We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Abigail Dowd a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Abigail, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

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?

I am a singer/songwriter/guitarist. I also love to teach – whether it’s songwriting, guitar, or business skills. I’m blessed to have the opportunity to teach executive leadership skills, which is a nice balance to my creative side. It keeps me disciplined and mindful of how I manage my time.

I was raised in a musical family and it has always been a central focus. At nine, I knew I wanted to write my own songs and be able to accompany myself; and for various reasons I chose the guitar. From 14 to 27, learning guitar was my main focus. I started out learning on my own (with the help of my mom who played beautifully). At 21, I began studying classical guitar privately for 6 years with Danny Infantino. We went back to the very beginning and I fell in love with technique.

When I was 28, I moved to Maine and started focusing on songwriting, with my guitar skills the first layer of composition. I had never stopped singing, and the three all began to weave together.

I’ve had the opportunity to write for plays and film, which really lights me up. I love to perform whether in theaters, listening rooms, festivals or house concert venues. Currently I’m working on the release of my 4th album and am beginning to research the next project.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

What comes to mind with this question is my experience learning the guitar early in high school. I wish there had been other girls/women to play with and learn from.

The other guitar players I knew were guys and though we’d get together and play some, my musical taste was different (more folk than rock) and I wasn’t part of the hang in the same way. In college, I tried out for a band – all guys – and it was a blast to play with them, but they weren’t looking for a gal.

Now that I’ve taken on a few students, I’ve noticed that it would have been a different experience learning guitar from a woman. I couldn’t imagine a woman playing guitar when I was learning. I think it made me work extra hard; and also kept me from playing out sooner.

I love seeing so many girls and women playing guitar and collaborating now!

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Supporting local, getting out in nature, making time to rest!

Whether it’s buying from the local farmer, potter or supporting music, it feels healthy to be connected to each other and what we consume, verses buying the cheapest, likely disposable, goods from the internet or big box stores. The vibration is different and when we start to feel that, I think it wakes up our own creative self and interconnectedness.

Being in nature is so inspiring that I think it’s almost impossible to really immerse ourselves in nature and not start getting the urge to create, or sing, or daydream. It’s where we tap into that channel that we’re all naturally a part of.

And resting! Take the time to get bored…and we start craving to create. It’s like being a kid without a cellphone. We start looking for someone else to play with, converse with; and if there isn’t anyone around, we’ll create alone and sometimes find our way to conversing with the divine.

It seems that the disconnection from nature, abundance of distractions and material things we don’t need, numbs us out and suffocates creativity and collaboration.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.abigaildowd.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abigail.dowd
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abigaildowdmusician
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abigaildowd
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/AbigailDowd

Image Credits
Photographs by Zach Pessagno (Chasing Fowl Photography), @BenWillShoot, Scott Murrish Photography, Owens Daniels