 Backroads is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money by the vote of the people November 4th 2008 Out of space she said there's just one thing I want for you to know I'm Caj Jamber. I Live in Bemidji. I've been playing guitar since I was in elementary school And I would say the sound that I am gravitating towards is the sound that I heard on the radio in the CDs as a young child so my parents played a lot of folk and rock and blues in the house and I've picked up on differences in those genres and I'm able to make kind of a folky sound or Leaning more towards rock or blues in some songs and then also in some of my compositions being in band and orchestra in school has helped develop my ear a little bit and pushed me more towards a Well around it. I don't know different genres of music influenced it And when did you first pick up the guitar? I've had guitars in my house since I was born So, you know a little kids will just go strumming the strings and not know what they're doing It's more of a drum than a stringed instrument at that point in time, but I played ukulele in What must have been third grade and they told us it's the same four strings on a guitar and so we learned basic chords in third grade and I could take those home and Put them on the guitar wrote my first song I like my eggs with ketchup on top just using two of the chords you learned in ukulele class and the rhythm ended up being I Like my eggs with ketchup on top and that's the whole song and then I went from there and self-taught Learning more chords on the guitar sky is a painting with treetops invading Ink spots creating and I will drinking caffeine with sugar and cream You're the stitch in my seam and I will You're not around can't be seen at all With your garden in the ground and your Sounds our love will sing talk our hearts. They were bound by the Feeling the tease on the stove the bikes that we rode you fell asleep. Well, I drove I will Sounds our love will sing talk They were bound by the feelings of you start performing in front of audiences I would have to say thanks to being an orchestra and in band getting on the stage at a young age like that kind of Gave me that confidence and the ability to be on a stage and then in middle school. We had some Benefit concerts for different events at school and I was asked to play some songs and that was Probably played three songs but I remember being really nervous and it was like the biggest day of my life and I You know, I wore special clothes for it and played my three songs and that was the first time I played in front of audience of you know, my friends and my parents basically 12 years old I played half of my set acoustic and half of it electric With my dad playing drums and that was really fun And I've had my acoustic guitar for most of my life and I would write songs on that And I didn't think anything of it just wrote songs was what I knew and then I saw in Craigslist Somebody posted an electric guitar in an amp So I went and looked at it and ended up buying it and I brought it home and I plugged it in and I had no clue That it would be like a whole new World it's like I went from using a watercolor brush to a permanent marker So it's like I can make these crazy new sounds and I can make these new textures and it really Pushed me to write a different way So if I'm writing a song with my electric guitar with the amplifier and the distortion on my brain Thinks about it differently and I have different feelings and emotions that go into it when I'm writing on my acoustic guitar It's the same thing. I'm sitting down and my brain is wired differently when I have that instrument in my hands Depends on my mood. Sometimes I'll go home and just want to play by a campfire or make a beautiful melody Other times I want to you know make really awesome textures with different distortions and echoes and reverbs that kind of thing Never too late to learn an instrument or put yourself out there play it the wrong way play it the right way however you want to play it create something with it and if you know of anybody in your life that's experimenting with music or trying to put themselves out there with arts in any way and just really be supportive of that and Know that there are venues in in northern Minnesota that are very caring and compassionate places to expose your art to the world for the first time it is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money by the vote of the People November 4th 2008 if you enjoy watching back roads online, please consider making a tax deductible donation at lptv.org You