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

Jonathan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

If I could go back in time and tell my younger self anything about learning to be a musician, it would be that nothing will ever win out just sitting down and doing the damn thing. Raw talent is what true artists cultivate and run on, and no amount of side-stepping practice or buying another piece of equipment or procrastinating will ever make up for it. Charisma and self honesty are power.

I would consider myself a mostly self-taught musician. I’ve taken bits and pieces from numerous teachers in a myriad of forms over the years, stealing small facets that fascinated me. We are all curators of the world imprinted on us, imitating and assimilating and rejecting. I feel that my plethora of influences and circumvention of conventional training has granted me a unique resonance and really forced me to find my own voice. There’s nothing I relish more than originality synergized with talent. I’ve lived in my songs alone a long time, sat with them and experimented and listened to where the beating heart was.

I taught myself bass guitar from a short dvd at the end of elementary school, and guitar from a book the next year. This was before the big YouTube boom, and I actually believe that having limited resources compelled me to learn faster than if I had been inundated with material and didn’t know where to start. It can be easy to get overwhelmed when picking up a new instrument. I took a few jazz and music theory classes in high school and was lucky enough to receive a good foundational understanding of western theory, but always felt the holes in my bedrock… I’m still trying to shore those up.

Looking back I wish I’d spent more time and energy building good habits and postures early on. Glossing over the more boring but important elements of the craft not only held me back immensely but took a lot of time to reverse in the long run. I should’ve listened to my grandmother more when she was trying to teach my how to play a major scale on the piano with proper posture, but all I wanted to do was play Star Wars.

I would definitely suggest finding a good teacher to those just starting out. Give yourself proper footing from which to branch out, but make sure you take time to create your own world within music. Make sure to leave room for perpetual discovery and wonder.

Jonathan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Primarily I’m a singer – songwriter. I feel that composing music and lyrics is my true talent, it’s what no one could pay me enough not to do. I’ve written and recorded over a hundred songs, but am still in search of a drummer/producer to help me realize the songs into radio-worthy material. My home studio and mixing skills can only take me so far.

This last year is the first time I’ve seriously tried to carry my songs into a monetary world and create a business from my material. I’ve made a living booking other bands and have played a fair share of gigs but I’m getting myself into something much bigger than performing the bar circuit and busking and passing around bedroom demos.

I’m currently branching out more into private events like weddings, touting a sizable repertoire of carefully selected covers and originals. My portfolio centrifuges around a folk and rock center, with elements of jazz, classical, R&B, and soul to round out a smooth, accessible echelon. I enjoy playing the top hits but also incorporating B-sides and rarities I believe people would love to discover. I integrate other musicians where I can but rely on myself mostly as a solo performer. What I believe really sets me apart is the presence and energy I bring to a set. It can be easy to overlook the joy and wonder of singing in front of a live audience and feel like it’s just a job, I see too many musicians lugging their equipment on and off stage like it’s a 9 to 5. I put my heart into every note.

I’m on the precipice of launching my website for booking inquiries and for releasing a series of self-produced performance videos and recordings. Wish me luck!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think it can be hard to understand from an outside perspective how much time and isolation it takes to both compose and to hone one’s craft. I’m a relatively solitary person most of the time and I couldn’t see any other way to truly create something meaningful to me. I ‘m perpetually ambivalent about whether art is a deceptive luxury or a sacrificial martyrdom. I catch myself abusing my privileges. It takes work. You can never stop working.

Success includes revelations and catharses but I see it’s built mostly on glamor-less, lonely, often dark moments of grueling labor and self-doubt. I feel as an artist I need to live in my work for a long time, to listen a lot, outside of the inertia of the hustle. I need to journey away spiritually or even physically for a spell, and from another’s perspective that may simply look like isolation or avoidance. When songs are born they’re tender and need a peculiar environment to blossom.

Now, it’s easy to get carried away and justify too much time off, but some self-awareness and a realist’s humility go a long way. And some humor and honest feedback from friends.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Genuinely captivating a room full of people with an excellent, heartfelt performance.
There’s just nothing like it…
It’s like I’m watching myself as well, and we’re all sharing in this beautiful experience together…
I like to really engage with everyone’s energy as I’m playing (:

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @jonthanmoon.music
• Youtube: @Music.JonathanMoon

Image Credits

Tess Cagle
Rachel Rose
Sarah Rosenkrantz
Dusana Risovic