all the time,

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you got everything going on over the 1MC.

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So definitely quite time is one of 'em, one of the big ones.

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Another one is you're always working.

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I mean, it's like 12 hours a day, sometimes even more,

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and when you're not at work, you're trying to catch

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as much sleep as you can.

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Or like rather when we'd be at home,

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we'd work maybe seven, eight hours a day

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and get off, go home, and then I didn't have to worry

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about playing the guitar for three or four hours a night.

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(acoustic guitar music)

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♪ When I was just 15 I thought I reached the end ♪

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♪ There was nothing left for me I didn't give a damn ♪

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Some of the things I do to make time for it

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is I'll just take some of my music to the work break.

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Like when I'm going to chow,

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I'll say I'm gonna only spend 20 minutes eating

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'cause I got 45 minutes.

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Then I'm gonna spend the rest of that time writing

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or plucking some strings,

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trying to learn my skills, get back up to par,

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or I'm just trying to think of something

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even if it doesn't involve writing.

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The again, also, at night, like right before bed,

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I'll go ahead and shower up so I don't have to worry

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about anything else and come downstairs,

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and I'll play guitar for a while.

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(uptempo acoustic guitar music)

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♪ I've lost my best friend ♪

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♪ That girl slipped through my hands ♪

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♪ You thought that was enough ♪

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♪ I probably should be dead ♪

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♪ By the grace of God ♪

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♪ Though you may not believe ♪

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♪ He sent her away ♪

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♪ So what was there for me ♪

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♪ So before you go ♪

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♪ Just learn who I am ♪

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♪ You might relate might understand ♪