Following on from yesterday’s post about self-releasing musician and friend, Geoff Ong, it made me think about other “Next-door Artisans”.
These are the musicians, writers, artists, or filmmakers that could be your next door neighbour; meaning they don’t have tens of thousands of followers, but they’ve got a small group of loyal fans who love what they produce.
They make great art, and freely share their creations without any expectation of reciprocity.
Here are a list of a few that I follow, respect, and admire:
Rohan Ravij has been sharing a daily learning on his blog, A Learning A Day, for 10 years. The stamina, perseverance, and quality of his daily writing inspires me multiple times each week.
Fanny is an all-female band from the 70s, which David Bowie described as, “Just colossal… They’re as important as anybody else who’s ever been, ever; it just wasn’t their time.” Fanny reunited in 2018 whilst in their late 60s, and it’s been a joy to discover their music (that was well ahead of its time back in the 1970s). I’d recommend watching this clip of them from 1972.
The Korean acapella group, Voice Band Exit, burst onto my radar with this cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely”. They’ve since gone on to compete in the Britain’s Got Talent of Korea, and performed a completely over-the-top, but commendable, mash-up of the Circle of Life / My Heart Will Go On.
Finally, I’ve recently become a fan of Sleepwalkers, a band from Virginia that I found via my Spotify Discover Weekly. I think I’ve danced to their song “Never Enough” whilst making dinner almost every night since I first heard the song. They’ve got an undeniable groove that more people should know about!
I’d love to hear of any Next-door Artisans you follow!