Who We Are

Indy Local Live was born with a core belief–People become more connected when we understand one another's stories.

The vehicle for Indy Local Live is music…in particular local, live music.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe all music and all musicians have a story...through their work, musicians create connective tissue that draws us closer to them, their songs, and ultimately one another. If you think about your favorite artists, and maybe that one song that every time it plays you get goose bumps…those goose bumps come from the deeper meaning of a song…the story behind the song, behind a lyric–behind the artist.

I probably first experienced that (that I fully recognize and remember vividly) with U2’s song One off the Joshua Tree. That record, and that song in particular, were written during a turbulent time for the band. They went from being an unknown group of high school kids practicing in a kitchen to vaulting to international stardom in a pretty short timeframe.

They had reached the mountaintop with The Joshua Tree. As a band, as individuals, in relationships…where do we go when we’ve reached a zenith? So that record, and that song, address U2's tension and fracture in that moment, but ultimately speak to a universal experience of strain that visits all relationships...eventually.

The one (pun intended) lyric that has become a driving force for me personally, my work, and the lens through which I view the world…

We get to carry each other, carry each other…

Notice…we GET to carry each other. Not we have to carry, not we should carry…we GET to carry each other.

Our common humanity is built around carrying each other…when I need it, when you need it…when WE need it. We all need to be carried sometime, and it's been my life experience that more often than not, music has done the heavy lifting, has carried me when I needed it most.

That IS the fundamental principle behind Indy Local Live.

Local musicians playing live…sometimes in front of 3 people, sometimes 30, sometimes 300…those are the stories I want to tell.

Whether they are playing original songs or covers, musicians are sharing a little bit of their story every time they strike that first note…blend that first chord, sing that first lyric…musicians continue to remind us that music makes us all human.

Somehow, someway, even where there are divides, music, musicians, and the stories they share are the glue that binds us together.

And, I’m here for it. To learn and tell those deeper stories.

This is Indy Local Live.

— Stan Abell, Founder