We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Linda Good. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Linda below.

Linda, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

As far back as I can remember, I always knew I was going to be a musician—like I didn’t have a choice I the matter. Sitting in front of a piano felt like a very safe space, and playing the guitar was like having a big piece of musical armor to shield me from the world. I was a shy kid, but playing music felt like an easier way to communicate—and I had a lot I wanted to say. My twin sister and I saved up our money from babysitting to buy our first acoustic guitar. Writing songs came very easily, as we are self-taught musicians. Our competitiveness as identical twins made us better musicians and songwriters. I started composing when I was about 10, and my sister and I started performing professionally at 16. I also discovered I had the drive in me to pursue it professionally, and when I was 17, I transferred to a performing arts high school in Chicago to study music and theater.

When I moved to LA in 2000, I sort of fell into doing the side-musician thing — which wasn’t my initial plan, but was a nice way of making some side money. One thing quickly led to another, and I was touring as a keyboardist and backup vocalist with some well-known bands (Jane’s Addiction, The Mars Volta, Lisa Marie Presley, and others). Today, I am creating my own music, which was the original plan.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a composer/lyricist/music producer and now, a musical-theater writer. I perform as a singer/songwriter, and also with my twin sister and co-writer in our alt-pop band, The Twigs. We wrote a musical that was produced in NYC a few years ago (Ladyship) and are now finishing up a concept album recording version of the show. I also do some vocal coaching and piano teaching. I’m proud that I’ve been flexible enough to be able to evolve with the times, as the ways to create and distribute music have also changed. I love writing and performing my own material, but I also enjoy the art of collaboration. When composing original music for clients, I like navigating the process of starting with a blank slate and ending up with a new piece of music that fulfills their vision. Whether it’s for a podcast theme, a film score, a song demo, or a commercial jingle, I’m fortunate I can write and record in my home studio, play all of the instruments, do the music producing, engineering and mixing, and put a new piece of music out into the world that didn’t exist before. I especially love combining different musical elements together, like raw acoustic sounds with electronic grooves, and investigating the contrast. It’s almost like painting to me—playing with color and texture, but with sound.

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

My goal has always been to make the best music I can with good people, write great songs, create a body of work I am proud of, and hopefully at the end of all, feel satisfied that I fulfilled what the creative spark wanted me to do. My goal was never about being as famous as Madonna (though, I’m a fan — long may she reign.) For me, it was about honoring the musical voice inside me and being able to develop and trust it as far as it can go. And also, be kind, leave the world a better place, and do no harm —which is my Buddhism talking.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Because streaming has decimated royalties and the musical middle class, the best thing one can do is to buy directly from the artist — CDs, Vinyl, merchandise, go to a live show, donations to fund recording projects, tours, Patreon, etc. In addition to supporting them on all of their social media pages, even leaving a simple comment like, “Hey, I like your song” can be so meaningful. It cuts through the weeds of pages of people selling workout apps!

The technology of streaming is not bad, but how it’s been co-opted by certain huge companies has completely de-valued music to the point where everyone thinks it should be free. Yet, it still costs more money than ever to record, mix, master, distribute the music, buy instruments, computers, pay for rehearsal space, promo campaigns, rent, food and utilities while you’re writing songs, etc. It still takes money to create art that’s good enough to sell. Music is part of practically everything in life, and has huge value beyond just the monetary. Most people that stream music are not aware of how surprisingly little money actually goes to the artists and writers.

I hope one day, much like how there is a growing movement to support sustainably-sourced food, coffee, chocolate, etc., that we also start to care how everything is ethically produced, including music. So, the value of what we get out of music is also fair to the ones who created it. And that it can be sustainable for both creator and consumer. Schools need to reinstate music programs—as the benefits of music and arts programs have proven links to better grades and mental health. Other countries value the arts and have government-funded programs to support artists and musicians. Music and the arts are billion-dollar industries, but the majority of the creators are still at the bottom of the food chain. Music-lovers need to part of the solution. I love your term “thriving creative ecosystem” in the question — it sounds like a wonderful place to be a creator!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lindagood.com
• Instagram: @lindagood99
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lindagoodmusic
• Other: www.twigs.com www.ladyship.twigs.com @the_twigs @ladyshipmusical

Image Credits
Wythe Whiting, Tom Bevacqua