After a 14,000 mile-long tour, and countless exhausting nights as a traveling musician, Jacob Acosta is preparing himself for his next big thing. The Tucson local and singer-songwriter launched his “Play and Stay Tour” Indiegogo campaign on Monday to fund his upcoming album and national tour.
In the hopes of reaching his $15,000 goal in 60 days, Acosta is campaigning for his music through “interactive stewardship.” While Acosta is sharing his personal talents by allowing people to book private shows, he’s also lending people his personal labor and brainpower for tasks outside of the realm of music.
Acosta is offering to help with anything from launching websites to filing paperwork, or even bigger jobs such as building a deck on a house or calling you on your birthday for the rest of your life.
“This is definitely a place a lot of musicians don’t go,” he said.
The idea came to Acosta during the hours he spent in self-refection while he was driving and touring the country last year.
“I wanted to meet people and talk to people and have real connections with people,” Acosta said. “I did a lot of driving and spending time with people, and it just kind of started making sense after that … this is the kind of tour that I wanted to do.”
Acosta said he wants to create a connection between himself as a musician, and the people he plays for during his campaign and tour. Lost in a whirlwind of tour dates and to-dos, Acosta understands how difficult it can be as an artist to experience meaningful interactions with fans and music-lovers. But he’s trying to rekindle those moments.
“Sometimes you’re excited to meet [a musician], and you have this idea of what they’re supposed to be like,” he said. “But sometimes you’re disappointed because the interactions are too small. Somewhere along the way, I feel like it’s hard to interact with them, and I kind of thought this would be a good way to cut back that kind of thinking in music.”
After Zoya Greene, a Bisbee resident, first experienced Acosta’s music at the Bisbee Royale in 2012, she began following his music.
“The first time I heard Jake I was overwhelmed. All I could do was be still and listen. There’s a real intimacy in his music,” Greene said. “He touches all the emotions: happiness, sadness and absolute joy.”
Forrest Brennan, a former Tucson resident, got to know Acosta and his music when he spent time filming him for a documentary about Tucson artists.
“His drive and respect for the art of music, his perspective of how he wants his music to be expressed, and his ability to laugh and learn from every experience along the way makes him someone worth listening to,” Brennan said.
Acosta will be playing a live, online show today at 7 p.m. at concertwindow.com to kick off his campaign. Fans can set their own price for tickets.
The release of Acosta’s new album, For the People, By the People, will coincide with the beginning of his tour in July.
“I want to create kind of a social aspect of connection and giving and sharing, a lot more than what we think we’re supposed to be sharing as a product,” Acosta said. “It’s not really a product to me anymore, it’s starting to become a lot more about me and the connection I have with the people.”
– Follow Casey Knox on Twitter @Knox_Casey
