I went to a party on New Year’s Eve in 2011. It was an intimate setting of about 20 people, and everyone was asked to write and recite what they planned to do the in the upcoming year. By the time it was my turn to read my 2012 intentions, I had had a few drinks, and I was feeling pretty good. So I blurted out that I was going to quit my job and be an artist. I admit I felt a little foolish saying it, but something about that affirmation stuck. I set out to make something creative and The Acoustic Guitar Project came to life.

Like many ideas, The Acoustic Guitar Project was born out of a combination of experiences. When I lived in Australia in 2002, I bought an acoustic guitar in the hopes of learning how to play. But Australia can be pretty distracting, and before I knew it, my visa was about to expire. I was headed to Europe, and I couldn’t bring the guitar with me. So I decided to give it away.

I overheard that a friend of a friend wanted to learn how to play, but she couldn’t afford a guitar. So I gave my guitar to her, but right before I handed it over, I had this vision of the guitar traveling from beginning musician to beginning musician. So I signed the guitar, and told its new owner that one day she should sign it and pass it on, too.

Cut to New York City 9 years later for the second half of the inspiration for The Acoustic Guitar Project. I still haven’t learned to play guitar, but I have had the good fortune of becoming friends with many great musicians. And every so often some of them hang out in my living room and play. Those nights are always very special. It’s never more than an acoustic guitar and voices, and there’s something very powerful about that raw, musical purity. The connection is immediate and undeniable, and that live feeling can’t be “produced” on a computer. Everything seemed to flow effortlessly. No one felt any pressure to create something perfect. They just created. As I started recording some of those nights, I realized that there was an opportunity to help others experience this magic, too. The Acoustic Guitar Project was started to help inspire more of those moments.