When I arrived in Nashville in the fall of 2013, I did so with
all of the bare essentials necessary to becoming a successful rock star: my
thirteen instruments, two pairs of skinny jeans (one medium, and one that could
also double as compression tights in most hospitals), and finally an inflated
ideology based on connection-making, due-paying, and image-faking. I’m originally
from south Louisiana, a place known for its authenticity among other things, so
it didn’t take long for me to shake off the façade and begin making myself
comfortable in my new home. Over time, I found myself having trouble doing just
that, getting comfortable. Now, before I go on, I should clarify two things:
first, I genuinely love Nashville and all of the people who made it home for
me, and second, I was pursuing a career specifically in Catholic music (in
contrast to country, pop, etc.). This piece isn’t a slight on the place or the
art, but instead on a deeply infectious lifestyle I encountered there within
the industry: celebrity.
Ok
James, you self-righteous know-it-all, what’s so bad about becoming a
celebrity? What’s wrong with pursuing my dreams and seeing them through to fame
and influence?
I don’t believe there’s anything
wrong with pursuing one’s dreams. I don’t believe that it’s wrong to be
recognized for being influential and really great at what you do. However, I’ve
been in this industry long enough to recognize that there are those in the
Catholic ministry and music industry, as well as those pursuing careers within
the industry, who are preoccupied and enamored with the goal of becoming
well-renowned and celebrated. It’s a pitfall, one that I fell into myself. I
was ultra concerned at the time with how I was presented on social media, and also
with marketing myself based on “perception-making”. I wanted the whole world
to know whom I was playing for, which artist I was opening for, who I
“casually” ran into backstage, or even how many people were about to see me
play. The issue with this lifestyle is that I wasn’t involved with the secular
music industry at the time, but instead, the sacred music industry. At what
point in that time was I giving glory to God in action and word? Why was I so
focused on how people saw me, and not how I was seeing people?
I’ve had so many conversations with
aspiring worship leaders who are utterly distracted by what the key players in
the industry are currently doing and saying. They rehearse for interviews
instead of performances, and study trends instead of sounds. It’s as if the
only way these artists could possibly hope to enter the market is by imitation
and uniformity. For example, I can recall accompanying a particular artist on
the road for a short time. This artist's career was young, but so was mine, and in
our defense…we both had a lot to learn. When we would play festivals opening up
for the premier Catholic worship leaders and song-writers (I wont name them
here, but you can figure it out…there are only like 5 or 6), I can remember how
this artist's disposition and interpersonal skills would change. For example,
when we were featured to lead worship for small parish events, this artist’s focus
would be on the people and relating to the congregation. We would be free to
pray, and by doing so, would lead others in prayer. In contrast, at the festivals and
large events, we would only focus on relating to the headlining artist. We would make sure that we were “seen and heard”. We would anoint these
headliners with questions regarding industry personal and marketing strategies…
“Who does your screen printing?”, “How can I get in touch with your manager and
producer?”, “How can I set up a
co-write with you?” These headliners are regular people; don’t you think they
want to talk more about faith, family, and life? Presumption over perception,
superficial relationships verses dignity, and commotion versus peace. All this,
and when did we find time to pray before the set?
Celebrity hardens and entitles
self-giving hearts, and blinds those eagerly searching for truth. If God wanted
all the artists and speakers in the Christian music industry to look and sound
the same, wouldn’t he have given us all the same exact talent? For every
different person who has the gift to glorify God for the masses in word and
song, there is a different and particular gift God has given for us to do so.
Celebrity is the culture of sameness and comparison, not individuality and
freedom. Who are we as Catholic artists to act as though our every inspiration
does not come from the Holy Spirit?
Saint John Paul the Great wrote in
his Letter to Artists, “I appeal
especially to you, Christian artists: I wish to remind each of you that, beyond
functional considerations, the close alliance that has always existed between
the Gospel and art means that you are invited to use your creative intuition to
enter into the heart of the mystery of the Incarnate God and at the same time
into the mystery of man.”
The great saint reminds us that the function of art is to glorify God by
connecting the truth of the gospel to the heart of man in a way which he can
understand as an individual created in God’s likeness. Finally, to quote Twentieth
Century Fox’s The Secret Life of Walter
Mitty, “Beautiful things don’t ask for attention.”
