Rolling Stones performing country music
A few weeks back I posted about cross pollination
People from different disciplines, walks of life, and viewpoints coming together and inspiring each other to come up with totally new ideas.
Slightly less important but more common is the practice of people from similar fields studying the work of others. This is very common in music. Much more common than fans or even the performers like to admit. The Rolling Stones playing a Waylon Jennings tune is odd but I’ve heard similar stories out there. Sean Combs “Puff Daddy” admitted that he sometimes listened to Johnny Cash. In the Beatles songs “Eleanor Rigby” and “All you need is love” have classical music elements thrown in throughout the songs.
This is harder to find outside of music but there have been some cross genre writers and of course some painters and sculptors that have progressed from one school to another during their careers. Something about those other schools of thought that inspired and made them want to try other things than what they had previously done.
I think that’s when you can tell that an artist or performer is really worth listening to or admiring. When they take the time to study and appreciate not just their own genre but look further afield to other genres and either apply what they’ve learned to create something new or enter that genre themselves to compete outside their comfort zone.
Have you ever considered stepping out of the familiar and friendly into unknown territories?
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