E136 - What You Need From Your Creativity. Guest, Ezra Vancil, Singer & Songwriter

Artists Have to Live It Before They Can Create It

Creativity is not just something you make.

For Ezra Vancil, Creativity has been the saving grace that gets him through the hard parts of life, and the gift that keeps handing him back his own confidence.

Ezra is a Texas based singer, songwriter, poet, and author whose career spans more than three decades.

He is a Kerrville New Folk finalist, a New Song Competition winner, and a South by Southwest showcased artist, and his music has been featured on VH1 and the BBC.

These days he lives in an East Texas forest, performs alongside his daughter Cozi, and writes music centered on redemption, resilience, faith, and the pursuit of wholeness over fame.

In this conversation, Ezra and Beth talk about what happens when a record deal falls apart and there’s no plan B, why confidence and creativity build on each other in a loop, how decades of scattered attempts eventually turn into something meaningful, and why Ezra’s goal with his creative work is to write his life’s experiences and stories to help others endure the hard parts of life a little easier.

If you’ve ever needed your creativity to carry you through something hard, this conversation is for you.

Chapters

0:00 Meet Ezra Vancil

2:00 Life in the East Texas woods, and why silence fuels the work

5:00 Dropped from his label at 21, and why nothing creative goes to waste