Today we’d like to introduce you to Aaron Shadwell.
Aaron, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I used the guitar and eventually songs to make sense of a rough home life as a kid. When I moved to Boston @ 21yo I discovered that I was what they call a singer-songwriter, a term very new to me at the time. But I was in so I ran with it. I’ve played all over the northeast and opened some festivals with for like Gavin DeGraw and The New Kids on the Block. I did a little touring in with the killers tuning guitars for a buddy’s band. Those experiences taught me a lot! Mostly that there are few places I’d rather be than on stage working with an audience to make the night happen.
During the making of my fourth record, “Goodnight Friday” I met my Dad, Tim a retired social worker, for the first time. It was amazing he flew to Boston from his home state of Kansas and we spent a week at the home of one of my fans who lived in southern NH. As you can imagine this was a huge, huge event and answered a ton of questions about who I am and where I come from. My next record, “Betting on Kindness” is about meeting him, losing a relationship with my mother, breaking off an engagement and coming to terms with being a white, mostly straight, man in America in the age of fear and hate.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
Put simply I am a singer-songwriter. I write a song and then I go sing it for people. LOL— I’m usually guitar at the same time. It was in my teens that I first started to understand that I could sing and then in my early 20s when I moved to Boston that people started giving me lots of attention for it.
As for the songs, the process can start with a phrase or a guitar riff or maybe just a premise. Once I have that I spend a few hours trying to make the song into what I think it should be and then I let it go. I find that the best songs will call you back and start asking to be worked on. I try to think of myself as a caretaker for them, it’s my job to listen and as lovingly as I can serve them so that they can serve others. I get help from my producer once it’s time to start making the record and we just continue to do our best to listen and serve. It’s SO rewarding to do this work and it feels amazing to hear back the songs once they have gotten through the process. When I hear that other people had a good feeling or felt less alone because of songs the band, producer and I made that’s when the cycle is done and I feel at peace.
What would you recommend to an artist new to the city, or to art, in terms of meeting and connecting with other artists and creatives?
Yes working on your art can be lonely, I’ve heard from some writers especial that it can be hard. One of the best ways to feel the community is to go see other artists who you truly feel something for, not just the ones who you think can help you get ahead. I also love talking to artists from other disciplines and hearing about how they approach the process of art-making. It can be very eye-opening.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
To be a supporter of any the best thing you can do is buy the artist’s work from them directly. If it’s a kind of art that is performed in a live setting, go to the show and if there is no cover look for a merch table or tip jar. So, in my case, the best way to support is go to my website AaronShadwell.com. Once you get to the site, buy music and sign up for the mailing list. Giving Artist a real direct way to contact their fans and supporters is crucial because increasingly, social media actually charge us money to reach your eyes and ears. IN the age of separation and start connecting directly! Lastly for those with the means, hosting a house concert for a singer-songwriter you have fallen in love with is a great an amazing way to hear real original art right in your house. If you are into intentional community building and issues of social justice it an amazing way to bring like-minded and like-hearted people together for the great good.
Contact Info:
- Website: aaronshadwell.com
- Instagram: @shadwellmusic
- Facebook: @shadwellmusic
- Twitter: @shadwellmusic
Image Credit:
Flagpicture- https://www.holbrookimage.com/
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