Tennessee-based singer-songwriter Daniel Cartier has won an award from Modern Musician. The award includes a full year of marketing assistance, access to cutting-edge software and exclusive coaching with their music industry experts. The prize is valued at more than $12k. Modern Musician is a Florida-based global music company with a massive subscriber base.

Cartier is an artist whose back story reads like a Hollywood script. He’s a high school drop out without a college degree, an alcoholic and drug addict who has survived multiple suicide attempts. In the late 90s he had a brush with stardom but never quite made it (more on that in a bit) and found himself in and out of rehab hospitals and psych wards. He also battled periods of homelessness, lost thousands of dollars and ran away from his life allowing fear to control him.

And then there’s the other side of Cartier’s story. The redemptive one. He’s still alive, sober, drug-free, happy, hopeful and doing what he loves. Now 54 years old he lives a life surrounded by dogs, friends, family and love and not at all concerned with what others think about him. Sure, he may be covered head to toe in tattoos and his house may be over-run by handicapped dogs he’s rescued, but this is the life he chose. He’s a gay, liberal, atheist living in the Bible Belt and arguably sticks out like a sore thumb, but he’s still showing up every day and doing what he loves.

Cartier is currently promoting his most recent album Morning Songs and truth be told it’s a bit uneven and not the best showcase for the genius that is Cartier. But the album is about embracing optimism and choosing happiness over fear and anger. So why exactly are we bringing all of this to your attention?

That aforementioned brush with stardom is how we first got introduced to Cartier. His 1997 album Avenue A was released on Elton John’s Rocket Records and was one of our favorite albums of that year. It was a critical success as well and found Cartier playing some of the country’s finest music venues. But Avenue A would be his only major label release and Cartier would spend many of the following years battling that aforementioned substance abuse.

Since 1997’s Avenue A he has gone on to release seven studio albums, a Christmas album and a collaborative album with fellow Tennessee singer-songwriter Jason Slayton. His discography, like his life story, is full of ups and downs. There’s some albums that absolutely slay and others that leave a lot to be desired. But Cartier is still making music and still trying to bring light and love to the world.

In a recent newsletter he wrote the following and I felt like this was the best way to sum up who Cartier is as a person and why we are happy to celebrate him here in this post:

“I’m showing up. I’m glad to be here. I like the guy I see in the mirror today. To me, that’s enough. It’s not our job to make others “like” us.  It’s not our job to be rich or famous. We shouldn’t need “stuff” to be valid. None of that’s required from any of us. Can we stop acting like it is? Our job is much simpler. Do what we love as much as possible. Be happy. Be joyous. Be free. Accept there will be sadness. Embrace all of it. Share our hope with others.  Help others when we can. Be grateful. The rest of it? Money … cars … social media? Stuff is nice, but we can’t take it with us. In the end, love is still what matters.”