Creation as a Collaborative Gift!

I have to be honest: I have worked with bands for years and years, and while nothing feels more exhilarating than to stand in front of thousands of people with a loud five-to-seven-piece band playing behind you, I learned in my early years that I prefer to work alone. I idolized men like Lenny Kravitz and Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters. On their earlier albums, they wrote all the lyrics and played all the instruments recorded. They were a one-man band. They only needed a band for live shows.

For years, I’ve become the one-man band on my recordings. While I can brag that I played every single instrument on my last few albums—from guitar to piano, mandolin, bass, harmonica, percussion, slide, organ, vocals, and more, the process became rather lonely.  And while I have improved musically over the years, I don’t feel I grew very much as an artist. I produced the music myself as well. I often ask myself: But what if?

I feel that my strength is in writing songs. What if I worked with a band again? What if I worked with a band all these years? What if I gave them freedom to play what they want to play? What if I told the drummer to create his own beats and the guitar player to start a riff off that, in whatever tone he wanted? What if I approached the songs as the music was the storyline and my lyrics and melody the protagonist? Sure, I’ve done this with bands over the years, only to discover one or two pieces of the puzzle didn’t fit—meaning, one or two of the musicians didn’t seem to gel with the team. Even as a worship leader, every single team I led had at least one player that was rebellious and gave the team a hard time.

The incongruency can become exhausting, especially during songwriting, when you hold that precious baby forming in your hands. I think of the movie, The Wonders, starring Tom Hanks and Steve Zahn, where the drummer hijacked the song at a competition and did his own thing. Lucky for him, it worked in the band’s favor. But that isn’t always the case. So, I started writing songs alone. Then I started recording them alone. Then I started playing all the instruments alone. And when I started doing it all alone, I felt alone.

I had to remind myself… Why was I creating music? Because I must. Because God put it within me. God blessed me as a musician and a songwriter. But why? Why do any of us have gifts? To touch the lives of others. To bless others. To lift others up. I had to rethink why I created music: To touch and inspire. To offer hope. To encourage. To draw people closer to God, perhaps. And God has blessed many musicians with talent and giftings. There’s not a short supply of talent (regardless of what’s played on top 40 stations.) It’s a known spiritual principle that when we come together in prayer in the name of Jesus, miracles happen. The same can be true musically. When musicians come together and lend their God-given talent to one another, something magical can happen. It is symbolic of life. There will be rough edges. There will be personality issues. There may be a slight difference of musical tastes and styles coming together, but when you’ve been playing with the same band and you’ve truly gotten to know one another, there’s an incredible intimacy created that is surely divine. You know and feel what the other musician in your band is going to do. You understand what they are feeling and thinking. You feel their vibe. And sometimes there’s that one musician that just never vibes with you… you may have to replace that person. But don’t give up.

What’s my point? I think, looking back at life and the giftings God gave us, we were never meant to hoard our talent for ourselves, and we were never meant to be a one-man show. Whether musically or relationally. God created us for friendship. He created us for relationships and community. He created us to love one another and be there for each other. And as introverted as many of us artists are, we have to learn how to break through that, share our gifts with one another, and work together to see what amazing thing God will create through us as a team.

Have you been writing any songs lately? My suggestion to you—grab a friend. Get some coffee. Sit down. Get a guitar, a piano, or even a Ukulele. Start writing down ideas together. Scribble anything down, because anything can be re-written. Laugh together. Laugh at each other. Laugh at your song ideas. Share ideas with each other. Don’t hoard them. Build a friendship…and out of that friendship, create some amazing songs to share with others.

I have to brag on myself a bit. I was recently nominated for a Native American Music Award for Independent Artist of the Year. Being that I played all of the instruments on the album myself and produced it in my studio, my joy lasted but for a moment when I realized I had no one to really share the joy and the experience with. Imagine if it was a collaborated effort, I would be celebrating right now with a group of friends and planning our trip to New York together for the awards ceremony. Instead, I’m celebrating alone…okay, I’m celebrating with my cat, so I’m not exactly alone.

Matthew Hawk Eldridge is a coffee addicted, calico-cat loving Renaissance man. When he’s not passionately penning screenplays or stories rich in musical history, he’s writing songs on his guitar or working on a film as an actor, double, songwriter, or musician. He was recently nominated for Independent Artist of the Year with the Native American Music Awards.