Sound Observations: I don’t want to be miserable, so I created this website

By DAN ARMONAITIS

During Episode 6 of Ken Burns’ eight-part “Country Music” documentary that aired last month on PBS, there’s a scene in which songwriting giant and Country Music Hall of Fame member Kris Kristofferson speaks of his deep appreciation for the works of Romantic period poet William Blake.

Slightly paraphrasing Blake’s actual words, Kristofferson, a Rhodes scholar, quotes, “if he, who is organized by the divine for spirtitual communion, refuse, and bury his talent in the earth even though he should want natural bread, shame and confusion of face will pursue him throughout life to eternity.”

Kristofferson then adds, “He’s telling you that you’ll be miserable if you don’t do what you’re supposed to do.”

I don’t want to be miserable. That’s why I’ve created this website, TheMusicAdvocate.com.

From the mid-1990s forward, I’ve written about music for various publications, including a particularly enjoyable tenure as a full-time entertainment writer for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal beginning in 2010.

A few months ago, however, I was informed that the newspaper’s parent company, GateHouse Media, was making some budget cuts and that my services were no longer needed. To make it clear, I was unceremoniously laid off.

I spent the next several weeks trying to figure out what career path I wanted to pursue next. The initial shock and disappointment of being cut loose had me briefly questioning my continued enthusiasm for writing about music and even thinking that maybe it would be in my best interest to start anew in some completely different field.

Boy, was I wrong. Writing about music, I’m now certain, is exactly what I’m supposed to do.

I had already come to that conclusion a good bit before Burns’ “Country Music” documentary aired, but hearing story after story of music artists who had faced some form of rejection, only to stick to their principles and enjoy bigger success by doing so, reinforced my desire to get back to writing about music and, in some small way, give an amplified voice to many of the talented musicians who call Upstate South Carolina home.

Journalists, we are told, are supposed to be impartial bystanders whose responsiblity is to present the facts in an objective manner. The fact is that music is inherently subjective. One can’t cover music like a sporting event, where there is a definitive winner and loser, or like a hard-hitting news story, where the who, what, when and where are the most important elements.

You simply can’t be an impartial bystander when being presented with something as creative — and, in many cases, beautiful — as music, and, thus, I’ve become a fan and friend of many of the musicians I’ve covered over the years.

One of them, Spartanburg-based singer-songwriter Randy Foster, approached me at a music venue this summer and expressed his disappointment about my recent layoff and said that he and many others in the Upstate music community really missed my writings. He then made a comment that obviously struck a chord with me.

“Dan, you’ve been a real advocate for the musicians around here,” Foster said.

When I decided that I wanted to put together a website in which I’d cover the Upstate music community, I struggled to come up with a name for it. The more I thought about it, I kept coming back to those words that Foster said, and eventually I had a “eureka” moment of “why don’t I just call it The Music Advocate?”

So, in an inadvertent way, Foster helped name this website, and, for that — along with his years of friendship and his knack for crafting soul-wrenching songs that have provided me with much enjoyment — I thank him very much.

My hope is to turn TheMusicAdvocate.com into a vital source of information about music happenings in Upstate South Carolina and the surrounding area as well as a place to find in-depth stories that connect our present local music community with the rich history of those who came before and, in some cases, with nationally-known musicians who realize what a special thing we have going on here.

And, to be honest, I just want an outlet to do what I’m supposed to do. As William Blake said — via the interpretation of Kris Kristofferson — I’ll be miserable if I don’t.