Meet Tommy Graven

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tommy Graven a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tommy, thank you so much for making time for us today. Let’s jump right into a question so many in our community are looking for answers to – how to overcome creativity blocks, writer’s block, etc. We’d love to hear your thoughts or any advice you might have.

I struggled with writers block for many years. I used to be able to just get into a head space and it would flow out of me. I started doing music full time about 7 years ago and creativity was needed more as more. Sometimes I even have deadlines to be creative. For me there were two monumental things that I did to overcome writers block. Although I quit drinking alcohol almost 20 years ago I still used cannabis up until about 4 years ago. As a young man, I felt cannabis helped with creativity but as I got older and had to actually plan writing sessions it seemed to take creativity away and just gave me analysis paralysis. The second big move I made was deep study of music theory and songwriting. I haven’t experienced writers block or creativity issues since making these moves. Sobriety and education are huge in my view.

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 started playing guitar when I was about 12 years old. My mother’s then boyfriend gifted me a classical guitar and taught me how to play power chords. I started listening to my favorite bands at the time and learning their music. I was hooked from there. Playing in my first band when I was 15, I played around town in small all ages venues. Several bands later, I started to take music somewhat seriously and going on tour in my early 20’s. I got pretty burnt out by my mid 20’s mostly trying to keep a band together and not seeing much recognition for my efforts. I dove in deep to a social work career and mostly stopped playing music all together. Selling almost everything except one acoustic guitar. A few years later I was gifted a Native American Flute as a wedding gift. I am Nez Perce Indian and of course a musician so my mother in law thought it was a good fit. She was right! I picked it up and started playing. I slowly found that passion for playing I once had. A year or so passed and I started writing and recording again, releasing a solo flute album and a couple singles with acoustic guitar and flute. I started playing small venues and also teaching Native American Flute online. I ended up securing performance contracts for 2 years in advance and having a decent second income. At this time I decided to quit my very successful social work career and pursue music full time. Almost immediately after that Covid started and as you can guess, one by one I lost every performance contract I had secured. The world was locked down. At that time my wife and I decided to move out of our hometown of Portland Oregon and move to a smaller town. When we landed I immediately took my music online. In the middle of the lockdowns, I started live streaming my music online online platforms such as Twitch, YouTube and Rumble. I booked online performances for elder home across America and ramped up my online teaching for both Native American Flute players and guitarists. The world eventually opened back up and live streaming stopped being as fruitful as it was when everyone was forced to stay home. It was shortly after this that I decided to not only teach more online but start the planning for an online and on demand Native American Flute school. Soon after my online Native American Flute school “The Ceremony” was born. The Ceremony is a monthly subscription service where I teach the Native American Flute from the very beginning to expert level as well as music theory and recording your own music. My biggest passion is to help people find their way through the music world. Whether it’s just playing for the birds or releasing highly sophisticated music across all online platforms. I’ve helped countless people reach their goals in the music world and seeing them find happiness and contentment from playing music has truly inspired me in ways I can’t describe. I’ve recently released an album entitled “Parables.” This is the first album I’ve released in a very long time. I took a break in writing my own music for a couple years while building my business and writing for others. It feels great to be back in the saddle writing my own music. I find that giving attention to every avenue in music is important. The hard part is finding time for all of it but it can be done! Patience, hard work and kindness is the path forward.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I think a big one for me is recognizing that having “haters” is a plus. That means someone is paying attention. I think being honest with ourselves is one of the hardest things humans can do. A lot of us are unable to even be honest about that. Stay humble. Stay grateful. I do my best to wake up every day and remember that I’m able to take a break and move freely. That’s a huge blessing in itself. I guess at the end of the day that’s what it is for me. I have the ability to be grateful and to work hard and to choose to smile. There’s always ups and downs but these things help me get through it.

Tell us what your ideal client would be like?

My ideal client is simply someone who wants to explore music. Whether someone wants to learn how to play the Native American Flute, Guitar, record their own music or just simply learn about music and the music business I can help.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Karl Whinnery

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Leadership Development
Where does your self-discipline come from?

One of the most essential skills for unlocking our potential is self-discipline. We asked some

Productivity
Tactics & Strategies for Keeping Your Creativity Strong

With the rapid improvements in AI, it’s more important than ever to keep your creativity

Productivity
Working hard in 2025: Keeping Work Ethic Alive

While the media might often make it seem like hard work is dead and that