We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jim “Kimo” West a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jim “Kimo”, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
I’ve been very lucky to have made my living in music since the age of sixteen, although there were a few “day jobs” back in the early days!
In those days I was playing in rock bands, which is something I continued to do after I moved to Los Angeles from Florida in the 80’s. Being self-taught I had always composed music, and in the early 90’s I decided to pursue a career as a composer for film and television. I started out doing temp scores then got a job for 20th Century Fox recreating old scores for films that were being dubbed in other languages. It was like going to film music school but getting paid at the same time!
I went on to score a few features, many TV spots and a lot of animation. It was a demanding career but also very lucrative.
I still kept my guitar “hat” on, creating my own work, touring and doing sessions. Around 1999 or 2000 I decided to focus on my solo career as an artist and move away from the service industry of music for media. My albums became more and more successful and now I’ve racked up over 100 million streams as well as being well represented on Sirius XM, the Calm app and in the world of music licensing.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My artistic focus has been Hawaiian “slack key” guitar, something I was exposed to when I lived on Maui. I have a unique and somewhat modern approach to this style and that forms the basis of my “brand”. Many people have told me that they knew it was me when they heard me on Pandora! I also record, mix and produce my own albums here at my personal studio. I sometimes collaborate with other artists but generally I’m not a “for hire” producer.
Slack key is a very relaxing acoustic guitar style that uses many different open tunings. Each tuning has its own world of musical colors and I find it very inspiring to create new music using new tunings.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I got into music simply for the joy of playing. If you truly love it, then making money is icing on the cake so to speak. Hearing testimonials from my listeners makes it all worthwhile. I’ve received so many wonderful letters from folks who feel a deep connection to my music or were comforted by my music during times of hardship.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I’m pretty music a one-man operation although I do have someone who helps with my web presence and marketing. I started out collecting emails at my shows and began a monthly newsletter using a newsletter service. People love it when I post photos from my travels on social media, and I try to stay active in those arenas.
My most successful posts are impromptu performances and videos from my travels, and my Grammy-acceptance video was a big hit!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jimkimowest.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jimkimowest/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jimkimowest/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-kimo-west-9598916
- Twitter: https://x.com/westernmost
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCXlihz8NaJWYWsunUpC0Ww
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/jim-kimo-west
