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Andrew Osenga is an accomplished musician, a wise life-observer, and an articulate songwriter, so we knew any conversation with him would be sweet.
No, we don't know him, but it's obvious from his intelligent and deeply satisfying music (see Suite review of "The Morning" here). Besides, that's what interviews are about: to help us get to know more about the artists we enjoy so much, and in this case, the Square Pegs Alliance, the Nashville musicians group Andrew helped to form. I love the concept behind the Square Pegs Alliance, the focus on support and passion for the art of music and its makers, rather than the focus on its profits. How difficult was it to keep its membership to 13?The Square Pegs grew very organically out of friendships, so we just sort of called our friends, trying to think of folks who have been making music together for at least a couple of years. The idea was to have it be "specific" but hopefully without being too "exclusive." The web site links to a lot of other friends who are great artists in their own right, but who maybe haven't been as much a part of this specific community. I've read that within the Alliance, there is a genuine servant's attitude toward one another. Would you say this flows organically out of your friendships, or could this Biblical principal be recreated in another similar group? In other words, would you having any interest in seeing the SP Alliance serve as a prototype for other groups of artists?I don't know that what we do is really prototype material. It really is just some friends trying to let people know about each other's music. We play some concerts together, which we did before we had the name, and we'll be doing a compilation cd. It's really pretty simple. It's the side of the music industry that the labels have forgotten about in their quest for money and dominance; fostering community to allow artists to grow musically and grow their audiences. We're really doing what Columbia and Motown did forty years ago, just without money being a part of it. Do the Square Pegs have any group tour plans in the works?We're working on doing a residency at a club here in Nashville. We'll see how that goes. Andrew Peterson does an annual Christmas tour and a number of the SPA artists are going on that tour. I know you've been doing a lot of songwriting lately. Do you see yourself as more of a writer or performer?I really enjoy all sides of music, besides the travelling. For me, doing just writing or just performing or just session guitar work or whatever, would bore me. I just love that I get to do a bunch of all of that these days. A typical week for me usually has a day or two of songwriting, a couple days at a studio playing guitar for somebody else, a show at a club where I'll play guitar for a friend, then a couple weekend Caedmon's show where I'll do a few of my own songs, as well as playing as a part of Caedmon's. I love getting to do so many different things. It keeps me growing as a musician and writer, and I get to bring something different to each specific piece of my job. I'm a mad Steinbeck fan too! Is there a particular Steinbeck character you relate to or enjoy more than others? I really loved the main character in "The Winter of Our Discontent." Not that I'm in the same circumstances, but I identified with him quite a bit. The difference between us is that he had no outlet for how he really felt or for any passion. I have a wife and friends I can be honest with, and I get to play guitar and get out the feelings that I don't have words for. For more on Andrew Osenga, check out his website.
The copyright of the article Andrew Osenga Interview in Christian Music is owned by Kevan Breitinger. Permission to republish Andrew Osenga Interview in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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