After a holiday hiatus DeBraun is back with his first profile of the new year. This week he talks with solo artist Doc Feldman.
Doc Feldman is a native of St. Louis, Missouri who has been part of the Lexington music scene for the last few years. Feldman first started playing music with friends in high school. His drive to keep playing is something he says, led to him finding his real passion in music.
“Wanted to play with some friends who barely knew guitar and needed a bass player and I said ‘alright I’ll learn’, got a cheap bass and just started playing, tried to learn as much as I could from friends and then actually got a teacher at some point, took some real lessons, but really I played just to be able to keep playing and to play with other people, but really what I was drawn to was singing.”
In 2013 Feldman released the album Sundowning at the Station which was recorded at Sneak Attack Studio with Jason Groves and released on the record label This Is American Music. While that album captured a chapter in which he was coming out of one band and becoming a solo artist, a lot has changed in his life. Feldman says, as a songwriter, his evolution is moving towards being more personable with himself as an artist.
“I more and more want to be honest about what’s happening to me now, in my everyday life and I try to find those moments, often I guess for me it’s about being uncomfortable, feeling exposed, feeling like something’s about to change or something’s happening, I try to focus on those points and hope that somehow they’re relatable to other people.”
Since becoming a solo artist, Feldman started the video production company Shaker Steps with fellow musician Mark Rush. In addition to producing countless videos of not just local musicians, but touring musicians as well, they also sponsor the event Well Crafted which takes place at Shaker Village. Shaker Steps is something Feldman says is an extension of who he is as a musician.
“And perhaps it was partly my personality, but also my musical style is that I was used to being a sideman or part of a band or part of a side project, being out front and being the front man doesn’t sit well with my personality, so I love encouraging and working with and collaborating with and showing off other artists and in part that’s what Shaker Steps is about and that’s what Well Crafted is about really.”
Doc Feldman performs as a solo artist. More information about Feldman can be found at docfeldman.bandcamp.com, or at shakersteps.com.
