{"id":15669,"date":"2018-12-26T05:30:26","date_gmt":"2018-12-26T10:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=15669"},"modified":"2020-07-22T11:52:04","modified_gmt":"2020-07-22T15:52:04","slug":"gar-ragland-combining-commerce-and-creativity-part-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/26\/gar-ragland-combining-commerce-and-creativity-part-three\/","title":{"rendered":"Gar Ragland: Combining Commerce and Creativity (Part Three)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part Two<\/a>…<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

Just one of the many fine releases from NewSong Recordings<\/p><\/div>\n

Studio Serendipity <\/b>
\n\u201cEven in college, I was hopeful that I would be able to make a living in music,\u201d Ragland says. \u201cI\u2019ve always had aspirations of trying to make a living as a creative person. So, it doesn\u2019t come as a surprise that I\u2019m doing what I\u2019m doing now. What\u2019s more of a surprise, though, is that I never anticipated being lucky enough to be here in Asheville, North Carolina.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having previously relocated with his wife to Brooklyn, Ragland had again expanded his ventures. He launched an independent record label, NewSong Recordings, primarily to release the music of contest winners.<\/p>\n

In April 2012 Ragland decided to tag along for a few dates on NewSong winner Arthur Alligood\u2019s tour in support of his album One Silver Needle<\/i>. \u201cArthur had a show in Asheville,\u201d Ragland recalls. \u201cGrowing up in Winston-Salem, I was familiar with Asheville, and my wife and I had come here to celebrate an anniversary or two.\u201d He had heard about Echo Mountain\u2019s studio and decided to pay an impromptu visit. \u201cI had some time to kill before the show,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just walked down to the building, rang the buzzer, and as luck would have it, the studio manager Jessica Tomasin answered the door.\u201d Ragland introduced himself, explaining that he ran a label and a songwriting competition, and asked if he could check out the studio.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t know it, but Tomasin was on the NewSong mailing list, and was very familiar with him and his work. \u201cIt was so serendipitous,\u201d Ragland says. \u201cI mean, she could\u2019ve been at lunch or in a meeting, or an intern could have answered the call.\u201d He and Tomasin spent about an hour talking. At one point in the conversation, the studio manager told Ragland, \u201cWe\u2019re looking for new ways to promote the studio and I\u2019ve been meaning to reach out to you to talk about doing a partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the course of that one short hour, the partnership was established. \u201cWe ended up the tour on the roof of Echo\u2019s API Studio, the Old Salvation Army building,\u201d Ragland recalls. Tomasin was showing him the panoramic view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. \u201cAnd I said, under my breath, \u2018God, what I wouldn\u2019t do to live in Asheville, North Carolina.\u2019 And she heard me. She said, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you move in?\u201d It had turned out that studio owner Steve Wilmans was looking for a tenant for one of the studio\u2019s corner offices.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife Meg and I had just had our twin boys a year earlier,\u201d Ragland recalls. \u201cWe were living in and loving New York. But we were feeling a financial and a space squeeze. We didn\u2019t really see ourselves living there forever.\u201d After leaving the Asheville studio, he called his wife. \u201cMeg, you\u2019re not going to believe this…\u201d He says that his wife\u2019s adventurous spirit fit perfectly with the opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew that we were going to find a way to do the move, but I wanted to play a little hard to get,\u201d says Ragland with a laugh. He contacted the Economic Development Coalition of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, asking if they had any resources to help facilitate a relocation of his wife\u2019s unique publishing business. (Meg Ragland and her Plum Print business were profiled in the November 2016 issue of Capital at Play<\/i>.) \u201cI got connected to the EDC and Pam Lewis, who was running Venture Asheville at the time, and I made several trips down here,\u201d he says. The family moved to North Carolina in 2012, a mere two days before their daughter started first grade at Claxton Elementary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI immediately moved into Echo Mountain,\u201d says Ragland. \u201cI do all of my record production work there, and I do all the other stuff out of there too.\u201d<\/p>\n

A New Spin on Music and the Arts<\/b>
\nRagland is a serious fan of what used to look like a dead music format: vinyl records. And he\u2019s not alone. \u201cMillennials are the fastest-growing demographic for purchasing vinyl,\u201d he notes. He thinks he knows why: \u201cThe tactile, experiential art form that it is, with its emphasis on the visual as well, makes it a multimedia purchase.\u201d Vinyl\u2019s resurgence gives him faith in humanity, because young people \u201cwho grew up in a completely digital environment are recognizing that there\u2019s something missing in this world of zeros and ones,\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019re looking for more authentic experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think society as a whole is experiencing some degree of \u2018digital fatigue,\u2019 and perhaps for the first time in human history, we’re beginning to recognize the limitations of our digital, online experiences,\u201d Ragland says. \u201cThat’s why house concerts are so popular, and why vinyl albums are making a tremendous comeback.\u201d<\/p>\n

It might dovetail nicely with Ragland\u2019s creative career path\u2014playing music, recording, producing, curating concerts, supporting new artists and launching an indie label\u2014to start a record-pressing business. And while the details remain under wraps for now, plans are moving forward for a music vinyl pressing plant in Asheville. \u201cIt could be a really timely opportunity to get into,\u201d he says with a broad smile.<\/p>\n

But whether that venture spins into life or not, Gar Ragland remains busy with plenty of other pursuits that combine creativity and commerce. He\u2019s approaching his three-year anniversary as Board Chair with the Asheville Area Arts Council. In that time, the organization has experienced a revitalization, launching the Refinery Creator Space on Coxe Avenue in the city\u2019s resurgent South Slope district.<\/p>\n

Thinking back to his youngest days, Ragland recalls the work of the Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County. \u201cIt was a big fundraising machine,\u201d he says. But when he moved to Asheville, Ragland recognized both the enormity of the city\u2019s creative capital and a troubling disconnect. \u201cI was surprised that this community didn\u2019t have a representative advocacy organization commensurate in profile and support,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Striking a serious tone, Ragland articulates his concern. \u201cI think that we are at risk as a community,\u201d he says. \u201cToo many people\u2014and most importantly, our community leaders\u2014are not being proactive enough to address the concern about the sustainability of our creative class here. People just assume that the creative culture will just organically prosper.\u201d He believes that a plan is essential. \u201cUnless we as a community address this and have more financial support for the arts, we\u2019re going to wake up in a few years and wonder, \u2018Where did all the creatives go?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In his role with the Arts Council, Ragland aims to address those issues. \u201cIt\u2019s our job as an organization to connect the dots,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople\u2019s quality of life is directly correlated to the support of the arts. We\u2019ve got a kick-ass board, and we\u2019re all concerned about this dynamic.\u201d In a fundamental way, his work with the Arts Council follows on directly from everything he\u2019s done before in support of music and the arts.<\/p>\n

Ragland is happy and fulfilled with the various components of his professional life. \u201cI really love what I do,\u201d he says. \u201cI feel grateful to be able to do it, which makes it super easy to stay motivated. More often than not I feel like my professional journey is still in its infancy; I’m just getting started.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part Two… Studio Serendipity \u201cEven in college, I was hopeful that I would be able to make a living in music,\u201d Ragland says. \u201cI\u2019ve always had aspirations of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10858,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,3668],"tags":[237,3640],"class_list":["post-15669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-music-business","tag-asheville","tag-gar-ragland","cat-41-id","cat-3668-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15669","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=15669"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15671,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15669\/revisions\/15671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}