Day 72: Supporting Friends & Family: Musicians

So I think within the first little bit of doing this blog I noted that one thing to make me happy was being supported. Support is important to all people, and reasonably so, as nothing in life matters if it isn't shared with anybody else in some form or another.  (Right?)

Anyway, I just wanted to take a little bit of time to acknowledge friends that I support in their endeavors. Since I have a lot of people and things to support I've decided to separate them into days based off of their category...

As a musician, I have a lot of musician friends that deserve some shout outs.

The Mark G Project - Visit The New Incredible Website

First and foremost, a friend of mine is about to release his first album, or perhaps already has dependent on when you read this post (release date is 3.4.14).  This guy is good at developing catchy, relatable lyrics and putting them into music. I was first impressed by his skills with rhythm and rap but he proves to be talented in other areas as well since he is singing and playing a lot on this album! Check out his website, listen to his previews, maybe pick up a free download and perhaps even consider buying his CD.

Matthew Price - Visit His Website

I used to play with Matthew Price when I was living in OR and I still think he has an incredible voice and an amazing song writing talent. It seemed like every week he had one or two more songs he was working on or about ready to play at a show.  I think he just breathes wonderful music everywhere. In fact, when I first heard him, I was SO impressed that when someone said he might ask me to play with him I was a) shocked and b) didn't want to seem too eager to jump in on that. Anyway, he's so amazing I was a fan before we met and I'm still a fan even after having moved away.

Christy Taylor - Check Out Her SoundCloud
This is another friend of mine who decided to up and leave to pursue her passions in music.  It's funny because she's so humble about her music that I had no idea she was a musician until quite a ways into our friendship - and I'm pretty sure I heard it from someone else. When we got in her car once she said she had a couple recordings so I asked to hear them and I was honestly impressed with her voice. It's totally my style... Check out her SoundCloud and listen to some her originals so you can hear for yourself.  Hopefully she'll be going on a tour and opening for another band sometime in the nearer future. Until then, though, I will continue to admire her talent and her courage to pursue her dreams.

I could go on for days with musician friends that I support... instead of going on forever I'll just mention them with their names as links:

• Jack Martin - This guy has a voice I love and has written some seriously fantastic songs over the years I've known him.  He also has some other projects going but this link will take you to his musician page.
• Ruth Ginelle - An extremely talented musician that I will always admire for her sass and talents. Rumor has it she's putting a new song on her SoundCloud this week!
• Christiana - Okay, this lady is a phenomenal vocalist and fiddle player. I always loved singing with her and various others on this list even!
• Ben Roberts  - Composer - Ben has an incredible mind and ear for music and is starting to work on his career in composition even more than ever.
• Phil Taylor - Composer - Phil was an amazing composer from the get go. I wouldn't be surprised if his music is performed nationally already despite how young he is. 
• Gungor - I adore these two. They've been on their path for a while now, but I can't help but keep supporting them.

....okay this list could seriously go on forever. I'm going to stop with that, but I've become increasingly aware of the amount of talented and performing musicians I know.  I will likely post again later with some more, because they are all so wonderful and unique.

First things first, though, check out these ones - there are samples at the very least on all of these links.  You never know if you'll hear another small, or up and coming, band that you'll want to add to your playlists.