Music Is a Friend

Music is a friend. Not only to me but to anyone willing to listen. Music is a tool. Not only for enjoyment but for tension relief and hardship. It can be an escape. A place to run when you have fear. Music can be so much more than a silly song. Yet at the same time, it's powerful in both the simple and complex. From Mozart to Weird Al Yankovic, all of it has had an impact of some kind. It all has a purpose. Music is a direct translation of emotion from your brain to a tangible, auditory event. Everyone has a song to share. Everyone. My name is Samuel Wells and I have found immense joy in participating in, creating, and sharing music. I am a multi-instrumentalist songwriter, music teacher, and producer currently living in Kansas City, Missouri. I moved to Kansas City from Cincinnati, Ohio in January 2020. That move signified a large shift in my life that I feel wraps my time in Cincinnati up with a nice bow. My goal with this book is to tell multiple stories that shaped me in Cincinnati through the lens of music I learned, performed, and listened to. I will use music as the tree trunk that branches into my life stories up until moving away. I originally started writing this book as a therapeutic mechanism for documenting my life before the memories dissipate. I m only twenty-seven; I don t plan on losing memories any time soon. That being said, memories have an opportunity to be morphed differently depending on the moment you remember them. You will always perceive things differently based on the point of view that you re looking from. At the time of writing this book, I am finding myself in a unique perspective where it feels beneficial to document the memories. It is my hope that, through this memoir, I am able to convey the deep love of music that is in my heart. Though it may sound cliche, I genuinely do not know what my life would be without music. It has shaped nearly every aspect of my youth and adulthood. It has formed the vast majority of my relationships in life thus far. I m equally nervous as I am excited to write and share this book. I hope you enjoy reading these precious stories.