Naturre GB loved Texas. NYC was his first home in the US, but exorbitant rents and excessive metropolitan noise drove him to seek refuge in Austin, where a modest income would afford him the opportunity to make friends, indulge his various musical pursuits and ride horses under vast open skies that recalled his nomadic Mongolian heritage.
I first met him during one of his first visits to the city that didn't involve a tour stop. He was staying with my good friend Jake, and he reached out to me with the palpable enthusiasm of someone who was laying the social groundwork for his future home. Of course I knew about his band Tengger Cavalry, so I was excited to hear from him. We talked extensively about work, city life, the immigrant experience and his vast appreciation for Celtic folk music (he was thrilled to learn that I've known Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh practically since birth, and mentioned wanting to get all of his Altan CDs autographed). It wasn't long after this visit that he moved here, but his initial arrival was marred by a particularly dark chapter in which a series of clandestine industry players were attempting to steal his art and destroy his reputation. His defiance in the face of these vultures eventually lead to a series of death threats that necessitated the involvement of local police, for which he was eternally grateful. Ultimately he prevailed -- he sought the counsel of powerful friends who vouched on his behalf and allowed him to flourish.
I first met him during one of his first visits to the city that didn't involve a tour stop. He was staying with my good friend Jake, and he reached out to me with the palpable enthusiasm of someone who was laying the social groundwork for his future home. Of course I knew about his band Tengger Cavalry, so I was excited to hear from him. We talked extensively about work, city life, the immigrant experience and his vast appreciation for Celtic folk music (he was thrilled to learn that I've known Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh practically since birth, and mentioned wanting to get all of his Altan CDs autographed). It wasn't long after this visit that he moved here, but his initial arrival was marred by a particularly dark chapter in which a series of clandestine industry players were attempting to steal his art and destroy his reputation. His defiance in the face of these vultures eventually lead to a series of death threats that necessitated the involvement of local police, for which he was eternally grateful. Ultimately he prevailed -- he sought the counsel of powerful friends who vouched on his behalf and allowed him to flourish.
The musical rejuvenation that followed was an incredibly fertile period for Tengger Cavalry and for his own ambitions as a solo artist. His travels were impossible to keep up with, in between touring the states, playing festivals in Europe, riding horses in Wyoming, composing soundtracks, filming videos in China, etc. -- the dude even made it to Carnegie Hall, on his own! How many people do you personally know who can make that claim? He essentially became a living embodiment of the old adage that practice is the only way to get there. To me the single most exceptional quality about Naturre G is that he was never keen to brag about any of this, which is still mind-boggling. I had to extract it out of him, because he was far more interested in my own much more trivial musical achievements, which ultimately says less about me and more about his insatiable hunger for life, for music and for friendship. Everyone who ever met him will attest to this.
The real pain of typing all of this is that I’m thinking about the first conversation we had, how it was pregnant with all the possibilities of friendship: dinners together, shows together, dive-bar explorations, many more conversations. But the truth is that almost none of this happened; the above reflections are derived from precious few encounters. The reasons for this are not worth articulating here; I just didn't reach out.
There's a very obvious lesson here -- we're all prone to occasional and necessary bouts of reticence, but ultimately we have to break free. Don't wait to send the text, send the message, make the call, plan the dinner party, go to the show, because you may find yourself typing a wistful piece about how you will never have the chance to do so again. Rest in peace, my friend -- your killer songs, restless spirit, generous heart and unrelenting drive will forever be a source of inspiration.
There's a very obvious lesson here -- we're all prone to occasional and necessary bouts of reticence, but ultimately we have to break free. Don't wait to send the text, send the message, make the call, plan the dinner party, go to the show, because you may find yourself typing a wistful piece about how you will never have the chance to do so again. Rest in peace, my friend -- your killer songs, restless spirit, generous heart and unrelenting drive will forever be a source of inspiration.