In this interview, we spend a few minutes chatting with singer/songwriter Nino Polizzi about his music, his influences what it takes to survive as an indie musician in a digital world, and his newest project When The River Thaws.

Introduce yourself to our readers and describe the style of music you create.

My name is Nino Polizzi from Illinois. I consider myself a storyteller through my songs, both drawing from personal experiences and experiences of the people in my life. I try to mainly write about the ups and downs of love and relationships and my musical style varies per song depending on the lyrical material. I try to sometimes be vague in my songs in the hopes of allowing for a wider audience to be able to connect and indentify with my songs.

Who or what influences your playing and/or writing styles? Also, what motivates you to keep creating?

My wife and family have been constant influences in my writing. I consider my relationships with them one of the most important things in my life and my writing usually flows from the love and emotion that they give and show to me. I have been motivated to keep creating by the feedback that I have received of my songs. It’s always awesome to get good feedback on my songs from family and friends, but I am incredibly touched when I gain new fans and they share how a song of mine has impacted them. That is reason enough for me to continue writing and releasing material as long as I have new songs swirling around in my head.

What was the last song you listened to?

“New Skies” by Dan Mangan + Blacksmith. Awesome song. Awesome band and singer-songwriter.

Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what are one or two of the biggest challenges you face when trying to attract listeners to your music?

One of the biggest challenges I face is getting my music to the right listeners. Being a fully independent artist, I feel constant pressure trying to promote my music when faced with the heavy promotion of musicians on labels that have the resources to reach millions more of the listeners than most independent artists. Luckily, many music blogs and reviewers have been helping me get my music to the right ears by giving my music a chance and sharing it with their readers. I owe many of my followers to the wonderful folks who are listening to and sharing independent music on their blogs and websites.

Do you gig, tour or perform through any live streaming services? Where can music lovers see you perform?

It has been roughly a year since I last performed live, but I am looking to get back onto the live music scene in the coming months. In the meantime, I am working on getting back to regularly uploading videos to my YouTube channel.

Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more of your music?

I have made all of my songs free to download from my website, ninopolizzi.com. Most of my songs are also available for download on my Soundcloud page, along with many early versions/demos of many of my songs. My music is also available through most Internet music retailers, including iTunes and Spotify.

Any last thoughts? Shout outs? Words of wisdom?

Writing music truly is an awesome and intimate way to share one’s feelings and ideas to a public audience and it has been incredible gaining fans from around the world.

I wanted to give a special shout out to my wife Anne, forever my muse and my inspiration.

As for words of wisdom, if you write music, get it out there and share it with the world.

Even if only one person in the world hears it, it is worth it.