We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nick Vigarino a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Nick, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
There have been many meaningful projects, it would be difficult to choose only one. Most recently, I performed with members of the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra and others at Bally’s in Lake Tahoe to raise funds for displaced children in Ukraine, to help continue their schooling and basic needs during wartime. The funds garnered were divided into thirds, with the remaining portions awarded to Africa and Peru. The funds awarded to Peru were used for food in the jungle near the Amazon, and for help needed in securing a palatable water source. Clean water is extremely rare in the region. I will never forget walking through the jungle, finding the village on the river, and the happy faces of those children. They were so curious and appreciative as we doled out toothbrushes, toy’s, and played music for them. The remaining third of the funds were awarded to South Africa for use in well digging, and for building Dream Centers. Some family dwelling’s can’t accommodate the amount of children a family has. These kids often sleep outdoors exposed to the elements and predatory wildlife. Dream Centers provide food, shelter, water, and eventually will provide education for orphans and vulnerable children living in multidimensional poverty. I am grateful for having played a small part in what Momshouseforchildren.org is doing for children around the globe.
Another meaningful, ongoing project involved the opportunistic task of teaching 196 Mexican migrant worker’s children a music class each morning during the summer. The kids’s age’s ranged from 3 to 15 years old. With a class that large, we ran short on instruments for everyone on the first day. We created various designs of homemade percussion instruments from empty plastic soda bottles filled with rice, sticks, chimes, etc. Whatever it took to make sure that every kid had their own instrument to accompany themselves while singing their part. If these kids are not in the fields themselves, they are likely not in school during harvest time. Often, kids as young as 8, 9, or 10 years old may be at home taking care of their 3, 4, and 5 year old siblings, while both parents are in the fields. Witnessing the joy on 196 children’s face’s while listening to them playing and singing one of my songs at 7:30 am each morning, will forever remain etched in my heart. It was an honor being a part of the The Foundation for Academic Endeavors Summer Academy Program at Skagit Valley College. It is a place where certified teachers and dedicated volunteers work together to provide a vibrant focused learning environment in all disciplines for these kids.
Preface: My inspiration, passion, and desire to write, play, and perform music, comes from the blues. The drive to make my livelihood from music is rooted in the blues. I have been fortunate enough to have worked with a handful of well known, primarily black, blues men and woman over the years, most of which are no longer with us. The stories they’ve shared concerning the business aspects of their time in the limelight moved me immensely. For the most part, they were never paid.
This unjust practice eventually led to me developing and hosting a weekly radio show for several years which I titled “Victims of Cool”. The show was in an all blues format, and was designed to shed light on the exploitation of these folks. Beginning with genre’s from the Library of Congress’s turn of the century field recordings of Church Worships, acapella Gospels, Prison, Track Gang, Levee Building, Turpentine Camp, and various Blues Work Songs, Field Hollers, and more. The listeners would then be guided into the most current styles of Trance Blues, Blues Electronica, and contemporary vintage sampling. Within that historical timeline, most other blues genre’s were covered, including Country blues, Delta blues, Chicago blues, Kansas City blues, California Jump blues, Blues Rock, Fife and Drum, Texas Swing, Piedmont Blues, English Invasion, New Orleans, East Coast blues, North Mississippi Hill Country blues, etc, etc. The pretense of the show was to give credit where credit was due in the development of blues music. Very, very, few originators of this music received proper acknowledgment, let alone royalties owed. The majority of these songwriters were either out right stolen from, or duped into signing their rights away within shady contracts, leaving them penniless. The majority of the plagiarizers were white English and American bands cashing in by recording previously written blues music and claiming the songwriting, and publishing rights for themselves. The examples are staggering. From Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, to Led Zeppelin and Z Z Top. On my show, I would for instance, air Led Zeppelins version of “Whole Lotta Love” by Willie Dixon (1963), or “When the Levee Breaks” by Memphis Minnie (1929), followed by the original version of the songs. I would then proceed to inform my listeners to the state of successes garnered by these bands who rerecorded the songs, and how the authors of these songs were most often living in poverty, due to being ripped off from those very bands, Hence the name of the show “Victims of Cool”. Again, I make my living creating, recording, and performing music initially inspired by these “Victims”. (I titled my first CD “Victims of Cool” after the show). This was a platform to expose publicly those responsible for plagiarizing and to give credit where credit was due. I would often get calls to the station like; “Wow, I play guitar, who is this Robert Johnson dude? I thought Clapton wrote Crossroads”?! Thanks to Ray Varner and KSER fm radio for that opportunity.
I’m looking forward to another meaningful, “project” coming up on my calendar; The Zihuatanejo International Guitar Festival in southern Mexico which takes place each spring. Artists from most continents have participated over the years. It’s one of the more meaningful festivals to perform in due to the diversity of music, culture, networking, and camaraderie. A significant portion of the funds generated are applied to music programs for children. One of the highlights for me is working with the kids in the schools, and introducing them to the blues. We attend several schools, do workshops, and share, hands on..teach a little….smile a lot. Oh, and then there is the wonderful music performed from around the world with great food, sandy beaches, exquisite tequilas, and all in a tropical paradise? That’s meaningful!
Nick, 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?
Hello! I am an international touring and recording artist, singer/songwriter/guitarist/front man. My quest began by stretching rubber bands across my Mothers shoe boxes and plucking out sounds as a small boy. You might be surprised by the plethora of sounds and actual notes one can coax from various tensions and lengths of plucked rubber bands on a shoe box! Eventually falling into the possession of a battered acoustic guitar, which I knew nothing about, I began to flail. Basically, I’ve been flailing and refining ever since. I didn’t even know how to tune a guitar, and when a string would break, I would just play with the remaining 5 strings, twisting the tuners until it sounded acceptable. When the next string would inevitably break, I would play with the remaining 4 strings for however long they lasted, etc. I recall playing with 3 strings, everyday, for over 2 years. Remaining completely alone in this pursuit, I experimented endlessly with different tuning’s. (Decades later, I created a slide guitar workshop; a class which includes 27 tuning options). Eventually, I raised the bar on myself by adding all six strings, and by finally learning standard guitar tuning. It was a very long, and by today’s standards, an unnecessary, arduous process. I share this to encourage all young, and possibly introverted creatives, to avoid any self isolation, intimidation, or embarrassment from not being trained. Seek the guidance! Get the tips. Learn from who you admire. At anytime, no matter how far along in your career you may be….start now! Here are two quotes from a short biography:
“Nick took the 2016 Best of the Blues Award for Slide Blues Guitar and for Best Solo/ Duo Act in 2015. The Washington Blues Society has placed him in their Hall of Fame. Having earned finalist status at the 2011 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Nick Vigarino is now globally recognized as one of the top blues acts in the world. Be it a juke or a major festival, Nick delivers the story with a stinging guitar that is second to none.” – Seattle Times (Seattle,WA)
“Nick has released 3 CD’s, can be heard on 30+ recordings and 3 film soundtracks. He has performed in 13 countries, has been nominated for 30+ music awards in 3 countries, garnering 24, including an induction into our Hall of Fame in 2010.” – Washington Blues Society (Seattle, WA)
For a deeper dive into bio, roots, television, discography, press, audio and video: https://www.nickvigarino.com/epk
I enjoy being hired to create a solo, write, arrange, or produce a piece for someone else’s project. It throws me into unfamiliar territory that stimulates a fresh, creative angle, by way of adaptation. It’s a proud moment to witness a client beaming with satisfaction while listening to the playback you’ve just recorded! Ninety five percent of my live performances consist of homemade material. That being said, it’s a prideful reward when complimented by an excited producer, festival organizer, or host of the private event you’ve just slayed.
My goal is to put my love into this world by creating music that brings connection, joy, and at the very least, an uplifting diversion for those who need one.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
One of the more rewarding aspects of being a creative is when you compose a personal piece of music, incorporate it into a live performance and/or recording, then to receive recompense for that work. It’s especially satisfying if that piece was a necessary, cathartic, purifying, or freeing work, which in my case, they often are. Another rewarding aspect is that satisfying feeling upon returning from the road, with a string of successful shows behind you, knowing you created the product, orchestrated the tour, and enhanced lives in the process. To witness that ahh haa moment on a person’s face when they’ve learned what you’ve shared with them, adding to their “tool bag” of musical knowledge, is priceless as well….particularly with children.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I feel fortunate to have accomplished an array of things in my musical my career; recordings, television, international touring, production, awards, etc, yet I remain an untrained musician. This is something I don’t necessarily subscribe to aspiring talent. As a teenager and beyond, whenever anyone suggested that I sounded like another musician or recording artist, I would immediately stop listening to that musician. I always thought; why should I sound I like anyone else? I’ve never tried to emulate or study anyone like most players around me did. It was much more important for me to sound like me. In hindsight, I believe I would have a much larger tool chest to draw from today, had I studied and emulated other established acts, accumulating chops, and the like. That, in addition to being untrained, led me to many extra years of unnecessary toiling by trial and error, suspect technique, and the occasional forfeiture of session work. I strongly recommend some form of basic music training and to study the proven work of others successes, regardless of the medium or goal. It certainly can’t hurt, and you may likely find your ‘voice’ quicker in the long run. These days find me paying much closer attention to other artists while continuing to develop and hone my own unique style. I’m unlearning the unlearning by learning!
Contact Info:
- Website: nickvigarino.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nick.vigarino
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057233358642 - Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZzAv9Mpmi8fb9g8TqAAUBA
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057233358642