This was not a music industry conference.

There were no bands charged a fee to perform to no one despite believing this was their one big break.

There were no secondary characters testifying about that which they had no contact with.

This was a blue chip group of people listening to household names.

Like Travis Kalanick of Uber, Eric Schmidt of Google, David Brooks of the “New York Times,” but now I’m getting ahead of myself.

The Summit Series, what’s that?

A group of people who wanted me to go to Squaw Valley for free. And like Joni Mitchell sang, I only work sans compensation if you’re a friend of mine.

The Summit Series is a friend of mine now, but not back then. But Shakil Khan, the consigliere of Spotify, told me Summit was the link between the streaming service and Facebook, and if you remember half a decade back, you know that was a big deal. So the next time Brett Leve reached out I paid attention.

Brett Leve. A twentysomething who accosted me at Coachella and told me his organization was buying a ski area. Little did he know downhill sliding was my passion. So, when they invited me to go to their digs in Eden, Utah, to partake of the snow at their newly-purchased Powder Mountain, I went.

And was stunned at the caliber of person.

I was in a conversation at the Lake House with a guy who said he was an “environmentally-friendly VC.” In music business terms, that means he’s out of a job. But upon further investigation, this dude had worked for the government, was then a traditional VC, he had a full CV, he was real.

And that’s when I began my journey to becoming a Summiteer.

That was back in 2013. The next time I went to Utah was a year ago. Whereupon a not quite thirty year old named Kendall Ostrow asked me if I knew about Snapchat Stories, she told me she was going to sell the first series to the service, she was the social media agent at UTA…AND SHE DID!

This was September 2014. Long before most people had ever heard of Snapchat, never mind Evan Spiegel. If anything, they thought the service was about evanescent messaging… Kendall clued me in. I’ve maintained the relationship. I’m all about learning. And when the Summit guys asked me to speak on their boat this past weekend, I said YES!!

Let’s go back a step, to the beginning, and answer the question…WHO ARE THESE GUYS?

The majordomo is Elliott Bisnow. Who dropped out of college to help his father establish a flourishing newsletter business. He and his buddies, Jeff Rosenthal, Jeremy Schwartz and the aforementioned Brett Leve, decided to book Bill Clinton for a gig in New York. You know, the ex-Pres. will go anywhere if you cough up the dough. And they did. Although they were short and Russell Simmons kicked in the extra cash. That’s right, these guys know EVERYBODY!

And then there was a ski weekend and a boat trip and the Squaw Valley escapade and then…

They bought Powder Mountain.

The linchpin is one Greg Mauro. Who’d sold a couple of companies and loved to ski the powder. He made the connection. And the goal is to build a community atop the mountain. Kind of an Aspen meets Sun Valley meets Chautauqua for the younger set. And you might laugh, but they’ve sold nearly a hundred lots and Richard Branson and Chris Blackwell bought in. Did I say they know everybody?

So the plane to Miami was filled with Summiteers. The guy behind us started awkwardfamilyphotos.com, he’s married to Su-chin Pak. Remember when she did that doc on MTV about having her eyelids changed? Or not?

And there was an actor and a banker and when we got on the ship…

Our room sucked. But they made it right. Whereupon we went to dinner and hung with Shep Gordon, Supermensch.

I know Shep, we’ve had lunch. But this was more relaxed and friendly. He showed me e-mail he got from people who track him down after viewing the film, like this medical student from Israel asking for cash.

And then we strolled down the hallway and ran into Jeremy Jones, snowboarder par excellence, I get his Protect Our Winter newsletter. And then Sanjayan, who made an environmental series for PBS… No one advertised their wares, but if you dug, everybody had a story.

And the following day the content began.

There were multiple speeches at the same time. I couldn’t go to every one. I can’t talk about every one I went to, but…

I loved hearing Jorge Ramos, you know, the reporter Donald Trump kicked out of the news conference. Ramos gave us the backstory, and illuminated today’s news landscape. He doesn’t expect millennials to watch his show, there’s no such thing as appointment TV for them, it’s all about the mobile, how can he reach them on the mobile? And he knows he can never have the power of the people he reports on, but he can hold them accountable, he can get them to speak the truth. Musicians can’t make as much as techies and bankers, how come they haven’t realized the same thing?

And then Chris Sacca interviewed Edward Snowden. That’s right, all the way from Moscow, not Memphis, via Google Hangouts. Snowden’s so SMART, whether you agree with him or not! Like the Summiteers, he was informed, he knew what was going on, he came to play.

And then there was Harry Belafonte, who said he was inspired to be an activist by Paul Robeson. Who said art was a gateway to the truth, never forget it.

And after John Legend played a few songs, a small guy in a wheelchair came out and gave enough life lessons to keep me pondering for ages. His name is Sean Stephenson, check him out.

Oh, did I mention Eric Schmidt interviewed Travis Kalanick too? I’ve been on some panels with Kalanick, he always came off edgy, but here he was soft around the edges, it was great getting further insight into Uber.

And the following morning, at 9 AM, which if you know me you know is a challenge, Stacey Sher, producer of the Tarantino movies, interviewed Peter Benedek of UTA, who sold “The Sopranos” and “Girls” to HBO. Peter told us that David Chase didn’t think he’d ever get to pilot, didn’t think he’d ever get a one year commitment, never mind multi-season renewals. I resonated with the pessimism, that’s who I am. Also, Peter told us Hollywood has its own rules, and you’ve got to play by them until you gain leverage. Which is why Amazon and YouTube have been beaten by L.A. My surf, my beach, go home or play my way!

Then there was this engineer who’s now a VC who used to work at Google who spoke about big data. I could look up his name, but you probably wouldn’t know it anyway, even though he’s a muckety-muck. Data rules the world, just ask the record companies, they live by Spotify streams. This guy pondered the challenges, it was so much fun to listen to someone so SMART!

And then Troy Carter interviewed Peter Guber and then we heard from the Warby Parker founders… You too can start a company, if you’re educated, they met at Wharton, and are willing to take a risk. Warby Parker is single-handedly saving you from Luxottica, be grateful. And know that being nerdy is no hindrance in tech.

And then there was David Brooks of the “New York Times.” Who initially cracked so many jokes and was so sharp it was jaw-dropping. Ultimately he spoke about morality, I would have preferred to hear him go on about politics, but it was interesting nonetheless.

Now I’m overloading you. Let me just say I also heard Tony Hsieh of Zappos and a bigwig from SETI, who spoke about aliens, and I missed Martha Stewart and Bob Pittman…I needed another weekend to see everybody I wanted to!

As for the hang… Yes, I got to hear everybody’s story, what they were doing, everybody was fully open, there were no cliques.

And I went to dinner with Hsieh and his team and met the guy who used to work for Nordstrom who was the shoe expert who made Zappos work, it was a triumvirate, the shoe guy, the idea guy and Tony, the investor. Tony went to Harvard, he quit Oracle to start a link company he sold to Microsoft. Now he lives in an Airstream in a trailer park and is revitalizing downtown Vegas. The WSJ is skeptical, but spend time with Tony and you’ll become a believer. It’s not that he pitches, it’s not that he’s a two-dimensional automaton, it’s just that he radiates an inner glow…that he knows what he’s doing and is gonna do it, and that puts him miles ahead of most everybody else.

The hardest session to get into was Esther Perel’s. She’s a relationship expert. The most interesting thing she said was “intimacy” was “into me you see.” That’s what we all want, to be known. Despite everybody jockeying for position money is not paramount, people are. You can be rich, but that does not mean you’re happy. You need not only someone to share it with, but someone who gets you…we’re all looking for someone to get us.

At lunch we got into Katherine and Jeff’s relationships.

I spoke with Seth about pivoting his company.

There was a lot of action between the headlines.

And this was an invite-only trip, but there were four figures of people onboard, and you can get on…if you network and know the right people.

I know so many, but I did not know Eric Schmidt. I bumped into him on the boat and asked him about his views on playlists, his September statement that machine learning will predict what you want to hear better than people.

Schmidt punched the clock on me, barely gave me the time of day, proving the axiom that you shouldn’t talk to anybody unless you’re introduced.

But I just don’t play at his level.

But I do have a level, my minions came to hear me speak, I’m just a couple of years and a couple of changes behind him.

I felt privileged to be on the boat. It was the best thing I’ve done all year.

My biggest regret is the trip ended, that I’m back in Santa Monica, sans my new friends, without the stimulation, stuck in my everyday life.

I wanna go back and do it all over, can’t go back I know.

But that’s my goal!

“I Wanna Go Back” – (Eddie Money had the hit, but Billy Satellite did the original. Rock may be dead, but songs are not. Listen.)

P.S. Tech is not art, even though the two sometimes intersect. They call it show “business,” but there’s no business without art. Decide who you are. If you’re an entrepreneur, if your goal is to get along, if money is paramount, business is your path. But if you feel you don’t fit in, if you’ve got something you need to express, if you want to touch people’s hearts more than their wallets…art is your way. Just don’t confuse the two. Art has light years more power than business…if you speak the truth, if you’re willing to sacrifice, walk into the wilderness all in the pursuit of evoking a feeling. We need more artists. They change the world, when they stop bitching about getting paid and realize rules are there to be broken.

ON YOUR WAY DOWN
Little Feat

The same dudes you misuse on your way up
You might meet up
On your way down

I bought “Dixie Chicken” because of incredible reviews. And when I broke the shrinkwrap and dropped it on the turntable…I didn’t understand it, not at all. But I kept playing it, BECAUSE I PAID FOR IT! That’s what’s different from today, music was scarce, we didn’t have much of it, and when we made an investment, we wrung it for everything it was worth. And I became enraptured by the song “Juliette” and then this, an Allen Toussaint number I did not know previously.

Every other song on “Dixie Chicken” is written by the band (well, Fred Tackett eventually was in the band), this is the only cover, but it sounded like one of their own, I didn’t find out it was a cover until I read the credits. And at that point, back in ’73, I knew Allen Toussaint’s name but could not associate it with any specific work, there was no internet for instant research. But from that point on Toussaint’s name was parked in my brain, I kept a look out for it, since I loved “On Your Way Down” so much. Because of the sound, because of the above lyric.

Because it’s true. Very few ascend to the pinnacle and stay there. Even the biggest movie star fades. A legendary artist can’t sell a record. The people who used to greet you with open arms no longer do. This is a life lesson I learned in music that I keep repeating to myself. That’s the essence of great music, something that worms itself into your brain and illuminates truth at the same time. “On Your Way Down” does this. Listen. You might not get it on the first play through, but let it play in the background, then the song will inhabit your brain…forever!

SNEAKIN’ SALLY THROUGH THE ALLEY
Robert Palmer

From the unheralded funky solo debut, which few knew, long before Robert danced on MTV and became simply irresistible. I took a chance on it, I bought it as a promo, for $1.99 I’d take a risk.

Really, you have to play the first three tracks in a row, they segue into each other.

The opener is Lowell George’s “Sailing Shoes” from Little Feat’s album before “Dixie Chicken.”

Then comes “Hey Julia.”

And then the piece-de-resistance, “Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley.”

I’d like to tell you exactly what makes “Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley” so magical. But like all great music it’s indescribable, you just know it when you hear it. You can credit Lowell George’s tasteful slide, Leo Nocentelli’s guitar, George Porter, Jr.’s bass, Art Neville’s keyboards and then there’s Robert’s vocal, all put together in a brew that oozes New Orleans. But the underpinning is the song, with its great change from the verse to the chorus.

Trying to talk double-talk, get myself in trouble talk

I know what you mean!

WHAT IS SUCCESS
Bonnie Raitt

Bonnie Raitt’s 1974 album “Streetlights” was a disappointment after what had come before, it was slick where the first two had been rough, and Jerry Ragovoy’s production eviscerated too much of Bonnie’s sassiness.

But not on “What Is Success.”

When should one change his mind
And jump the fence
For the dollar sign

If you haven’t asked yourself this question you’ve never entered the workplace, or maybe you’re an automaton brainwashed by your parents to play it safe, in the process sacrificing your life.

What is success
Is it doin’ your own thing
Or to join the rest

It’s easier to be a member of the herd. You’re fearful if you strike out on your own…you’ll be alone, never mind broke.

Living in hope
That someday you’ll be in with the winners

You’ve got to take a risk to win, but not everybody does, never mind take a risk, but win. Chances are you won’t. But what will you do when you fail? Put on a record and resonate. That’s what artists provide, sustenance, consolation, truth when we can’t get any. That was the essence of Allen Toussaint.

WHAT DO YOU WANT THE BOY TO DO?
Allen Toussaint

Produced by the Elektra legend Paul Rothchild, “Home Plate” was rough where its predecessor was smooth, Bonnie was back, albeit without a hit, that had to wait for the subsequent Rothchild album, “Sweet Forgiveness,” with Bonnie’s cover of “Runaway.” But there’s so much goodness on “Home Plate,” from J.D. Souther’s “Run Like A Thief” to Fred Tackett’s “Fool Yourself” (from the aforementioned “Dixie Chicken”) to Eric Kaz’s masterpiece “I’m Blowin’ Away” to Bill Payne and Fran Tate’s great Pleasin’ Each Other” to my personal favorite, John and Johanna Hall’s “Good Enough.”

But the album opens with a raucous, full-bore baking of this Allen Toussaint number.

What do you want the boy to do
Don’t you see you’re breaking the child in two

Talk about girl power! Bonnie personified it, and still does.

YES WE CAN CAN
The Pointer Sisters

From the Blue Thumb debut, with the cover of Lamb’s “River Boulevard,” this was long before “Automatic,” long before the sisters were considered chart-ruling popsters. Although “Yes We Can Can” made it all the way to number 11, the Pointer Sisters were seen as hipsters, produced by David Rubinson, this was FM music, although ignored by too many outlets that were skewing white.

Talk about funky… The original 6:02 version that opens the album would burn up dance floors today, it’s got more soul and makes your body move more than most EDM.

Can we make it?

I know that we can can. If we rally around the music, that evidences the truth we all know but have to hear.

MOTHER-IN-LAW
Herman’s Hermits

Yes. That band. From the U.S. debut, which I played incessantly.

The Brits knew their American music, especially black delta tracks like this.

This sounds like a period piece, from the midsixties British Invasion, but if you were alive back then it will feel so good, check it out.

Herman’s Hermits – Mother-In-Law

(It’s not on Spotify.)

WORKING IN THE COAL MINE
Devo

From the “Heavy Metal” soundtrack, wherein the modern men from Ohio take a classic and make it their own whilst still maintaining the song’s magic. With the synths and the robotic feel, I actually prefer this to the original!

PLAY SOMETHING SWEET (BRICKYARD BLUES)
Frankie Miller

From the sadly ignored British bluesman’s second album, “High Life,” Miller’s originals were world class (I point you to Kim Carnes’s cover of “When I’m Away From You” from her smash LP “Mistaken Identity”), but his voice and interpretive powers were so great he could take anything and make it sound like an original, like this, which was also covered by Sylvester and B.J. Thomas and James Montgomery and Maria Muldaur and Three Dog Night IN THE SAME YEAR!

Play somethin’ sweet, play somethin’ mellow
Play somethin’ I can sink my teeth in like Jello

You see, you know it, you just had to be reminded!

GET OUT OF MY LIFE, WOMAN
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band

Released just one or two years too early, “East-West” influenced a legion of players, just as many as the Velvet Underground or Patti Smith’s debuts, but the band has not gotten the public recognition it’s deserved.

Mark Naftalin shines on keys, but how can you do anything but marvel over a track that includes not only Butterfield, but Elvin Bishop and deity Mike Bloomfield.

WHAT DO YOU WANT THE GIRL TO DO
Boz Scaggs

Every baby boomer knows this iteration, that’s how big “Silk Degrees” was, Boz Scaggs was Adele back in 1976.

WHAT DO YOU WANT THE GIRL TO DO
Lowell George

The opening cut from his one and only solo record, which Lowell was promoting on his ill-fated tour. Lowell’s take is more subtle than Bonnie and Boz’s, it amps up but it’s that funky intro that closes you.

FORTUNE TELLER
The Rolling Stones

This is so fresh, so magical, such a window back to the midsixties, it makes you want to jet back there right now, when you had to leave the house to feel the music in you. This is so simple in a way so much of today’s music is so complicated. Without comping and additional tracks there’s an honesty and a raw humanity that you can only marvel at. And the irony is this is exactly what the Stones have sold on tour, then and now. You go to see them and they’re rough, but then they lock on and your jaw falls open. Because it’s about catching lightning in a bottle as opposed to perfecting an image and sound for a public who you thinks wants it but doesn’t. People want truth, reflected back to them, never forget it.

JAVA
Al Hirt

There’s not a baby boomer alive who doesn’t know this. That’s how it was back when we were all addicted to the transistor, back in ’64, when we were waiting for the Beatles and their brethren on radio stations that spoke to us and only us.

What bugs me about Allen Toussaint’s passing is that he was here, for decades, and few cared. You could go see him, he was accessible, but he had to die for so many to realize what they’d missed.

There are more out there. Writing legends, passe stars, be sure to see them at least once, because they’re not going to be here forever.

Just like you.

My Favorite Allen Toussaint Covers

What kind of crazy, fucked-up world do we live in where the charge is led by football players?

One in which money talks.

That’s why the President resigned. The college was gonna lose a cool million if its football team didn’t play Brigham Young on Saturday.

Welcome to the sixties, they’re back again. That’s right, history repeats, but always with a twist.

Like the nineties, everybody thought the fifties were copacetic, that everybody was equal and happiness ruled. But this was untrue if you were black, ergo the protests on college campuses.

It always starts on campuses.

But back then, music went hand in hand with change. The folk movement was integral to the protest movement. Bob Dylan became a national fixture.

Today, music, the most fast-moving of entertainment media, is completely out of step. Purely about hedonism. And this lack of resonance with the populace is what makes it second tier.

People are feeling their power. They’ve got cameras and social media and despite the fact that most employ these for narcissistic purposes, they can be harnessed to move the ball, to stand up to the powers-that-be.

And there’s so much to stand up to.

Not only are you paying a fortune to go to college, the state keeps cutting the budget. Listen to Malcolm Gladwell on Bill Simmons’ podcast rave about the indignities of Wisconsin cutting $250 million from its university budget whilst paying $500 million for a new Milwaukee Bucks arena.

New BS Podcast w/ @Gladwell iTunes: https://t.co/xntSfq2WPe Stitcher: https://t.co/hDQhMbwLw4 Soundcloud: https://t.co/HMinlmUMvg

— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) November 5, 2015

The team owners are hedge fund billionaires. Most people are not.

You may think the United States is the greatest country in the world, but Canada was just rated number one in personal freedom, and the United States didn’t even make the top ten. As for the most prosperous countries? Norway leads, the U.S. is number 11.

Canada ranks first in world for personal freedom and social tolerance

But we’ve been brainwashed by fat cat Republicans that we live in the land of the free and the brave and opportunity is ripe and if you question what’s going on you’re un-American.

What’s going on, that’s what Marvin Gaye asked.

Sure, he liked the ladies, he liked the substances, but unlike today’s entertainment superstars he was unafraid of kicking back and questioning the injustices of the society he lived in.

Unlike today’s musicians who believe injustice is the public’s move from sales to streaming with the concomitant squeezing of revenues for some.

Wanna win in today’s world?

Align yourself with the people.

And the people are saying they’re mad as hell and they’re not gonna take it anymore.

It started in Ferguson. And then it went to the workplace. That’s what the raising of the minimum wage is all about, survival.

And if you think we’re only talking about ethnic groups, how about that report stating that death rates for middle-aged whites are rising?

Death Rates Rising for Middle-Aged White Americans, Study Finds

That’s what happens when you’ve got no hope, you drink and drug and commit suicide. Don’t shoot the messenger, read the article.

This is what happens when you live in an oligarchy preaching false hope to the underclass. The poor enable the rich until one day they realize the game is fixed and don’t want to play anymore. That’s what explains the rise of Carson and Trump and the demise of Bush. Something’s gotta give.

But it used to be that music rode shotgun. Whether it be “Masters of War” or “Eve of Destruction,” if you wanted to know which way the wind blew you listened to a record.

Before Clear Channel/iHeart owned all the radio stations and all the stars were two-dimensional nitwits afraid of their shadows who believed if you could piss off one person you should keep your mouth shut.

That’s right, we’re living in the early sixties musically. The era of girl groups and meaningless ditties, just before the Beatles, when a pent-up anger and desire caused the assembled multitude to throw over what had come before for something brand new and honest.

But the difference back then was it was harder to play, not everybody considered themselves to be a star. Today we’ve got the look-at-me crowd which wants the old system to tumble so they can get a chance, even though their bona fides are suspect, they can barely sing, never mind write.

So if you want to change the world, start by appealing to college students, they’re the only ones standing up to an unjust system, everybody else is either too scared of losing their job or too ignorant to know what’s going on.

In none of the reports I read was there any talk of the students singing, not even “We Shall Overcome.”

It’s like the music business itself has been beaten down by the oligarchs, so frustrated by the changes wrought by the internet that it has no self-respect and believes it’s got no power.

Hell, you don’t hear protesters singing “Shake It Off.”

And Kim Kardashian may have married a black man but she’s too stupid and uninformed to take a stand on human rights, she’s too busy burnishing her image in our Instagram culture, making sure her bank account gets fatter and fatter. As for her husband…all he keeps telling us is HE doesn’t get a chance. How about helping OTHERS get a chance?

Music can reclaim its spot in the forefront only if it realizes that money comes from hits and hits are that which resonate with the public and you just can’t make as much money as the techies but you can have a ton more power.

You may not think what happens in Missouri affects you.

But it does.

We’ve got an entire spectrum of disadvantaged people in America, one can argue they’re the majority, and now they’re speaking up and winning.

You may think people care about Obama’s birth certificate and Hillary’s e-mails but you’re too old school, you’re living in the pre-internet era, when people had no voice.

We’ve got a voice now. We own the internet. And we’re speaking.

Put your ear to the ground and listen.

For the times they are a-changin’.

Actually, it was Scott Powell’s place, just by the beach, he used to be in Sha Na Na, now he’s an orthopedic surgeon, he operates on players, and this was a benefit for Musicares.

And the highlights of the performance were a new song and a rousing rendition of “Mississippi Kisses” but what intrigued me most was Leon’s story.

He’s from Fort Worth.

Not a hotbed of the music industry. And he didn’t start out as a child star. Hell, he didn’t even begin playing, performing and writing until his twenties. He was washing dishes and he was analyzing the music scene and was confounded there was no old school soul, he decided that would be his genre.

So he starts writing songs in his bedroom. And when he’s ready he goes out to open mic nights. Just him and his guitar. Playing to five people. Night after night.

So, you’ve got inspiration and perseverance. But if you think that’s enough to make it these days you’re wet behind the ears. We’re inundated with a plethora of music, nothing breaks through, how did this guy?

Well, he caught the ear of White Denim guitarist Austin Jenkins, who said he wanted to make an album, and Bridges said WHY NOT?

This was not a stab at stardom, part of a superstar plan, just a lark, the next step in a nascent career.

So they set up in a warehouse and spend $2500 to record an LP and all hell breaks loose.

Well, not exactly. The album’s finished and the guys at Mick Management hear it, they’re intrigued, they’re believers, they’re in.

But you’re not always sure, they decide to test it out. They post an unmastered track on the music blog Gorilla Vs. Bear and there’s a reaction.

So they post it to another blog and the same thing happens.

And then fifty four labels want to make a deal and Bridges does a showcase in Nashville and ultimately signs with Columbia and CAA.

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

Exactly this way, which stuns me.

Michael McDonald thought it might be the Norah Jones effect, producing something in an ignored niche people are clamoring for but don’t realize it.

Still, I haven’t met a musician who hasn’t been a hustler, a master manipulator, someone who knows how to climb the ladder. That’s right, most are more Madonna than Leon Bridges.

But Bridges made it. He’s sold 120,000 albums. He’s doing two Fondas this week, he’s burgeoning when everybody else is fading.

And he’s not a cool, charismatic cat, not someone you meet and feel inferior to, someone who was destined to make it. Rather, he seems to be a guy who had the music in him, and decided to jump on the train and see where it took him.

Which was to international recognition.

Which proves there’s hope.

I can listen to the country playlist on Spotify and every track sounds the same. I pull up the Top 40 and laugh, it’s so assembly-line, done by the same people, there’s no originality, no spark, no wonder most people don’t care.

But then someone comes up with something original and it cuts through all the clutter. Bridges is just one hit away from ubiquity.

So there’s hope, for both makers and listeners.

Proving once again it’s less about facility than conception. Berklee will teach you how to shred, but that won’t put you on the chart. There’s nothing wrong with knowing how to play, never mind read, but too many people get the originality squeezed right out of them, they end up repeating what everybody else does, when the truth is we appreciate originality. Which can come from anywhere, even a bedroom in Fort Worth.

And none of the rigid rules apply if the music works. Bridges wasn’t sold by sponsorship, he didn’t have guest rappers on his album, never mind song doctors. He just let the music flow. And it was enough.

It’s almost too much to believe. In 2015. When everybody’s working the angles and looking for an edge. That it can be completely old school, that you can lead with the music and it’s enough.

Originality and execution. Humanity and honesty. You’re buying insurance and comping, making it perfect to the point no one can relate. But listening to Bridges you definitely hear someone’s home, you get drawn in, this is something you want to be a part of.

And that’s the essence of music.