Legendary Artist Jimmy Abegg on Creative Habits

Today is another example of why I love podcasting: it gives me opportunities to have conversations with amazing people. Then I get to share those conversations with you!

In the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, I listened to a lot of contemporary Christian music, otherwise known as CCM. If you remember back in the days before streaming took over the world, we had these little things called “liner notes,” which contained the songs, lyrics, musicians, and others involved in the making of an album.

One of the names I regularly saw was Jimmy Abegg, also known as Jimmy A. He was not only active as a musician on many albums, but also as a photographer who took photographs for many contemporary Christian music album covers.

For those of you familiar with CCM, you might recognize Jimmy from his days as the guitar player in the Charlie Peacock trio, as well as one of the players in Rich Mullins’ Ragamuffins.

Today I get to bring you a conversation with Mr. Abegg, and I hope that it will inspire you as it did me!

Here’s a snippet of Jimmy’s bio from his website: “In 1989, a career in music led me and my young family to Nashville, Tennessee.

Today, we still call Nashville home and I am proud to say that the years have been generous and full. I have been given so many opportunities to provide for my family and care for others while creating things I love. Be it, playing music on the road, recording in the studio, making fine art, showing in galleries, designing record packaging, photographing musicians, writing music, or mentoring others on all of the above; my life of creativity has explored many mediums.

Whether abstract or figurative, my painting continues the tendency towards curiosity, whimsy and simple beauty, with a healthy dose of train-hopping, carefree adventure.”

Jimmy suffers from macular degeneration, which has taken away the majority of his sight, but he still makes art and music. Interestingly, he says that some of his favorite pieces have been created during this period of his life.

In this conversation, Jimmy and I talk about songwriting, collaboration, artwork, and creative habits, among other topics. One of my favorite quotes from this conversation is when Jimmy gave advice for people trying to figure out their path in life. He said, “Try to quit what you’re doing. If you can't stop, maybe you should be doing that.”

I also want to give a shout-out to the kind and generous Cindy Morgan, who thoughtfully connected me with Jimmy!

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Today’s episode is sponsored by Vellum, the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.

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