 Backroads is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, with money by the vote of the people November 4th, 2008. Walk down this road a million times, as wide as it all, like it's the first time, like it's the last time. Remember the days when I was young, we'd watch the clouds dance with the sun. My name is Anthony Lam. I'm a musician from Fargo, North Dakota. Originally from Minnesota, I grew up in Minnesota. My sound is very much a blend of kind of the music I was around when I grew up. It's got a little bit of like Johnny Cash meets kind of your high school choir, meets my own personal kind of folky singer-songwriter style. And when did you first start getting into music? I guess the first time I really got into music was when I was 13. My dad got me my first guitar, and I just kind of really wanted to be a guitar player. I think my singing ability is probably a bit better than my guitar playing, but I still would love to learn as much more about guitar as I possibly could. I play electric and acoustic, but when I was 13 I got my first guitar, and I kind of never looked back. You know what I mean? I've been writing songs for quite a time, so. How do you approach songwriting? Well, I guess every song is a little different, but a lot of my songs will start out with maybe like a guitar lick or a vocal line that I did have in mind before, or a lot of times it'll start with topics. So I'll say, alright, I want to write a song that kind of, you know, maybe brings awareness to like homeless people or drug abuse, things that aren't really the nicest things to talk about, but music kind of helps get over those bridges a little bit, kind of get some messages across. That's kind of how it starts, and then I just kind of play from there, and I really try to play, I mean it sounds pretty cliche, but it's like you kind of play what you feel at the time, you know what I mean? Some songs you can tell when they're sad, and you can tell when they're kind of inspiring or uplifting, and sometimes they write themselves. Sometimes they'll sit down and just pump out a song in four minutes. That's pretty rare, but it does happen every once in a while. So many different influences. I try to find like three professional artists to kind of model myself after, but I mean I think a lot of my influences actually come from so many of the artists I play with. Just like getting to meet so many people when you're on the road and how they do things and how they kind of making the leap and being a kid that's playing in houses to playing venues and getting consistent shows. That's kind of what's influenced me the most, but music-wise it's definitely Johnny Cash was something that I grew up on a lot. My mom always listened to it. Frank Sinatra was actually a big one too. That's kind of why I do my vocal melodies the way I do. It's almost like borderline opera. I'm trying to tell stories, you know what I mean? Above all, there are stories behind the words and I guess those are probably two of my biggest influences. Other than that, I mean I take a lot of inspiration from local artists that I meet, you know, especially around Fargo and Bemidji. How would you describe the atmosphere and what it's like to be a musician in this area? People want you to be things sometimes, especially on shows, but I think especially this day and age it's actually great. There's a lot of places compared to just even four or five years ago. There's so many more places that are open to doing music and all different kinds of styles of music. So right now there's a lot of talent out there and it's just kind of fun to be around. It's a big reason why I lived in Bemidji in Fargo because the art is just, you know, there's something about the cities that are just kind of alive, you know, it's ever-changing and ever-evolving. And how would you describe the experience of performing in front of an audience? It's a lot more like I'm home versus when I first started, you know, I used to get pretty nervous sometimes, and I used to get nervous singing in choir, you know, in front of people, but now I'm at the point where it's kind of what I do and it's very fortunate to get to do it as often as I do so. But it's a blessing. It's probably the best way to connect with other people by far. That's why I love doing it. This next song is called I Tried. I saw you on the street last night Nothing to see just kept on walking by Like every other day Let me do this You have done the same I just live in a thinking I can be saved Well, I get into heaven Even if I do you right Well, Jesus, forgive me For telling all those lies Get into heaven Even if I lose my mind Well, Jesus, forgive me I swear to God I tried I can't say I blame you a bit I don't even know my name When I needed you most You turned the other way Let me ask you this Would you have done the same I just live in a thinking I can be saved Well, I get into heaven Even if I do you right Well, Jesus, forgive me For telling all those lies Get into heaven Even if I lose my mind Well, Jesus, forgive me I swear to God I tried And the thing especially around here is People don't really care what genre you are If you're good at what you do People will give you respect And what I try to do is if people are starting out I try to give them as much advice as I can From when I started Because when you're doing this You're on your own You're promoting yourself You're your own boss You're your own manager So you go as far as you want to go And whenever I see other musicians That are starting out I try to give them advice And just so they can, you know Hopefully not hit as many roblox as I did I said it before And I'll say it again