CMT Blog: Archive

Dolan Geiman, a visual artist who lives in Chicago, says that "listening to country music is like getting a postcard from home every day." He grew up in the Shenandoah Valley listening to Crystal Gayle, Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson, while working on art projects with his mother. "She's an artist as well, so she'd help understand how to use my creativity and she'd sing these wonderful songs while we worked on projects together. I guess in that way country music just naturally found its way into my work. … Now it's my daily dose of musical medicine that takes away my homesickness while reminding me of my roots."

Geiman travels coast to coast for outdoor craft festivals and his colorful work often draws on rural images like chirping birds, lonesome trees or singing cowboys. When he's working, he spreads out all of his tools (brushes, paint, sketches, clippings, etc.) on the table or floor, before he starts painting his canvas – which is actually a wood panel. "I have this clothesline in my studio where I pin up ideas that I'm working on, or if I find a cool pattern or color I want to use I put that up there as well," he says. "When I'm getting ready to paint or create something, I go to the clothesline and grab some things that keep me inspired throughout the creation process."

Along with bluegrass, newgrass and two-grass ("my definition of a two-person bluegrass band"), he's also enthusiastic about Scott Miller, as well as Jeff Zentner, an Asheville musician who enlisted Geiman to create his album art. "Basically if I'm in the studio, my radio is on and there's country music cranking out before anything else happens. If I didn't have country music, I'd lose most of what inspires me to create in the first place."