Auteur

Can a song writer be an auteur? I guess if that song writer doesn’t want to sell much. Currently I don’t sell very much. But does that make me an auteur? My encounters with the business end of the business have been interesting to date, so why not do it you own way? There was the meeting with the A and R man from a major label who listened and said let’s get you into the studio. When no call came, a call to the label discovered he had been moved on for some unknown reason. Where to go from there? Back to square one. There was the attempt to gain sales for a self produced CD that ended when the minor label shut up shop. There was the festival where the sound man was so stoned he abandoned the mixing desk and I played silently to a bemused audience. But the lesson is there. If despite all this there is still a reason to continue, then continue on regardless. The reason is the songs which come into my head without invitation and stay there until they are recorded. Instead of a recording studio (which I did not enjoy) they come to life in a shack and a barn or an artists retreat. Somewhere quiet. They are played with and allowed to grow. Some are unruly and still to reach their prime. Others were born perfectly formed. They are what they are. Auteur? Maybe,