Welcome to Finding My Voice
AN INTRODUCTION TO A NEWSLETTER ABOUT MUSIC AND WRITING FROM ROB PEONI.
When I was younger, I wanted to be a writer. At the time, employers weren’t beating down my door—or even gently knocking on it. So in 2011, I launched a blog with a few friends called “Thought on Tracks” as a vehicle to get my writing into the world. I knew I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life mowing lawns in the suburbs, I loved music, and I wanted to communicate with people.
Thought on Tracks led to an internship with Musical Family Tree (MFT), an Indiana music archive and newly formed nonprofit. The gig with MFT opened door to the greatest professional decision of my life: joining the Tonic Ball planning committee as a volunteer, writing for a short-lived arts website called Sky Blue Window, content marketing for arts organizations, and a year booking shows at an unsustainable DIY space that doubled as the headquarters of Joyful Noise Recordings.
Fast forward to 2021, and I had carved out a little career for myself as a writer. I left a role as marketing manager at hunger relief nonprofit Second Helpings to work as a writer and producer at Well Done Marketing.
My time at the agency wasn’t punctuated by award-winning ad campaigns. (I did earn one Addy on my way out the door.) Mostly, I churned out a lot of serviceable work for admirable clients, but I wasn’t blazing any trails. My boss was always pushing me to find my voice as a writer, and the more I thought about it, the more it occurred to me the last time I had something unique to say was when I was writing for myself about music.
So here we are.
Why the corny, self-help name?
When I came up with the title of this newsletter, it had multiple meanings. I had a near fatal seizure in November 2022 that left me intubated in the ICU for a week. The experience of a less-than-gentle nurse ripping a plastic tube from my larynx left me without a voice for a couple of months. Suddenly, my voice wasn’t just missing on the page and in the work I delivered to clients. I couldn’t speak.
These days, the meds are doing their job regulating my seizures (knock on wood). I’m raising the world’s greatest three year-old. I’m no longer working at a marketing agency: I’m back at a nonprofit helping shape the voice of IU Health Foundation, convincing Hoosiers that a donation to our state’s largest health system and employer is their best shot at improving Indiana’s abysmal health rankings. It’s honest work. I like my new boss. It feels like we’re raising money for important shit.
But I miss writing for myself. I miss writing about music. I still want to find the unique voice I have as a writer—whether it wins me an Addy or not.
So, yeah. Here we are.
What you can expect to find here.
Highlights of what I’ve been reading and listening to (Mostly this)
Original interviews
Short feature-length articles on people making interesting music, events, and art
Human connection (Let this be a space that isn’t defined by an algorithm)
Vulnerability
And perhaps…
Guest contributors
Event previews
Concert reviews
Things you probably won’t find here.
Takedowns of music I dislike (Not worth my time)
Longform album reviews (No promises)
A paywall—unless this gets big (It won’t)
That’s the tentative plan. I don’t have lofty goals for this project. I just want to talk to people about things I love.
As a working writer, I live (and often die) by a deadline. So I’m holding myself accountable to delivering this newsletter to you at least twice each month.
If you feel inclined to put your financial support behind this newsletter, I suggest you support the two greatest sources of my musical enrichment instead: Become a subscriber at Aquarium Drunkard or donate to Musical Family Tree. We’ll call it even.
I hope I don’t end up in your spam folder. My inbox is always open if you ever want to discuss anything I’ve shared or written. Let’s continue this conversation.