Hi Reader,

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It's an exciting time to be doing this music thing.

For the third year in a row, I've had a (virtual) front row seat to two of California's biggest music festivals - Coachella and Stagecoach.

Go livestreams. ✌️

It's meant me blocking off three full weekends in April, and staying up crazy hours to catch the streams before they're taken down.

But for this lifelong music fan, and a lifelong student of, well, everything...it's worth it. 🎶

It's been a musical buffet in more ways than one.

Rappers like Nelly and T-Pain have headlined Stagecoach, a country music festival.

And, like I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, a classical orchestra made the Coachella festival lineup even more diverse.

But wait, there's more.

More artists are blending styles and genres within a song.

(I just heard a relatively new artist describe their genre-defying music as "Western soul" or "Contemporary outlaw." You get to call it, claim it, and own it.)

And more headliners are sharing their stage with up-and-comers, or peers, or pioneering legends.

The desire to experiment, or to collaborate, feels more alive than ever.

You never know what can - surprisingly & delightfully - work really well.

Case in point: rock band Creed invited...wait for it...soulful Tori Kelly to sing their song "Higher" at Stagecoach 2025. Check out this clip of it:

Amazon Music

@creedband and @torikelly took Stagecoach to new heights 🚀

♬ original sound - Amazon Music

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Three years on, I'm wondering to myself:

Can I keep up this 3-weekend commitment? Should I, or do I want to?

Probably not.

Because, after taking in all this musical inspiration, I'm ready to make more music.

My creative juices have been building for a while.

And if I ever needed a sign it's time to rein in my inner music fan, and dial up my inner musician...

When I started crafting this newsletter, Luke Combs was singing these lyrics on the Stagecoach livestream:

It ain't about the fame
It ain't about the fortune
It ain't about the name
It ain't about the glory

At the Grand Ole Opry or a show in some no-name town
I'd still be doin' this if I wasn't doin' this

Couldn't have said/sung it better myself.

More soon, Reader, on exactly how and when I'll be doin' this.

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Rock on, ✌️

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