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

Steven, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

When I am able to be in a creative state of flow and make music and art I am very happy. It is when I need to deal with my other jobs, the ones that make me money on a consistent basis, that I become burdened or less happy (not unhappy because I really do like my life for the most part). The balancing act is where the struggle lies both within and without. Then of course comes the cyclical internal roadblock of feeling the need to pursue and complete my objective tasks before getting back to my subjective creativity; it becomes an excuse to procrastinate. Much like in meditation one needs to simply let go. When you encounter thoughts in meditation (and they definitely come, the mind has trouble shutting off and finding the white noise) you simply push them away and return to center. Balancing life and art can be like that as well. When you find yourself doing all the objective checklist stuff too much you need to return to center and create.

Of course I wonder what it would be like to have a regular job where I could compartmentalize that part of my life and “go home” at the end of the day. My life is not like that though for better or worse. I fully believe that if I did have a “regular job” I would certainly continue to create, perhaps even in a more free way since I wouldn’t be distracted during that time nor depend on it as a source of income. But that would allow me to procrastinate in a new way. Sometimes having pressure to make it work, that the stakes are real, is what drives it to be better.

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.

I grew up in Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia and came to New Orleans to go to college for Music Education and Jazz Saxophone. I had played music all my life and performed in many bands both in school and outside of school as well as composed and recorded my own music. I actually began teaching private lessons while I was in high school to younger kids. After college I was teaching music part time at a high school, teaching private lessons, gigging primarily on saxophone (but later would add guitar and keys to my regular gigs), and worked at a music store. It was quite the juggle! Around this time I formed what would become The Crooked Vines and eventually switched to full on music performing, private lesson teaching, recording, and creativity. This also included starting a publishing company, record label, and LLC for the band. I was also managing the band, writing most of the songs, doing the booking, organizing recording sessions, and even recording and producing the albums. This life has continued really until this day. I am branching out into more of my own space and look forward to new releases under my own name as well as other side projects I’m involved with. But The Crooked Vines recently released a new EP that I’m very proud of and we play shows quite often. I’m hoping that we get into the studio this summer to record a new album and maybe even tour in the fall. One of the new things I’m most proud of is my podcast Crooked Conversations (available on all podcast platforms) where I talk with other local New Orleans musicians in a long-form open dialogue format about the real life behind-the-scenes highs and lows of the music industry as well as current events, politics, religion, and much more. We’re almost a year in and we’ve had a lot of great guests and buzz! We have a decent sized audience and we’re looking at sponsorships and expansion soon. My hope is to bring this to various venues and festivals in the region where I would provide intimate interviews with big artists as well as provide a glimpse into these experiences on both podcast and social media platforms.

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

I want to help connect and inspire people. My music usually has a message or the words are directly from experiences I’ve had or emotions I’m feeling. I want others to know how much alike we all are! You’re not alone! We all feel bad from time to time, we all have struggles and failings. But we also all love and play and dance and laugh! In a way we need both aspects to create a full life, one to appreciate and understand the other. My goal is that, regardless of the medium, whenever people interact with me they come away feeling better about something in their lives, even if they were challenged to get there.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

The lesson I had to unlearn was caring too much about how I or my work was perceived. The truth is: don’t care so much about what people think of you! You need to love what you’ve made, what you do each day. Regardless of what you do in life, whether it’s creative or a “regular job” or whatever, you need to love yourself and let go. The backstory is life. Nothing specific, just that trying life in a way where I was too attached to the judgements and emotions of others and then let those become my own judgements and emotions wasn’t working for me. I’m still working on this new path but I often feel a lot better.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thecrookedvines.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevenyschwartz
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stevenyoungschwartz
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenyschwartz
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenyschwartz
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thecrookedvines
• Other: Crooked Conversations Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3CnrvtyzcWw2cb57cKP7q9?si=8lXjqsKdRkywG4SAml7MfA Crooked Conversations Podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crooked-conversations/id1638830754

Image Credits
Dave Esposito, Colton Gray, Connor Reever, Kacie Fayard, Evan Thibodeaux, Steve Hatley