Larry Whitler - 12 String Poet: Blog

This past Saturday I went to the 10th Annual Deland Original Music Festival to perform at two venues.  I went with Robin but performed as a soloist.  Last year Robin and I performed as Robin And The Giant at one venue and then I performed a second venue as a soloist.

The big difference this year, from last year, is that we did not host a stage this year.  Hosting a stage last year was rewarding in its own way but it prevented us from roaming around and checking out the rest of the festival and hearing acts in the different venues.

This year was much more free for us because we weren't hosting.  Roaming around and listening to the other musicians and songwriters was great.  The festival truly does offer a wonderful opportunity for songwriters to showcase original material in a setting where that is expected.  Usually songwriters find themselves playing at gigs where the audience expects to hear music they've heard from "hit" artists.  The idea of an original music festival is what makes this event so spectacular.

The songwriters were of all ages.  I was glad to see that I wasn't the oldest (but I don't think I was far from it!)  Of course, that is not important at all.  Good songwriting is what is important.  Good songwriting comes from prolific songwriters who study their craft and do it often.  We were in the presence of such writers at this festival.

The two venues I played were the outdoor stage by the old Volusia County Courthouse and an indoor stage at a quaint giftshop and winehouse called "The Nest."  The outdoor stage was really a great experience although it presented a challenge dealing with the wind and the distraction of having another band setting up on the larger part of the stage (soloists and duos were booked to fill the gap between sets of the larger bands at this stage to give time for the bands to clear the stage and set up for the next one).

"The Nest" was very nice.  Great venue for a soloist, from a performing point-of-view and a great venue from the audience's perspective (Robin and I heard Ben Wilson play "The Nest" earlier in the day) (Ben was great, by the way!)

Robin had submitted my name to be Songwriter Of The Year and, so, I was listed in the program that way.  Kinda cool.  It is nice to be nominated that way.  I do think, though, that it is more an indicator of how great of a friend Robin is to me rather than how great of a songwriter I am.  Nevertheless, it was nice to see.

It was a wonderful day, really.  For anyone who writes and performs you know that some gigs are diamonds and some are not.  This one definitely was.