We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful DeVon Russell Gray. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with deVon Russell below.

DeVon Russell, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

In the year ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic I was chosen as composer-in-residence with Schubert Club of Minnesota for a term of two seasons. Essentially I was meant to create one evening length work to be premiered in Spring of 2021. At the outset of the appointment and commission I had a big dream to produce something akin to a one-act opera. But then the world shutdown and the thought of being forced to create in isolation and not getting to spend time with my collaborators shifted everything. The live performance became a live stream event. For this project I had access to more resources than I had ever had before. I was able to create a beautifully shot performance film in collaboration with my friend Nate Ryan. I titled the work NEW SELMA. This title connects the moment of the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent uprisings to the struggles of the Civil Rights movement. Same shit, different era. Sadly. Some of the titles of the movements from the work are: If they lynch me, I want to love you but you’re a mess, They keep killing us, and A comfort supreme. Everything I create is programmatic, meaning there’s a story I’m telling or there are events to which I’m pointing in an attempt to highlight them. America’s collective memory is wildly short. If we forget we are doomed to repeat.

With the ensemble I brought together and the crew I conjured up one of the best pieces of art I’ve ever made. It’s still very meaningful to me. And all those that have experienced it feel it. I love that. Next steps for this work involve releasing it as an album. Keep an eye out for that please.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a creative musician in the ethos of AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians), a sound artist, and I am a burgeoning neuroartist who’s on a journey to heal myself with sound and spatialized sonic installations. I’ve been inspired by artful building projects and permanent installations by Theaster Gates and the work of James Turrell. My vision entails beautifully crafted and designed structures with built-in speaker arrays with the ability to tune the building to varying frequencies incorporating binaural sounds that foster healing and aid in the eradication of some of the symptoms our varying societies thrust upon our physical beings. Cities are toxic environments and noise pollution is just one of the factors.

Music comes and chooses us while we’re still in the womb. I live an artful life and I value creativity and collaboration at the same levels I value love and respect. I offer live performances for engaged listeners with open hearts and minds. My work is experimental, soulful, and expressive. I have been commissioned by string quartets, chamber ensembles, youth orchestras, jazz big bands, concert pianists, contemporary art museums, theatre companies, and more. I’ve been a strings arranger on many albums as well as a band member and side person to singer/songwriters. I’ve produced, hip hop, Americana, jazz, classical, electronic music, and more.

With every commission and new work created it is my chance to stand on my soapbox and bring ears, eyes, and hearts to relevant events and necessary conversations.

I chose composer as my career path and profession long before I knew anything about what it might take to accomplish those honest goals. If I could whisper in the ear of my fifteen year old self I definitely would. I would encourage myself to follow my heart and allow passion to guide the course. As I’ve done. I wouldn’t bother mentioning the hardships and steady fiscal challenges. To create a life of art is relatively easy, to create a self-sustaining life with security as an artist, damned near impossible as I’ve discovered. We do the best we can until we can do better.

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

Fellowships and mentorship. I wish I had been in pursuit of these resources from the beginning. The right sort of fellowship will provide a creative or an artist with the resources of time, space, funding, and/or professional development. Having a dedicated window of time in which to focus is a great gift. It doesn’t matter whether you’re working on a specific project or if you’re just in need of a moment for recuperation and rest. I am a city boy who’s always had a deeply profound relationship with the natural world. So I specifically seek out retreat type residencies in remote or rural or rugged environments. I want to be where the antelope play, where the distractions and noises of the city are absent. These spaces allow my imagination to activate fully.

Where mentorship is concerned I believe it’s best to always be a mentee and a mentor to the next generations. We are all works in progress, there’s no moment when we get all our shit together. So best to be seeking advice and best to be passing along what you’ve learned and earned.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

The mission of my artistic journey is to create works of staggering connection that also encourages the expansion of self. I want us all healed. I need us all surrounded by love.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.devonrussellgray.com
• Instagram: @devonrussellgray_music
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/devonrussellgray

Image Credits

Patrick Pegg
Maya Elena Baglien