Meet Robert Kraft
Photo by Kenny Gall

 

We were lucky to catch up with Robert Kraft recently and have shared our conversation below.

Robert , looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

I guess my work ethic comes from growing up in a working-poor family, and having lots of blue-collar jobs all my life. In order to survive, you just have to put your back into whatever it is that you are doing.

No matter the task or the low wages or the physical discomfort, you just point yourself at the work and say, “Well, this is what we’re doing today.” And you do it.

I think I apply that same work ethic to making music, acting, voice work, or working for my nonprofit organization. There is more joy and satisfaction in that kind of work, but the drive is the same. There is a kind of grim determination to everything, because none of it is going to make you rich, but some work is its own reward. When I get frustrated or stymied in my creative process, I can always say to myself, “Well, It beats digging ditches.” And I plow ahead.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I do a lot of things, so this is always a difficult question to answer succinctly. But my work basically falls under 3 categories.

1) Musician: I write and perform a style of music that I like to call Original Vintage Soul. A lot of the music I create is inspired by the Soul and R&B artists I grew up listening to in the 70s. I just released a new record into the digi-sphere called 730 kHz – an homage to the AM radio station that played the soundtrack of my childhood in Dallas. I am currently playing solo acoustic versions of my songs at venues in Austin and around Central Texas. I perform under the name Robert A. Kraft.

2) Actor/Voice Actor: I have a recording studio in my house near Bastrop, TX, where I voice audiobooks, Radio/TV commercials, video games, animated projects, industrial videos, etc. You have probably heard my voice on your radio or interrupting your YouTube videos, or coming out of your TV. I also work as an actor in commercials, TV shows, feature and short films. Nothing huge, but I am one of those workhorse actors that shows up on your screen, occasionally. My turn-key voiceover services are available for very reasonable prices. Google my IMdB under the name Robert Ashker Kraft for a list of my TV, Film, Anime, and Gaming credits.

3) Executive Director, Bastrop Live Music Foundation: Around a year and half ago, after a brief battle with cancer, I began to ask myself; what were the things I had done in my life that had most positively impacted my world, my community, and my own personal growth and enrichment? I kept coming back to music. I realized that the times I felt most connected to the world where the times I was making or listening to music.

So, I started a nonprofit – Bastrop Live Music Foundation – with a mission is to bring local and touring musicians to local Bastrop venues, ensure that musicians are paid a fair wage, and create opportunities for our community to connect through live music performances and events. We recently began a music mentorship program that pairs excellent music professionals and teachers with young musicians who cannot afford private instruction. Our Gear For Good program finds musical instruments and gear for low-income individuals who want to further their musical journey, and for local venues who need help bringing more music to Bastrop stages. You can follow us on social media, or go to our website to sign up for our Newsletter. If you live in Central Texas, you should be discovering the town of Bastrop as a Music Destination City, with great shows happening every week.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Three qualities that I have tried to cultivate in myself over the years are compassion, integrity, and determination.

I try to practice compassion in all my interactions because when I look at people through that lens, it helps me to see the truth of each situation. If you can put yourself in another person’s shoes, you understand their needs and motivation, which facilitates clarity and honesty and helps you get to the heart of things, without the clutter and chaos of ego-driven inter-personal relations.

Integrity is a great word, because it really is just a description of how things hold together. Do my words and espoused beliefs “hold together” with my actions? The challenge for me is maintaining that integrity in the little day-to day things that are going on when no one is watching. I feel like if you can hold on to your integrity in the dark, solitary hours when no one is around, it is easier to carry it out into the world and into your business and personal interactions. Once this “structural integrity” is in place, it makes it easier to do the right thing, because you always know what you will do ahead of time, in each situation. That is the hope, anyway.

Determination is a big one for me. My natural resting state is anxious inertia, so determination is something I have to “call up” on occasion, to avoid just letting life and circumstance wash over me. I have had to actively call up my determination to help me through everything from getting myself out for my daily run or to a yoga class, to fighting the wildfire that destroyed my home back in 2011. It’s like there is this other person inside me that I call on when I feel the inertia kicking in, and that guys says, “Let’s go, Motherf*#kr!” And we go. I probably owe any success or happiness I have experienced in my life to that guy.

Photo by Jim Canning
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

I wish I could say that some great work of philosophy or some awesome self-help book played an important role in my development, but the most influential books in my life were works of fiction. Specifically the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and two works by Charles Dickens – Great Expectations, and David Copperfield.

I have read these books over and over, since grade school up until very recently. I think I was attracted to the over-arching themes of friendship, loyalty, and the importance of acts of courage and kindness.

I still go to the well to revisit the kind moments between Sam and Frodo, and Pip and Joe (“What Larks!”), or the fierce affection between Betsy Trotwood and David Copperfield, and I always come away refreshed with new sense of hope that once upon a time, the values of honor, integrity, loyalty, love, and the importance of fighting to protect your friends, were mainstream, widely accepted values, and that they could be again, if we are true to our friends, and to ourselves.

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