1 00:00:00,620 --> 00:00:03,150 - I've never had a confidence in my art. 2 00:00:03,150 --> 00:00:07,150 It puts me in a vulnerable position when I present my art. 3 00:00:07,150 --> 00:00:10,920 I finally found the courage to give this a shot, 4 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:12,610 and when I did, it's been 5 00:00:12,610 --> 00:00:14,940 just like I was shot out of a cannon. 6 00:00:14,940 --> 00:00:19,940 When I can get up on a stage, and I can pour out my heart, 7 00:00:20,590 --> 00:00:22,780 and people get up at the end and clap, 8 00:00:22,780 --> 00:00:24,650 that's like, incredible. 9 00:00:24,650 --> 00:00:26,560 I mean, that's what I live for. 10 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:29,480 I'm Tech Sergeant Abraham Partridge, 11 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:31,610 I'm the 403rd Maintenance Squadron 12 00:00:31,610 --> 00:00:33,300 at Keesler Air Force Base. 13 00:00:33,300 --> 00:00:36,600 I'm an Integrated Mission Systems technician. 14 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:39,473 I work on radios and navigation equipment 15 00:00:39,473 --> 00:00:44,120 and electronic warfare equipment on C-130J models. 16 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:47,790 Outside of the military, I'm a creator. 17 00:00:47,790 --> 00:00:50,750 I write music most people would call folk music, 18 00:00:50,750 --> 00:00:54,160 I make art that most people would call folk art. 19 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:56,070 Born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, 20 00:00:56,070 --> 00:01:00,094 when I was 18, I went to pursue a theological education. 21 00:01:00,094 --> 00:01:03,990 I met my wife, we settled down in northwest Georgia, 22 00:01:03,990 --> 00:01:07,640 where I served in the church, stayed there about five years, 23 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:09,720 and then I accepted a pastorate 24 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:11,490 in the mountains of Kentucky, 25 00:01:11,490 --> 00:01:14,830 and then it just become something I couldn't do anymore. 26 00:01:14,830 --> 00:01:18,910 I loaded up everything that I owned, and my family, 27 00:01:18,910 --> 00:01:22,300 and I drove back to Mobile and moved in with my mother, 28 00:01:22,300 --> 00:01:25,430 and started over, took a job making minimum wage 29 00:01:25,430 --> 00:01:27,830 'cause nobody wanted to hire a Baptist preacher, 30 00:01:27,830 --> 00:01:30,090 so then I joined the Air Force Reserve. 31 00:01:30,090 --> 00:01:32,260 I was never good at keeping a job, 32 00:01:32,260 --> 00:01:34,370 prior to being in the Air Force. 33 00:01:34,370 --> 00:01:36,180 I would have a job for two or three months, 34 00:01:36,180 --> 00:01:38,410 I would hate it, and I'd move to another one. 35 00:01:38,410 --> 00:01:40,670 Whenever I got to Keesler, 36 00:01:40,670 --> 00:01:42,650 I was here full-time for two years, 37 00:01:42,650 --> 00:01:43,950 I finally had a job history 38 00:01:43,950 --> 00:01:46,170 good enough to get a halfway-decent job, 39 00:01:46,170 --> 00:01:48,070 and then so I went and worked for the Scale Company, 40 00:01:48,070 --> 00:01:49,690 and then I was coming as a reservist, 41 00:01:49,690 --> 00:01:52,020 and I deployed with the 403rd. 42 00:01:52,020 --> 00:01:54,680 When I came back, I got offered this art job. 43 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:56,450 As an Air Force Reserve technician, 44 00:01:56,450 --> 00:01:59,930 it's given me this ability to chase this dream. 45 00:01:59,930 --> 00:02:02,200 I'm able to book shows and travel, 46 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:04,020 and do a lot of stuff on the weekends 47 00:02:04,020 --> 00:02:07,190 that at my previous job, I would've never been able to do. 48 00:02:07,190 --> 00:02:09,450 There was a songwriter competition, 49 00:02:09,450 --> 00:02:12,260 held at Gulf Shores, Alabama, and I went there, 50 00:02:12,260 --> 00:02:14,000 first time I played my songs 51 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:15,810 in front of a listening audience. 52 00:02:15,810 --> 00:02:17,749 The room was packed, it was probably 200 people in there, 53 00:02:17,749 --> 00:02:21,390 and I got this roaring applause and standing ovation, 54 00:02:21,390 --> 00:02:23,100 and it blew my mind. 55 00:02:23,100 --> 00:02:25,579 I went to Nashville and recorded my very first record, 56 00:02:25,579 --> 00:02:28,230 two months after playing my first gig. 57 00:02:28,230 --> 00:02:29,780 I had been touring pretty good, 58 00:02:29,780 --> 00:02:32,780 getting out on the road, playing shows almost every weekend, 59 00:02:32,780 --> 00:02:35,040 while being an R, a reservist, 60 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:38,150 and trying to be a father and a husband. 61 00:02:38,150 --> 00:02:40,690 The manager for the label came by my house, 62 00:02:40,690 --> 00:02:42,610 I had one piece of my artwork 63 00:02:42,610 --> 00:02:45,290 that my wife would allow me to hang on our walls, 64 00:02:45,290 --> 00:02:47,810 and our manager said, "Wow, who did this piece?" 65 00:02:47,810 --> 00:02:49,160 and I said, "No, I did that," 66 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:50,610 and they were like, "We love it," 67 00:02:50,610 --> 00:02:51,940 and it was like the first time 68 00:02:51,940 --> 00:02:53,693 anybody had ever shown any interest 69 00:02:53,693 --> 00:02:58,450 in that part of what I do, and so I made my art public, 70 00:02:58,450 --> 00:03:02,910 and within a month, it was already international news. 71 00:03:02,910 --> 00:03:04,840 My record Cotton Field And Blood For Days 72 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:09,330 just debuted at number 19 at the European Americana charts. 73 00:03:09,330 --> 00:03:12,480 I've won a handful of songwriter competitions, 74 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:16,640 I've played at some exclusive songwriter festivals, 75 00:03:16,640 --> 00:03:19,790 I represented the Gulf Coast Blues Society 76 00:03:19,790 --> 00:03:23,100 in the 2017 International Blues Challenge 77 00:03:23,100 --> 00:03:25,450 in Memphis, Tennessee, but I'm not bragging, 78 00:03:25,450 --> 00:03:27,750 because I'm not saying I had anything to do with it, 79 00:03:27,750 --> 00:03:30,050 and I feel like I've been extremely blessed, 80 00:03:30,050 --> 00:03:32,720 and I've had some extremely good people 81 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:34,260 come along and help me. 82 00:03:35,130 --> 00:03:38,809 The Air Force taught me how to persevere, 83 00:03:38,809 --> 00:03:41,086 and perseverance is definitely 84 00:03:41,086 --> 00:03:44,610 one of the most necessary traits 85 00:03:44,610 --> 00:03:47,640 if you're gonna have any success in the arts. 86 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:49,150 If you're doing anything original, 87 00:03:49,150 --> 00:03:50,410 when you first start doing it, 88 00:03:50,410 --> 00:03:53,290 everybody's gonna look at you wide-eyed like you're crazy. 89 00:03:53,290 --> 00:03:55,120 It took a long while before I could get anybody 90 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:58,129 to come back to a show, but if you persevere, 91 00:03:58,129 --> 00:04:01,462 and you believe in your work and perfect your craft, 92 00:04:01,462 --> 00:04:03,470 things'll start happening. 93 00:04:03,470 --> 00:04:07,070 My advice for anybody that has a passion 94 00:04:07,910 --> 00:04:10,590 is just go for it with all you got. 95 00:04:13,095 --> 00:04:15,512 (folk music)