Midon Making His Own Way in the World

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Raul Midón

Friday April 22, 2011

from North Shore News

Midón Making His Own Way in the World
Eclectic approach finds home in New York City

By Tessa Holloway

There was never a plan B for Raul Midón.

The New Mexico-born singer-songwriter has been playing guitar since he was six years old, when he learned from the flamenco guitarist at his father’s restaurant, and percussion before that. Never, he says, did he consider doing anything but music. That’s partly a testament to his drive, but also partly because Midón has been blind since just after his birth, and didn’t feel there were too many other options.

“You can’t run the back-up plan when you’re blind as easily,” he says from a Texas highway on the road to Austin. “I never really had a plan to teach or anything like that. I could’ve, but it’s not really what I wanted to do.”

No worries. Back-up plans aren’t as important when you ooze talent on stage, with lightning-quick fingers and a soulful voice. Close your eyes, and many might conjure up images of a three-piece band complete with drums and a trumpet. Open them up again and you’ll see Midón standing alone, tapping his guitar in rhythm.

Stepping out of the University of Miami’s music program, Midón found quick work in the studio for Latin musicians such as Shakira and Enrique Iglesias, providing back-up vocals and guitar and continuing in the styles he learned from his Argentina-born father.

It was a comfortable living, but not quite soul-affirming.

“Eventually I just realized that I wanted to do my own thing. A lot of the music we worked on was pretty, well, it wasn’t very interesting to me,” he says.

It’s that desire for more of a creative outlet that led him to pack his bags and move to New York City, start playing bars and building a name for himself. And it’s there that, however briefly, he started to wonder if he needed a Plan B after all.

“There’s 100,000 musicians in New York and a lot of them are really good, so you find out very quickly that you have to find how you fit into all of that,” says Midón, pivoting to talk about his song “State of Mind,” the title track from his 2005 album, in which he dreams of being rich and happy during the cold New York winters.

“It was the best thing I ever did for my career, ever,” he said of the move.

Read the full article here

Next Generation	4:03	Raul Midón
Bonnie's Song	3:15	Raul Midón
Don't Take It That Way	3:12	Raul Midón

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State of Mind on Late Show with David Letterman
Sittin' In The Middle

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