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

Hi Mike, thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

On learning “the craft” of songwriting, one has to be careful (in my opinion) not to learn it *too* well. There is a line in the play, King Lear, that says, “the weight of this time we must obey, speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.” I think about that every time I sit down to write a song: Speak what I feel; not what I “ought” to say. If you worry too much about what other people are going to like, or what stands the best chance of going viral or getting cut by another artist, you’ll end up writing soulless fluff of which we already have an abundance. If that’s what you’re after, go for it. But I prefer the writers who give me something real and true from the heart. If I could give a young writer one piece of advice it would be to speak what you feel; not what you think you ought to say. When you do that, you’ll create art that stands the test of time and actually matters to people.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Let’s see, how did I get here? I think in the beginning, I just wanted attention. I was 16, didn’t we all? It was also the first thing I seemed to have an aptitude for. I’m not the best singer or guitarist, but if you put me on stage and let me sing my songs for people, that’s a game I can win. And we all walk away feeling better. So, back to the very beginning, my dad started teaching me guitar, then shortly after that I started trying to sing. I wasn’t great, but I was okay. After a couple years I was good enough to get some gigs playing 4 hours of cover tunes for $100 + tips at local Atlanta bars. It wasn’t long before I realized that if I really wanted to go anywhere with music, I was going to need my own songs. So I wrote a really bad song that I thought at the time had to be the best song ever written in the English language. Then I wrote a few more equally bad songs. After a while, they started getting better and I started finding my voice. I played an open mic night or two, started hitting coffeehouses, (played a few Borders bookstores back in the early 2000’s), and just kept playing and kept writing and picking up fans one at a time. That seems like such a slow way to build a career in this age of overnight sensations, but that’s how I got here. And I’m still at it…

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

In the early stages of my career, I would compare myself to other artists. If the crowd loved someone’s guitar skills, I’d get very insecure about my own. If someone else was a very soulful singer, I’d feel pressured to sing like they did because, obviously, that’s what people like. If another artist’s songs were dark and bleak, I’d be embarrassed to play my bright, hopeful songs. etc. etc. The Comparison Trap is vicious and there is no win in it. My best friend Jody would catch me before I go down that dark road and tell me, “No one can do Mike Kinnebrew like you.” In other words, just be you.

So, maybe you’re older than other artists you see blowing up right now. Maybe you don’t sound like them. Maybe your songs aren’t about the same subject material as theirs. Good! We already have theirs. What the world needs is YOURS. Not your best take on what someone else has already done.

So, it’s a hard lesson to learn, and I have to preach it to myself constantly, but: Don’t compare yourself to others. Don’t spend too much time looking around at what appears to be working for others. Look inside and see what’s in there. Then find a way to give it to us with all the passion and beauty you can find.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Simple: “Me too.”

As a song-writer and performer, the most rewarding aspect of what I do is the moment when someone comes up to me and says, “Me too!” “I feel that way too!” “I know exactly what you mean!” or any variation of that.

I take what’s inside of me and put it in a song and give it to total strangers “on the reg.” When one of them hears their own story in my story, or when I say something that they thought they were alone in thinking…ahhhh that’s everything to me. In that moment, we have just found a friend in one another. Fellow travelers on the same journey. And we both leave just a little less alone.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mikekinnebrew.com
• Instagram: mikekinnebrew
• Facebook: mikekinnebrewmusic
• Twitter: mikekinnebrew
• Youtube: mikekinnebrew
• Other: Follow me on Spotify! https://open.spotify.com/artist/62SwcHpyEhxpbljzbmZNZ2?si=TiS-aHSuT426yTyKeJM7Kg

Image Credits
Matt Gunby Cameron Rennie Adam Komich Molly Harris