We recently connected with Chris Crain and have shared our conversation below.

Chris , appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

As a multi-faceted singer, songwriter & musician, I’ve been fortunate to have a pretty good life as an adult. However, before I became the man I am now; I was a boy from a very small community in Mississippi, born with Brachial Plexus Palsy. This birth defect brought about many physical and psychologic obstacles. However, after being introduced to music my life changed. I first learned to play drums, then the piano and soon became a sought-after musician for recording groups and churches. My confidence grew drastically, and I was no-longer carrying the anger and embarrassment from being born different.

In 2014 I hosted my very first music camp (1st class music) for kids ages 6-16. Classes included piano, drums/percussion, guitar(acoustic/electric), voice, dance and theatre. This specific music camp uses a holistic approach to teaching kids how to understand and play instruments as well as to promote a clear message of HOPE, PERSEVERANCE, LOVE and SELF WORTH. This project is so special to me because it allowed me to share with young people the same thing that drastically changed the way that I saw myself in the world, transforming me from a kid with low self esteem and anger issues to a strong confident leader that positively impacts others and the community at large. Today my foundation has service more than 1,000 youth.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My resume as a performing artist, musician, music educator, songwriter, producer, business owner, and artist in residence with over 25 years has been an amazing journey thus far. Although my journey has been quite colorful, I’ve still maintained a desire to using my music to create positive change in the way people listen to music, the way it makes them feel and how it affects community. I’ve had the honor of studying under and working with many notable artists and musicians as lead / background / producer / studio session / musician / including Grammy award winning artist/vocalist Mark Kibble (Take 6), Marva King, Roger Ryan, Anthony Crawford, V. Michael Mckay, and more. After many years of pursuing music as a career, I decided to go back to school and complete my discipline in marketing. Studying and finishing with a degree in marketing has really been great for my music and business endeavors.

I’m honestly most proud of how I’ve handled and still continue to handle the ups and downs of being in an industry were great is based solely on perspective. That can be a hard thing to deal with. It takes guts, perseverance and sometimes sheer will to keep going when your work (passion) doesn’t receive the love that you think it should. I’m proud to have learned to stand tall and keep sharing my heart in a world where “seemingly” only the strong survive

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

When I first got on social media I was simply following the crowd. Connecting with old friends, meeting new friends and interacting with present friends. After sometime I realized that social media allowed me to make new fans as well as friends. I began to monitor the kinds of things that I would post. I became very intentional as to what I was posting and why. I slowly turned my social pages into billboards to market my projects. I saw my numbers grow rather quickly.

As my fanbase has grown I’ve really evaluated my life and my purpose. What is it that I want the world to see when they look at me? What do I want my impact to look like on the lives of others? I believe that your values should drive your social media outlets. It’s easy to present a false narrative on social media because most people won’t get to see the real you, but when you’re purpose driven, the two can very easily line up and I believe your impact will be far reaching.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Society seems to have its priorities really messed up in my opinion. In a world where all of the bad seems to get praised as some kind of badge of honor and the good gets little to no news, the first step is for society to decide whether it’s going to be light or darkness. If light is the choice, then it has to change how things are rewarded and talked about. I believe in love, life and community. I believe once society starts to spotlight the artists, businesses, corporations and other things that spread love, the world will open up for creatives to freely create without fear of having to do what they need to do in order to simply survive. Creatives should be creating the worlds medicine.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.chriscrain1music.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/chriscrain1
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chris.crain
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/chriscrain2
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7NW
• Other: www.tbpaf1music.com

Image Credits
Roche Bufford – Project One Studios