KEEPING IT

BY SAMUEL BURNLEY Florida Weekly Correspondent

here is a common misperception amongthe general music-listening public. It happens when an artist puts out the song that is their first to become wildly popular — and people assume this hot new artist has come out of nowhere, hit by a bolt of lightning out of the blue.

But this view ignores the thousands of hours of woodshedding, honing their craft in private and developing their voice in public. It overlooks the years of grinding away in anonymity, playing every attainable gig in whatever sweaty, smoky bar would take them, long before anyone would recognize a name.