We were lucky to catch up with Kim Ewing recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kim, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?

My first real gig that paid actual money was at a place called the Tee Pee in San Antonio Texas. I think I was probably in my mid-20s. I auditioned for the manager and she thought that I was going to be the answer to bringing more business in so she hired me to play every weekend for 4 hours a night for a total of $100 for each month. I was ecstatic because it made me feel like, I don’t know, like I was actually good. LOL…
It was a very enlightening experience in that I had drunk customers tell me I had no business being a musician and also eventually got let go, or shall I say replaced, when I showed up one night to play and she had hired another band 😂
I also had plenty of good feedback from people while I was there as well. Another thing that happened there, was a salesman that used to come in pretty frequently really enjoyed my music and at the time I was playing through my home stereo system, I would lug up there because I had nothing else. Months later I had a music store call me up and tell me I had $2,000 credit to get a PA compliments of the salesman that would come see me from time to time. As you could imagine, that was totally shocking and a bit unbelievable at the time.

Kim, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a singer-songwriter guitarist and currently play around the East Texas area at different wineries and some restaurants.
I knew that I wanted to be a part of creating music the first time that I heard The Carpenters. They were very popular in the 70s and played a totally different kind of music than what was trending at that time.
I was probably 14 or 15 years old and in a very challenging dark time of my youth, …I remember I was ironing one day when “Close to you” by The Carpenters came on the radio. I had to stop what I was doing because I was just totally floored by such a beautiful sound that was so different than what was out there currently. That music, pulled me out of the darkness I was in and I knew then, that if I could even come close to making something musically that brought that much peace and calm and joy to anyone else like it did me, then I wanted to do it.
I had always written prior to that….poems and my feelings and things like that and had sung quite a bit but it was just something I enjoyed as a hobby.
I come from a family of singers and piano players.
Years later when I had gone to college was when I finally picked up a guitar. A classmate played and I had asked her if she could teach me how to play my favorite song at the time, “I’m easy” by Keith Carradine.
Long story short, she did and from there I just began to teach myself. Anyway, once I learned how to play a song, then I was able to start writing actual songs and play them. She ended up giving me her guitar and that was my first guitar. It was a Courtly big bodied acoustic. So I had just sort of done it as a way to console myself playing and writing songs. Fast forward to the future when I was 21 I joined the military and while I was in the army I began to do talent shows with my guitar trying to get my feet wet with being in front of an audience, it was nerve-wracking.
I then hooked up with a very skilled piano player in the unit I was in and him and I began to go a different talent contests and win several with him playing piano and me being the singer. We would do music that he had written and I had written as well as copy tunes.
I was also lucky enough to have radio airplay with my music while I was there in Europe also in Denmark and France, so very blessed. Then, life just happened like it does and I got distracted and didn’t play music for quite some time except for off and on, but nothing with any discipline to it, really just kind of sporadically in this duo or that trio or as a soloist for a couple years and then nothing for several years and then again for a couple years and here I am today.
I am 64 years old and currently play around East Texas and am very focused and disciplined about my practice time. That said, my ultimate goal is just what it originally was…. if I can make anyone feel the calmness peace or joy that music makes me feel, that makes me happy. I think one thing that I can offer clients so to speak is kind of being different in that I don’t have your average female vocalist voice, I’m more of an alto and a lot of heart goes into what I sing and I also play a lot of variety kind of leaning towards a mellow sound, I’m definitely not a bar band, so to speak, I’m a good fit for family friendly venues, something the kids would be safe listening to. LOL

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

The fact that I have never stopped completely and that in spite of how hard it is sometimes as a female artist and a soloist to get gigs, through hard work and persistence, and a lot of leg work, I built up a good Network.
I think the fact that I’m 64 and I’m still in it and that I did not let any kind of life stop me.
Also I have in the past taken routes to get things done that were historically not the correct way to do things. For example I had written a kind of a jingle for a campaign that a television station was running that was endorsed by President Bush and so I just called the TV station and kind of told them I wrote this song and I ended up at their headquarters and they ended up at my house and they did recording and I ended up being on the news playing my song. It wasn’t really the kosher way of doing things but, I did it anyway. But I think that all of us that play music into our sixties, all have resilience or we would still be doing it.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goal as a musician is continue doing what I do to the best of my ability and continue to keep my identity and not conform to what everybody else is doing if it is not what is in my heart. For me, there’s also a driving force that I don’t know where it comes from it just leads me this direction and pushes me forward… Sometimes it feels like I’m following a path that I’m just supposed to go

Contact Info:

• Facebook: Kim Ewing and Kim Ewing Music
• Youtube: Kim Ewing
• Other: [email protected] Ewing on Reverb nation

Image Credits

Dragonhead Retreat