The Life of a Love Walker

I love journaling. It's fun; it's one of my favorite pastimes and is very therapeutic. 

A lot goes on in the mind of a creative, and journaling allows me to share my thoughts and feelings in ways I have difficulty conveying through spoken word.

Each one of my journals represents a season. I have journals that are bright and colorful and others that are simple and one dimensional. 

One of my favorites is a black journal with a black and white picture of an off beaten road in the middle of the forest. When I saw it, I knew in my heart that it would capture my next season of writings. 

That picture represented "the road less traveled" from the famous poem by Robert Frost. 

When I embarked upon writing and recording "The Real Love Project", I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I knew this would be a life-changing album, but I wasn't prepared for how greatly it would impact me first. 

The first single, "That's When You Love", paints a picture of someone taking a "love walk." He or she acknowledges his or her pain, wrestles with letting it go, but boldly declares in the face of hurt and shame:

When it's tough,

When it's unfair,

That's when you love

That's when you love

Oh, when it's uncomfortable,

Inconvenient,

That's when you love

That's when you love

The life of a love walker isn't always easy, but it's worth it. 

I wrote this song for you, for me and for anyone who dares to take the road less traveled. 

Imagine what life would be like if we all took this journey together, one step at a time. 

I'm a Nominee for The 2014 RFT Music Awards!

Last week, my wife and I were looking at a few homes with our realtor when I checked my phone and saw that our good friend, Theresa Payne, tagged me in this Facebook post:

"My fourth year in a row being nominated for The RFT Music Awards and my bro Kenneth is too!!!

What an honor! Showcase is gonna be amazing this year!!"

In my mind, I didn't have a lot of shows last year so I was shocked to receive such an honor. Nevertheless, I was excited and grateful to be included once again in the R&B category with some of my fellow St. Louis artists including: Teresa Jenee, Coultrain, SZA and Theresa Payne. 

Two years ago, I was a nominee in the same category and actually performed "That's When You Love" for the first time at Lola for The RFT Music Showcase. Now, here I am, two years later and preparing to release the single and music video!

(Pic of me before The 2012 RFT Music Showcase)

A lot has happened in the past two years, some of which I've discussed in previous blogs.

I decided to stop being so "all over the place" and really focus on finishing the album, develop my team, refine my sound and only do performances that make sense. While I missed be out and about so much, I learned that I really needed (and need) that time away.

Being an artist involves a lot of mental, emotional, spiritual, physical and financial effort. And to do it at this level and intensity requires a lot of dying to oneself, perseverance, tenacity, drive, ambition, steadfastness and so on. 

Kyle Kelley, incredible musician, brother and co-leader of Chris & Kyle with True Spirit, said this powerful statement years ago at a musicians' clinic: "When you're ready, they'll come to you." Those words have stayed with me over the years. Another quote I live by is "Success is when preparation meets opportunity," (Henry Hartman).

I'm ready for what lies ahead of me. The years of preparation have brought me to this moment and I'm ready to seize it. 

The link to The RFT Music Awards article can be found here. 

I'll keep you guys posted over the next few weeks as we get closer to the voting process and showcase details. As Theresa stated, the showcase is gonna be awesome! Help us support the St. Louis local music scene by voting and attending the showcase. 

THRILLER!

You've often heard me mention battling and overcoming fear in previous blog posts. I guess I kinda grew up a "scaredy cat" after watching all those scary movies as a kid. Lol. Each one was scary in its own right but probably the scariest of them all was a short movie in the form of Michael Jackson's "Thriller."

I don't know what it is about that video but that mug used to creep me out! And if I'll be completely honest, I still haven't been able to watch it all the way through without squirming. Smh.

Last week, I was going through my Twitter feed and came across an interesting post from an organization I follow called GodOverPorn. It said "Ladies, every guy says 'I'm not like other guys.' but their actions will speak louder than their words." Whoa.

I thought that was really cool and responded. "Michael Jackson said the same thing in the Thriller video and you see what happened. LOL!"

If you've watched the video, you know that Michael Jackson says that infamous phrase "I'm not like other guys" and the scene flashes to the full moon. He crouches in pain. She asks him what's wrong and he looks up with yellow eyes and a werewolf face. What a crazy way to end a date!

The scene that's being shown is actually a movie that the real Michael Jackson and his date are watching. She's scared but Michael's loving the movie and the fact that she's frightened. They leave the movie theater, walk down the street, past a graveyard and end up in an alley surrounded by a bunch of zombies. Michael and his date look around in fear, but Michael turns around and ends up being one of them.

Now....I could get realllllllly deep and preach a few sermons off this one scene, but I won't. lol.....At least....not right now. ;-)

BUT I will say this, ain't it funny how Michael was a "monster" all along?! Hello! Red flags and warning signs! Sorry, I digress.

As we prepare to release my new music video and single for "That's When You Love", I can only imagine the conversations Berry Gordy and Michael must've had when shooting that video and recording this song. Did they know "Thriller" would be this huge!? In 1985, it was recorded by The Guiness Book of World Records as the best selling album of all time with over 65 million albums sold worldwide. WOW!

This may sound like a lofty goal but that's how I feel about "That's When You Love" and "The Real Love Project." I wholeheartedly believe that this album is going to change the world, not only in records sold but lives changed. It has and still is changing mine.

Our worship team sang Hillsong's "Inside Out" and it made me think of all the changes I've been going through. When I got serious about starting a new life, I asked God to get rid of the "monsters" in me. To deal with those scary things that for years I didn't want anyone to see. The things I tried to hide. But it's so true. What's inside of you will eventually come out of you. And I didn't want to be known as a monster. I wanted to be who God created me to be- a real man with a tender heart that loves Jesus, his wife and family and shared that love with everyone he met.

I didn't want to be one of those people that just looks the part. I wanted to be the part. And love is the only way that happens.

What monster is standing in your way of opening the door to love? Can you see yourself on the other side of that opposition? If so, what would life be like if you let love in today?