A Ryman Standing Ovation

How a high note carried me through a low one.

This is my favorite photo of my career.

I didn’t understand it at the time because the feeling is too much to catch in real time. You never know the highs are the highs until you get a few miles on the other side of them. This high was a standing ovation at the Ryman Auditorium at Bobby Bones’ Million Dollar Show in 2019. It was probably my all time favorite performance.

(Also, shoutout Bobby Bones. Go Hogs. Love you bro.)

A few years after this photo was taken, I was found myself at a low… at least mentally. It felt like whatever I was doing was going nowhere. My artist pursuits, the songs themselves… And I went searching for a breath of fresh air in the memories of the wins I had experienced before. This photo was it. A big smile came across my face as involuntary as a heartbeat. It reminded me how much I’ve gotten to do that I never thought was even possible. Also, what came with it was the thought that I’m still me, and as long as I do “me” things I will have a chance to have big wins like this again.

So I wrote this poem to the “me” in the photo.

"In Applause"
12/3/24

Stand tall
redwood straight
in the hot light of this
red brick palace
Give your voice to the choir
of angels who sing on
both sides of eternity
The great beyond and
the great splintering stage boards
you are rooted to
open yourself
stretch your spirit... more
until there is no choice for the congregation
but to stand themselves
on this holy ground
in applause

YOUR HOMEWORK - Write something to the “you” in a photo of you at your best. What do you wish you could’ve told yourself. Make it a poem. Make it a song. Make it a letter. I don’t care, just write it. Feel free to drop it in the comments.

Thanks for reading. Until next time…

-Adam