All through this lockdown, we at WMOT have pondered the future of our artist community. Since it was already hard to make it pre-quarantine, it is immeasurably harder now. I know that many are putting these feelings into lyrics, especially now that they have so much time on their hands.
I spent many a winter vacation attending MusicFest at Steamboat Springs, an amazing yearly festival that brings together Texas Red Dirt and Americana artists, many of whom never get to spend quality time with one another. It is a week built to enjoy camaraderie while entertaining avid audiences in venues all over the mountain, a big “family reunion” of an event. Sunny Sweeney speaks for what that normal was, and frankly, that which we hope to see again, on her newly released “Poet’s Prayer.” The artist's life; solitude to write followed by a frenetic chase to perform. That WAS the norm. We hope and pray those days are just around the corner.
Jessie Scott is WMOT's program director, host of weekday afternoons and WMOT's Wired In series.
