A whimsical, informative, and sometimes dark collection of stories, anecdotes and observations about life as an independent musician, from the viewpoint of one with thirty and more years on the front lines and in the outback of the American music industry.

Working his way through just slightly more than thirty years pursuing music as a career, Phil Circle makes unapologetic declarations, shares his struggles openly, observes his and others’ mistakes and successes, and brings in some recent research that points in a good direction for independents everywhere. Through each story about a friend, discussion of the crafts of music, songwriting or teaching, and piece of data, Phil brings in his own life experience. A thread winds through the entire book that takes you from moments in his childhood that had a profound positive influence on his love of music, up through his early years trying to find a way to make music work, past various successes, into devastating despair, and back out into the light of realization that music needs no push.

An open ended story meant to ultimately leave one with their own opinions about surviving as an independent, Phil Circle looks to make a few basic things clear over everything else. If you build it, they might not come, but you’ll have fun. If you love what you’re doing and work some skills into the mix, you’ll survive and possibly thrive. There is always hope, even in the darkest moment, you are never alone.