Well, it's been a while

I find it difficult to update a blog when I keep everyone so up to date on things with my twitter and facebook page. Alas, I will try and update you in long form versus the short form we all deal with so much everyday.

First, I hope you are all doing well. I noticed it's been a year since I last wrote a blog. Um, that's probably not a good track record is it?! This past year was filled with a lot of wonderful things. My playing has increased so much and my schedule continues to fill up. The second cd has had a great year and it continues to do well. God has opened some amazing doors for me to play and share the music and gift he's trusted me with. I absolutely love playing music from it in concerts. The first cd is great, but I connected even more with the music on the second one. When you work in the studio, it captures what's going on at that exact moment. It's like time stands still and you forever get to remember where you were or what was going on when you recorded that album. This can be good or bad, but for me, this second cd was filled with so much joy and creativity. Every time I'm on stage playing, I find the influences of my newer music bleeding over into the older music. OOPS! :-)

So the definition of an artist from the dicitonary is: "a person who works in one of the performing arts, as an actor, musician, singer; a public performer. Also, a person whose work exhibits exceptional skill". I have learned so much this past year about what it means to me about being a true "artist". I've been doing this for a pretty long while, but it was this past year that I realized what being an artist meant to me. Artistry is more than just exceptional skill to me. It's someone who follows their heart, their faith, and shares it with people with the prayer that what you're doing on that stage will inspire, uplift, or even change someone's life. These are pretty big shoes to fill, but they're shoes I pray I can just maybe come close to putting a foot in when I'm on and off the stage.

Anyway, thanks for letting me share my thoughts with you all. They're sometimes random, but they're things I like to share with my friends/ fans. Thank you for all of your continued prayers and support. My prayer is that no matter what your "stage" is, we all are able to inspire, uplift and possibly change the lives of the people that we come in contact with. May God bless every single one of you richly. Remember, you are loved! Joseph