Meet Art Santora | Musician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Art Santora and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Art, do you have some perspective or insight you can share with us on the question of when someone should give up versus when they should keep going?
I think there’s a lot less black and white, binary choice in this matter than people like to believe. Either choice entails an unquantified and unknowable risk. You cannot possibly know what lies in store until you take the plunge. The question is: how do you want to spend your very limited time on this earth? If you still feel generally excited when people ask you what you do, if you are still inspired by your colleagues and contemporaries and if you still have dreams that keep you up at night, then you’re going. If not, then maybe it’s not “giving up” but changing course that calls to you. I think we put so much pressure on ourselves (and in many cases, each other) to turn our passions and pursuits into marketable careers that many of us forget why we ever got started in the first place, and miss the exit when we have a chance to make a change. It’s very important to come up for air every so often and ask yourself if you’re still engaged, motivated and excited by what you’re doing. Have you taken a little time to make a list of what you want and what’s really important to you? Does your work align with that list? Are you willing to spend 20-30 years of your life getting there? If not, there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. Plenty of people have “given up” on artistic careers that made them utterly miserable only to find they were happiest climbing a corporate ladder or teaching kindergarten or helping people to quit smoking. But no one can tell you why you do what you do, or help you figure out if it’s still worth doing. You’ve got to be at peace with yourself when one day you close your eyes and take your last breath, but you can’t let the pressure to make the “right” choice keep you from making one at all. I understand that binary options are appealing to human beings, so try this: one choice is to take the plunge and accept the risk and be content in your decision, whatever it is. The other choice is to do nothing and die nothing, having risked nothing. It is a choice between two failures, but you will choose.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve been playing the guitar since I was 9. I had always been musical, but hearing Stevie Ray Vaughan’s recording of “Little Wing” bewitched me at that tender age, and I’ve been a lifer ever since. Playing the guitar did come easy to me- the first time I ever held one, I could play it (albeit not very well). I’ve played consistently for 26 years, learned from and played with some terrific musicians and graduated from Berklee College of Music, but it was a near-death motorcycle accident just a few years ago that threatened my ability to play and got me to take the idea of a career in music a lot more seriously. Recovering from the experience and moving forward having been suddenly and permanently changed by it has been anything but easy and the process is constant, and ongoing.
I can’t say I’m particularly proud of any one thing. I’m just eternally grateful that I lived through that accident with both hands intact, still able to write and play and perform, which I do at any opportunity. I am very excited (and okay, maybe a little bit proud) to be nearing the completion of recordings for a pandemic project I helped start called “Tiny Fires”, with my collaborators and co-writers, Kyle Dallatorre and Phil English. I think the music is beautiful, fresh and fantastic and I just can’t wait to offer it up to the world. I think it’s needed.
I have managed to learn a few lessons along the way, despite my best efforts to the contrary. One of them is that it doesn’t really matter what you do, only that you dedicate yourself to the pursuit with an open mind and an open heart, to the exclusion of a litany of distractions that nag us every day in this world. There is no golden chariot of inspiration that will swoop down from the sky and pick you up and carry you to that dream career you see in your head. You’ve got to do the work, the nuts and bolts of things, a little at a time, day by day. I look forward to sharing a drink and conversation with anyone who’s passionate about what they do, and I hope to see you at a show sometime.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’d take him hiking in the Santa Monica mountains. Shoot clay pigeons at Oak Tree Gun Club. Cecconi’s in West Hollywood for dinner and drinks before taking in a performance by Jacob Luttrell and/or Dave Yaden and their band of killers at Black Rabbit Rose. Cure our hangovers at Eggslut in Grand Central Market. Invite them to sit in on a recording session with me and Jim Kaufman or Phil English at United Recording Studios. Long walks and talks down Melrose before we hit the farmer’s market. Thrift shopping for funky old clothes at Wasteland or Jetrag. Lunch and agua fresca or horchata cold brew at Guisados, where they serve the best tacos in the known universe. Maybe take the train to Union Station and check out the incredible murals and street art of DTLA and the Arts District. Dinner and a show at the Magic Castle. If it’s my BEST friend I probably wouldn’t ask them to Uber to LAX for their flight out, so we’d get an early start that day with breakfast burritos at El Tepeyac in Boyle Heights before we hit the road.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to give a heartfelt thanks to all the world-class music teachers I have been so privileged to learn from over the years. These esteemed educators are Kevin Hughes of Seattle, Dave Martone of Vancouver BC, Professor Jon Finn of Berklee College of Music in Boston and most especially my very first guitar teacher Tim Cashman of West Seattle. Their tutelage, inspiration and guidance has been and continues to be priceless to me in my life and career as a musician and human being. I dare not venture to guess where I might be today were it not for them and their investment in me.

I would also like to extend my deepest gratitude to my two parents: supporting, hardworking and self-made people who never forced me into a career or looked down at the one I chose, but only insisted that whatever I do, I do it well and with my whole heart.

Instagram: Art Santora

Image Credits
Images by- Michelle Shiers Matt Akana Sheldon Botler