Blake Stratton (@BlakeStratton) is a Nashville-based musician and songwriter. In his twenties he was a touring musician living the Nashville lifestyle. Lately, he’s switched toward collaborating and composing, as well as seeking to connect independent creatives through his blog and podcast, Life in The Woods. With Prescott, he discusses the virtues of waking up early, the struggle for continued creative success, and the strangeness of the music profession.
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- Download The Busy Creator Podcast, Episode 13 (MP3, 41:20, 60.0 MB)
- Download The Busy Creator Podcast, Episode 13 (OGG, 41:20, 43.5 MB)
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Show Notes & Links
- Musicians, and their nocturnal schedules
“I do my best creative work in the morning time.”
—Blake Stratton
- Will Power, and its finite nature
- Teenage physiology, and wake-up time
- Before-school programs at work, to accommodate working parents
- Blake is an introvert. He creates where no one else does.
- Rush hour in New York is (at least) 2.5 hours
- Blake’s podcast, Life in The Woods, catered toward “independent creatives”
- Blake was, until very recently, a “working musician”
- Prescott has “no idea what it’s like to be a musician”
- Studio-style production of music, which we might call “staff writers”, as opposed to “independent artists”
- Writing season, recording season, touring season
- Ben Rector, independent artist
“The best songs happen in, like, an hour.”
—Blake Stratton
- Art is like mining. You have to extract it all without breaking it.
- Where 90% of Great Writing Happens, a podcast episode by Blake
- Todd Henry, who encourages us to “maximize the number of creative accidents”
- Jonathan Coulton‘s project, Thing A Week
- Music in the Classical sense. But not “Classical”. I just mean old-fashioned. Written.
- Blake studied upright bass in the European classical orchestral tradition.
- The Nashville Number System, how musician do it down there
- Joaquin Cotler, also a musician
- David Wood, podcaster
- Killing It or Crushing It — positive terms, in fact
- Getting Things Done by David Allen on Amazon and on Audible
- lifeinthewoodspodcast.com/rate, direct link to rate Blake’s podcast
- The Bellevue EP on iTunes, Spotify, and Band-camp
Tools
- Evernote
- Google Drive and Dropbox
- Day One, journal app for iOS
- DoIt.im, app for GTD
Techniques
- No two songwriters have the same process
- Allow yourself to have “seasons”, where you push hard for a while, and then relax.
- Go on a “Songwriter Retreat” to purposefully (and forcefully) disconnect
- Use Evernote to keep journals, song lyrics, etc.
- Use a “Trigger” when you start a habit. Ask “what’s the domino effect?”
Habits
- Waking up early. Something Prescott and Blake both do.
- Create a “Gratitude Habit”, write down things you’ve done well.
- High-Low, name one “high” and one “low” of the day. Do this before you go to sleep.
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