I think bartending made me a better songwriter before I really knew it was happening.
When you serve people long enough, you start to notice small things about people. Not just their drink orders, who tips the best, or what songs play the most on the jukebox.
You notice PEOPLE. You notice their NEEDS.
You notice the quiet couple sitting silently after a fight and trying to pretend everything is fine in public.
You notice the loud regular who doesn’t want to go home to an empty silent house.
The girls fixing each others hair and makeup in the bathroom calling each other pretty because that’s what they themselves want to hear.
The one who says “I’m good” even though it’s clear it’s not the case.
These people just want to feel seen, heard, cared for, and that they aren’t alone in their grief, anger, excitement, hardships, and laughter.
The smallest things can change someone’s night. Just remembering their name, drink, how a drs appointment went, making sure to tell them to get home safely, making sure they know they look nice if they feel self conscious. Letting them talk for a few extra minutes.
meeting someone where they’re AT. Not where you want them to be.
I like to do that with my music. That’s what saved me. When I was alone my music, music in general, and knowing if no one else- God was meeting me where I was and didn’t expect anything else. Music and God- that’s my answer to everything.
People want connection and to be met where they are in their lives.
Bars are strange places because people come in trying to escape something, celebrate something, grieve something, forget something, or hold onto something. And there is a song out there about all of it. The songs we remember met us in a time we needed it. Not that they’re perfect, but they make us feel like we aren’t alone. That someone else felt that way too.
The reason I write music is probably the same reason I love bartending so much in the first place. There is always a story to tell and it makes people feel less alone.
Everyone carries something they can’t or do want to talk about. I think people are trying harder than we realize to be okay and everyone needs grace with it. Kindness matters more than anything else.
You matter.
And I hope my music can make you feel that way.