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

Harrison, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today 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?

Earning a full-time living from my creative work is very rewarding and can also be very challenging. I love to play music and sing and perform for people, which is my primary source of income, but I also have to be careful not to burn myself out playing too often, I’ve learned. I still want to enjoy music at home for myself like how I started out and have creativity left to write and record songs. Then there’s the rest of life to balance with being a one man band and business owner. Family and friends and being normal, whatever that is. It’s an unconventional existence to live as a musician but it feels right and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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

My name is Harrison Steele and I was raised in Wichita, KS. I bought my first acoustic guitar in 2005, during my sophomore year of high school after hearing Jack Johnson’s second album, “In Between Dreams” during an art class, and I’ve been writing songs ever since.

After many years of playing guitar and singing in my room, I got into the industry of performing live by going to open mics. The first one was rough. I quit halfway through my first song. It was embarrassing but lit a fire in me, and I went back every week the summer of 2012 until I got comfortable performing in front of people. This led to me performing a handful of my own solo shows at coffee shops around Wichita. Then I moved to Colorado in 2013 and didn’t perform for three years but continued to write and develop my music at home, and did a lot of traveling and soul searching. When I moved back to Wichita in 2017 my musical ability and confidence in myself and voice had grown and met my ambition, and I went after it hard. I performed at every coffee shop, bar, club, restaurant, private party, event, concert, or backyard I could.

I have been performing live around Kansas and some surrounding states for the past six years now, most notably at Hartman Arena, WAVE and TempeLive. I appeared on American Idol in 2018 and have opened for Train, Rome & Duddy, and GOODING. I have released two albums and played over 1200 gigs in the last six years. People say my voice is soulful and most frequently compare me to artists such as Jack Johnson, John Mayer, and Ray LaMontagne. My albums are available on all music platforms and streaming apps.

Currently I work full-time as a musician and play mainly private parties or events, providing entertainment.
I am most proud of my ability to read a room and accommodate a party. Music brings people together and sets the tone of the room and I love getting to do that. I am also working on new original music that I will be releasing this year and plan on booking some bigger public shows and maybe a small tour.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I think for me the goal started out as the desire to be heard, to be seen. I think in some way that’s what we all want but I was very shy and struggled a lot as a kid. I dealt with anxiety and depression and trauma and felt very suppressed. Art was one of the only things I was good at and music was a way for me to release what I was feeling and to be heard, literally.

I think the goal now has become to really enjoy the journey. There is nothing like the feeling of a new song brewing. When lightning strikes while I’m mumbling a few words and fumbling through some chords. It’s like magic out of thin air and a song is born. Then the process of refining the song and recording and sharing with the world is a whole other story. That is where the real work and follow through comes in. You have to put in the work after the inspiration, but I’m trying to remember to enjoy it. Embrace the process.

The goal is also and always to inspire others. By pursuing your passion you inspire others to do the same.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding part of being an artist for me is seeing other people light up when I play a song they love. That joy is contagious. It’s the feeling of oneness, of connection to the divine. When I am locked in while performing and the audience is with me and we’re both experiencing this supernatural thing together. That’s it right there. That’s the stuff.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.harrisonsteele.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harrisonsteele/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/harrisonsteelemusic/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-6drK6Wn0tLBhSLxjU_GpQ
• Other: TikTok: @harrisonsteelemusic

Image Credits
Justin Miller Patz Ztap