{"id":15153,"date":"2018-09-07T05:30:46","date_gmt":"2018-09-07T09:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=15153"},"modified":"2018-08-31T16:57:09","modified_gmt":"2018-08-31T20:57:09","slug":"david-lamotte-so-much-to-do-so-little-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2018\/09\/07\/david-lamotte-so-much-to-do-so-little-time\/","title":{"rendered":"David LaMotte: So Much to Do, So Little Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

For many Asheville-based musicians, making music is just one of the things they do. Cobbling together a financially sustainable lifestyle means taking on one or more part-time \u201cside hustles.\u201d In a sense, that\u2019s what singer-songwriter David LaMotte does. But the nature of his involvement in myriad pursuits takes the form of multiple full-time gigs. Somehow he makes it all work, and there are new albums\u2014his 13th<\/sup> and 14th\u2014on the way.<\/p>\n

LaMotte\u2019s website identifies him as \u201cmusician, speaker, author.\u201d But a look at his activities of late might lead one to suspect he\u2019s not dividing his energies equally among those three areas. \u201cI can\u2019t claim to find balance very often,\u201d he admits. Grateful to have found work that\u2019s meaningful for him, he nonetheless feels pulled in several directions. \u201cThere is so much to do that feels like it matters,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I say \u2018yes\u2019 more often than I should. That\u2019s not healthy or sustainable, but we are living in an intense time, and there\u2019s a lot to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And he does a lot. \u201cSpeaking and workshops are definitely taking a lot of my time and energy these days,\u201d LaMotte says. His 2017 TEDx Asheville talk, \u201cMusic Can Help Us Understand Peace and Conflict\u201d further boosted demand for LaMotte as a speaker. \u201cI really value that work,\u201d he says. \u201cSo it\u2019s hard to figure out where to cut back.\u201d<\/p>\n

LaMotte\u2019s multiple pursuits also include serving as president of the nonprofit PEG Partners, an organization founded by him and wife Deanna to support \u201cliteracy, critical thought, and artistic expression in Guatemala.\u201d Meanwhile, his most recent album, The Other Way Around<\/i>, was released almost two years ago. So it\u2019s fair to wonder if he\u2019s set aside his musical career. \u201cI was at an event recently where we were supposed to shout out a sentence together, and there was a blank to fill in with our vocations,\u201d he recalls. And I just stood there baffled.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he still identifies as a musician. \u201cI\u2019ve had a chance to be a full-time musician for 27 years,\u201d LaMotte says. \u201cThat\u2019s taken a lot of different forms, but it\u2019s still the heart of how I see my work.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his upcoming (and as yet untitled) albums, LaMotte has repeated some of what\u2019s worked for him in the past; in other ways, he\u2019s exploring uncharted territory. The connection with the past comes in the form of a crowd funding campaign for the album. Following on from the success of a Kickstarter campaign to fund The Other Way Around<\/i>, he launched a new campaign for the records\u2014one live, one a studio project, both produced by Chris Rosser\u2014due out in October 2018 and May 2019.<\/p>\n

The crowd funding effort was another success. \u201cIt was a heavy lift and a big goal, but folks really came through to support it,\u201d LaMotte says. The campaign raised 108% of its $45,000 target. \u201cCrowd funding invites the community to directly support creating the art, and I love that invitation and participation,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople take ownership of the project, because they really do<\/i> own it.\u201d<\/p>\n

On his earlier albums, LaMotte has often drawn upon the talents of friends and musical associates. But for the new studio album, he\u2019s taking things a step further. \u201cThis is going to be my first true band album,\u201d he says. \u201cThis will be the first time several people are making the decisions together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group\u2014featuring LaMotte plus Billy Jonas and Dawud Wharnsby\u2014is Abraham Jam, and LaMotte\u2019s description of it reads like the opening of a joke: \u201cA Jew, a Muslim, and a Christian start a band\u2026\u201d The group\u2019s diverse character will provide the studio album\u2019s theme.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty counter-intuitive message for the time we\u2019re living in,\u201d LaMotte admits. \u201cThe point we\u2019re trying to get across\u2014aside from the intrinsic value of the music\u2014is that we don\u2019t have to agree about everything in order to be in relationship that is beautiful and rich.\u201d<\/p>\n

LaMotte makes a subtle but important distinction about that message. \u201cWe like to frame it as \u2018harmony is even better than unity.\u2019 Given the horrific headlines these days, it\u2019s important that folks with platforms find a way to tell better stories,\u201d he says. \u201cWe all need a little hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, LaMotte remains busy with writing, speaking, nonprofit work \u2026 and this month\u2019s local performance. \u201cI really haven\u2019t done a solo show in Asheville in a very long time,\u201d he says. \u201cSo it will be fun.\u201d Even though he has his hand in many different pursuits, live performance remains among LaMotte\u2019s most treasured experiences. \u201cIt really is a cooperative effort,\u201d he says. \u201cThe power of songs happens in the space between the artist and the listener.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For many Asheville-based musicians, making music is just one of the things they do. Cobbling together a financially sustainable lifestyle means taking on one or more part-time \u201cside hustles.\u201d In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15155,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,41,49],"tags":[237,2849],"class_list":["post-15153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-folk","category-interview","category-new-release","tag-asheville","tag-david-lamotte","cat-30-id","cat-41-id","cat-49-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15153"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15156,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15153\/revisions\/15156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}