“At 25, I recorded my first album. When I gave it to someone who was a real mentor to me, he gave it a focused listen, then said, “Derek, you're just not a singer. You really need to stop trying. Admit you're a songwriter, and find a real singer.” But I bounced away from that meeting unphased. I knew I just had more work to do. I toured for three more years after that, always pushing, always practicing, always determined to be a great singer. At 28, I started noticing that my voice was getting good! I recorded a few new songs, and for the first time, I really really liked the vocals! At 29, I had done it. After 15 years of practice, and about 1000 live shows, I was finally a very good singer, at least by my own standards. (You can judge for yourself at sivers.org/music. Old stuff at the bottom. New stuff at the top.)” - × × ×