Staying Creative and Nurturing a Music Community–Crystal & Pete Damore of Ordinary Elephant (Ep 108)

Staying creative and nurturing a music community is part of life on the road for Crystal and Pete Damore of Ordinary Elephant. This is their second appearance on the podcast, which was a great opportunity to talk about their recent Kickstarter campaign, their new album Honest, and more. Episode Highlights In addition to finding out what they've been up to since our last talk, I also discuss the following with Crystal and Pete. The evolution of their life on the road The development of the upcoming Ordinary Elephant tour Their criteria for attending a conference How Crystal and Pete handle (or avoid) periods of writer's block The benefits of writer's groups and songwriting workshops How to build a community around your music 3 Key Points Create a lifestyle (and tour) that works for you. Give yourself the time you need to be creative and don't feel guilty about it. Take the time to build and nurture your community. Tweetable Quotes "Even if it doesn't always feel like we're writing [a great song], it keeps those mental muscles going. It keeps you in a habit." – Pete Damore "The mentality of you have to be busy to be productive – it's not true." – Crystal Damore "As long as you keep learning, that's a good way to fight becoming stagnant." – Pete Damore "Your email list is the only sure way that you know you'll reach people." – Crystal Damore Mentioned in this Episode Ordinary Elephant Unstarving Musician Patreon page Elyza Gilkyson Technomadia.com Becky Warren Heather Pierson Acoustic Trio AmericanaFest Nashville Related Episodes Episode 59 – Life and Songwriting on the Road–Crystal & Pete Damore Pledge support for Unstarving Musician on Patreon Patreon is a little like Kickstarter, but instead of culminating in one large project, it's a way of crowdfunding ongoing creative endeavors. Patreon also serves as a community site where supporters can communicate and discuss new creations. Become a Patron! Visit UnstarvingMusician.com for additional content related to this episode.