We caught up with the brilliant and insightful ShugE a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
ShugE, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
How do I keep my creativity alive? It’s funny, because I actually see this flipped upside down. My creativity & art is what has truly kept me feeling alive. Making my art (mostly songwriting) has been the most effective personal therapy for my mental health that I’ve ever found…& the fact that I had to stop performing for a decade in order to deal with life crisis’ made the struggles so much harder than it could have been. Now that I’ve returned to performing my songs for people I’ve rediscovered how miraculously helpful it is for my mental health, optimism, & hope.
I write songs about dark & sad topics, but by doing so I am better at rising above those things in my life & seeing the beauty & potential of life & all the people around me instead of being consumed by the darkness & sadness.
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’ve performed on countless stages over the years & under the guise of numerous band names (SORRY OK & Hayduke Lives! being the most note-able), but mostly just as myself ( shugE ).
After a decade long hiatus to deal with some of life’s unexpected & intense curve-balls I finally came out of hiatus in at age 47 in 2022 by releasing the full length studio album “first winter” & starting to perform live again. Since then I also released a live EP in April of 2023 called “I’ll be in love with you until the day I die” & in August hit the road playing touring shows around the country for the first time in 12 years.
The reception has been overwhelmingly supportive & fantastic…I have old fans who are excited that I’m back at it as well as new fans jumping on board. I honestly expected the support to be less enthusiastic & to be a huge uphill battle to rebuild a fanbase at my age, but I have yet to hear any rumblings of negative commentary about me doing this as I creep up on half a century old.
I’ll be releasing another new studio album that I’m incredibly excited about before the end of this year (2023) & I’m hitting the road on my 2nd tour since coming out of hiatus in September of 2023 & I’m already planning the 3rd one for December. Updates on all these plans can be found on my website & all the social media accounts attached to it at www.shugemusic.com .
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?
1. Love. If it weren’t for my love for my son I simply would not have made it through my decade long hiatus & returned to performing. I apologize for being morbid, but it’s the truth that if not for my intense love for my son keeping me going I would have allowed anger to consume me along the way & I believe that I not only would never have returned to performing– but I would have given up entirely & not be here anymore. Choose what you love over what you are angry about.
2. Perseverance.
This goes hand in hand with how love got me through. I’ve been through struggles on a level that I never imagined & somehow made it through to the other side…& the darker my memories are, the brighter the present & future seem in comparison.
3. Honesty.
I’m finally being honest with myself & I believe I am making the best music I’ve ever made because of it.
There was a time when I used to cater my songwriting to try to give people what I think they wanted. I would try to write faster, louder, & more catchy songs. I’m not doing this anymore & instead I’m being honest with myself about the art that I want to make to express myself the most honestly.
My new album is going to be the most subtle & sad album I’ve ever released & some people won’t appreciate it & that’s fine because this is the best album I’ve made & I know it.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
Some of my songs address this & I’m not going to shut up about it. The biggest obstacle in my life is the reality of the unfairness of our modern economic inequality & I am not alone.
I was recently talking to a respected engineer while I was in the studio recording my new album talking about this. He told me some truths about the financial realities facing one of the most respected folk songwriters in our region (we’ll call him CP). We talked for awhile about our frustration with this knowledge. I think most music fans assume that someone of CP’s caliber is much more financially comfortable than they are, & if he had started doing what he’s doing 20 years earlier he probably would be, but wealth has become more concentrated into the hands of the few in our society & musicians & artists are not immune to this trend affecting them.
I will almost surely never be able to make my entire income from my music. A certain streaming platform monopolizes the market & artists are forced to use it while streaming payments are shockingly small & simultaneously one of the main reasons more & more people don’t buy music directly from musicians….& this is just one very niche example of how things have changed to financially hurt hard working artists while benefiting a small number of extremely wealthy corporations & people.
I do believe there is a breaking point & I find hope in the conversations I’ve been having with other musicians in the past year as well as the strikes that have been happening in adjacent industries like actors & writer. Maybe it’s about time a real musicians union is organized in our country?
Contact Info:
- Website: www.shugemusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shugemusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shugEMississippi
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@shuge
