Thanks for the kind, thoughtful comments. I can't tell you how much it's appreciated.
Jesse--
"an example that talent does not equate to viral natures
I hope you appreciate yourself"
About seven years ago, only a few months before meeting Rachel, my Summer Januaries partner and love of my life, I had a brief experience with quick, viral "fame" (scare quotes because having something you wrote or drew be internet famous for, like, a week is clearly not real fame). And then, when Rachel and I started busking together, playing on street corners and the like, we had another very odd, very complicated type of "fame" in the sense that, for however many hours we played, we could attract a dozen or even 200 or so people at a time, people that would stop to give us money, chat with us, want to give us a meal, cry, request songs, many many other things that were amazing and (mostly) positive.
And both those types of experiences can trick you into thinking, hey, if I'm doing something worthwhile, somebody will recognize it. But of course, the truth is a lot more complicated than that.
Now, it's been years since we've performed live, and I've largely come to terms with continuing to make whatever we want to make almost entirely for ourselves, as, at least for now, there's not really an audience. At least consciously. But these comments are very encouraging of the idea of continuing to put songs out there, even if in a limited way.
Which is all to say, thank you all for listening, and for your comments! I'll be posting a work in progress later this week, and I look forward to hearing more of your songs as well.