Speaker Spotlight - David Hughes, P.E.

Energy Engineer & Traditional Music Teacher

Month: November | Theme: Lost

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your practice.
I am in a bit of a transition professionally.  Currently, I am renovating a house, teaching music part time, spending more time with my family and friends.  I am exploring new ways to generate income making music.   I also offer energy engineering and analysis services.  This is less in the Creative Mornings field, but still part of some of my weeks.    

What did you want to be when you grew up?
An engineer, but one that drives trains, rather than spreadsheets.  I have also wanted to be a musician, farmer, and educator.    

Can you remember when you first learned about your field of work? How did you discover what it was, and how did you know it was what you wanted to do?
Depends on the field.  Let’s go with music.  Mom bought me a guitar for my 12th birthday.  Dad bought me a 4-disc Smithsonian blues collection within the next year or so.  I’ve been passionately pursuing American roots music ever since.  

What is the best part and hardest part of your job?
Best part: singing with good people and students that are driven to learn and play music.
Worst part: students that I’m unable to inspire to want to learn and play music.

What on-the-job tools do you use every day?
Finger picks, slides, capos, tuners, and string winders.

What about your community inspires you?
Each year one particularly wonderful woman in our county decorates the bridge in Marshall with marigolds upon marigolds. It is an inspiring delight.

What is the best piece of business advice you’ve been given?
If you’re going to start a business, make it one that an idiot could run…  I assumed they meant it offensively/jokingly to me specifically.  I thought it was funny, but also good business advice.  Buy low and sell high.

Can you name a moment of failure in your business experience that you learned from or that helped you improve your business or the way you work?
I once filled a diesel work truck’s fuel tank with gasoline.  I have never repeated that mistake.

What books/resources would you recommend to someone interested in furthering their creative practice, or starting a creative business of their own?
A Pattern Language.  It’s about design and construction, but should be in a creator’s library.  

If you were magically given three more hours per day, what would you do with them?
I’d give one to my daughter for getting ready for school, one to my wife for sleep, and split the last one with my son.  With that 30 minutes, I’d try to play music, go for a run, and get a little extra sleep.

Who are your favorite creators and makers, local and beyond?
Old music - the thousands of Americans in early field recordings who sang for the sake of singing and how it made them feel. 
The Carter Family, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee, and the Georgia Sea Island Singers.