Michael Blake

At 19 years old, Bob Dylan hitchhiked to New York City and signed a record deal with Columbia within a year. Jackson Browne spent his teenage years playing in California clubs. I love the incredible stories of people chasing their dreams in extraordinary ways. My story isn’t like that. My story is probably a lot more like your story. I grew up in small town in a state most people can’t point to on a map of the United States. Parkersburg, West Virginia isn’t a poor town. My parents aren’t poor. It isn’t a rich town. My parents aren’t rich. I graduated high school. I finished college and got a job. The only difference is I probably spent too much time with my guitar in school instead of girls. Now, I’m living in Nashville, loving it, and chasing my elusive dream of making a living on creativity. I started reading Ralph Waldo Emerson in my senior year of college, and he has become a major influence on my life. He proposes that all of the individual art and works produced by men and women throughout history are deeply connected; that in reality, everyone is painting the same picture, and that picture can’t be finished by one person. The subject has a lot to do with the human experience. We have so much in common. We have a lot that is unique to us as individuals. There are things that I feel and things I want to say that I can’t find anywhere else. So, I write them. I’m trying to find my corner of the picture, and I want to show you what I’m working on.