Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Will Clipman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Will, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Having recorded close to one hundred albums, received seven GRAMMY nominations, performed hundreds of concerts and conducted over three hundred artist-in-residencies, workshops and creative retreats, I’d have to say my most meaningful project is always the one I’m working on right now. My latest album release is Wait For Me by the duo Will + Rob, a genre-transcending collaboration between acoustic bassist and violinist Rob Paulus and myself on world percussion; the next release in my production queue is the album Come Back to Love by Abigail Earthshine & Will Clipman, a collaboration between vocalist, cellist, harmonium and shruti box player Abigail Earthshine and myself on world percussion; and my next recording session will be with singer/songwriter Lori Laska Sumberg for her forthcoming album To My Light, a cycle of sacred Hebrew chants set to acoustic guitar and world percussion.The eclecticism of my projects always keeps me on my toes and learning creative new ways of making music, and speaks to my commitment to making timeless music without boundaries. All of that said, my most meaningful and successful collaboration over time as been with Native American flutist R. Carlos Nakai, as our extensive catalog of albums on Canyon Records and our decades of regional, national and international touring attest. My latest writing project is collaborating with Nakai on his memoir, tentatively titled Coyote in the Outer World, which takes me outside my comfort zone as a poet and ventures into the terra incognita of ghost-written nonfiction prose. On to the next challenge and opportunity!

Will, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started playing my father’s drums and my mother’s piano at the age of three and writing poetry with the guidance and inspiration of my grandmother at the age of six, so the language of rhythm and the rhythm of language have been essential to my sense of self and my way of being in the world from the beginning. I played my first professional gig at the age of fourteen, taught my first writing workshop at the age of twenty, published my first book of poetry at the age of twenty-seven, began making masks at the age of thirty-one, and received my first GRAMMY nomination at the age of forty; so my multidisciplinary career has been a natural progression that has occurred in definitive stages, always driven by my artistic passions and intellectual curiosities more so than any commercial considerations. Somewhere along the line, those passions and curiosities morphed into a successful profession, and I’m blessed to have been able to make my living as a self-employed independent artist for forty-four years and counting.

With all due humility, my primary product is literally myself: for tax purposes my sole proprietorship is my legal name, William Clipman; subsidiary to that are various brands that I have trademarked, including Myths & Masks (which is the vehicle for my maskmaking and storytelling work) and Planet of Percussion (which is the vehicle for my musical work). I have established two writing and publishing entities with ASCAP: Bone Fire Music and Sacred Clay Music, through which I am able to register intellectual property rights to my recordings, and which generate other streams of income from my work that flow together with royalties and retail sales into a comfortably sustainable livelihood. I offer clients a broad and adaptable palette of creative services ranging from live performance to studio session work, from public relations and promotional prose to copy editing and manuscript preparation, and from intimate hands-on workshops and retreats in my various creative disciplines to full-scale educational artist-in-residency programs.

I’ve never had a manager or agent, so I’ve learned out of necessity to be my own publicist, booking agent, tour manager, roadie, driver, materials procurer and chief financial officer; while it might have been easier in many ways had I connected with a team of people who provide these types of services to artists, I have no regrets about having been my own boss for over four decades and having embraced all these roles to keep my one-man dog-and-pony show on the road! I suppose that sets me apart from most other artists who make a living at their art, and I take a measure of pride in that; though any sense of accomplishment is always tempered by the reality that the next gig is never guaranteed, and that staying humble and being a life-long learner keeps me connected to those original creative impulses I felt as a young child as my primary motivation for continuing to do what I do.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I love being able to make my living through my natural creativity. I never take that for granted; I am always grateful for that blessing; and I always try to share whatever insight I’ve been gifted with generously. Throughout my career, I have always found it rewarding to mentor younger artists and entrepreneurs–be she a third-grader making her first mask and writing her first mythic persona poem or a millennial emo-tech musician establishing his own streaming and downloading platform–as I have been mentored by my elders along the way: paying it forward, as we say. Nothing is more exciting, engaging or enriching than seeing the creative spark lit in someone who has enjoyed one of my performances, been transformed by one of my recordings or publications, or inspired by one of my workshops or retreats, and encouraging the pursuit of that passion with patience and perseverance. And of course, that energetic exchange is always reciprocal: I have always learned at least as much from my students as they have from me, and I have always received at least as much upliftment from my audiences as they have from me. Having the discipline to show up, be fully present, and then get out of the way and let the magic happen allows me to be an instrument and a tool of the creative impulse, free of ego and materialism; yet in some mysterious way, that cycles back into being able to make a living in the real world doing what I love, and I can’t think of anything better than that!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

We all suffer setbacks. Not all of us get up and carry on. At the age of thirty I was on my way to deliver a copy of my first solo recording to a band I was auditioning for when I was T-boned by a speeding drunk driver running a red light and blasted out of my body into white light. When I regained consciousness I was being strapped to a gurney and loaded into an ambulance. My neck had been broken. Thankfully–almost miraculously–it turned out that I was not paralyzed and had sustained no permanent nerve damage. But what followed was a year of pain, immobility and recovery, during which I had a lot of time by myself to think about why I was still here, what my purpose was, and what I truly wanted to do with the rest of my life, having had the realization that none of us is ever guaranteed our next breath. I suppose I could have succumbed to self-pity, descended into substance abuse, committed suicide, or in some other way given up on my dreams. Instead, I took a one-day-at-a-time approach to getting back on my feet, being able to perform simple everyday tasks, and gradually resume my creative pursuits and my career. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, as the saying goes; so whenever I feel defeated by circumstances beyond my control, creatively blocked, or otherwise inadequate to the tasks at hand, I reflect on that experience, put my big boy pants on, and get on with it. There is always a way forward as long as you are looking ahead!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.willclipman.com
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/willclipman
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@willclipman4187
• Other: [email protected]

Image Credits

all photos used by prior consent