Narrator: Daniel's Music Foundation presents, a Just Call Me By My Name Artist: Devin Gutierrez, from New York, NY.
Description: Devin Gutierrez, playing keyboard and singing on stage in front of a large rusticated hearth.
Devin (Singing): Money, it's root of all evil--Money, yeah-yeah-yeah, it's the cause of all our pain...Money.
Description: Devin, sitting in a blue classroom, with guitars and musical instruments in the background. He has straight brown hair, a blue button-down shirt, and dark glasses.
Devin: My name is Devin Gutierrez. I am a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, arranger, and disability rights activist working out of Austin, Texas.
Music to me, is everything, quite simply. There's music of the Earth, music of the people, you know--even your footsteps are a rhythm.
Description: Devin standing in Times Square during the evening, surrounded by billboards and people passing by. He is smiling, and has his arms in the air.
Devin: The horns honking, the cars driving--everything has a pitch, everything has a tone--everything is music
Music has kept me sane through some of the most crazy things I've ever been through, and it's been the one thing that people couldn't take away from me, even in some of my darkest hours.
Description: Devin performing on a grand piano during the Third Annual Danny Awards.
Devin (singing): Five year old boy walking down the side of the road, says he's too hot, mama says 'do whatever you're told'--everybody say, 'ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba'. Downcast eyes and flaming feet, all he wants is a place to eat, well, his mama's looking for a place to get high.
Devin: Some people want to make it to the big screen, some people want to make it to the big stage...I just love immersing myself in music in whatever way I can, you know?
Every chance I get to perform is a new life for me. I love to channel emotion--I feel like being a musician is being a channel for emotion
Description: Devin performing on a grand piano during the Third Annual Danny Awards.
Devin:New York City, can I talk to you for a minute?
[Audience cheers]
Devin: What'd ya say?
[Audience cheers]
Devin: Can I talk to you about money?
Description: Devin, sitting in a blue classroom, with guitars and musical instruments in the background.
Devin: You know, I just feel so alive when I'm able to get a crowd to sing along with me. You know, I feel like me doing that with a crowd is the only time I'm able to truly clear my mind
I always have a lot of thoughts bouncing around, until I get on the stage, and I start the opening lines of a song, and the crowd starts joining in.
Description: Brief clips of a younger Devin, playing keyboard and singing, as well as a more recent clip of him playing on stage with a band.
Devin: I first started playing piano when I was about three, and started singing around the same time, and I just always have loved music. In 2016, I discovered the music of Stevie Wonder, and--you know, not because of his blindness, or anything, but strictly because of his musicality and his soulful expression, I was instantly blown away, and I started messing around with some Stevie Wonder tunes, and some jazz.
I also like to have my own style--you know, I go into the Elton John sometimes...I like Donny Hathaway, and Ray Charles, and Billy Joel--I love piano, you know? Piano and keyboard music
Description: Devin playing an upbeat instrumental blues song on stage with a band. In lights on the walls, a sign reads "Asleep at the Wheel"
Devin: As a gigging musician, it can be a very high stress environment, but I just try to like, approach it with a very open mindset of, you know: "A gig's a gig's a gig". It may not always sound the best it possibly can, but I'm going to do everything I can to make sure I put on a good performance.
Description: Clips of Devin in a recording studio surrounded by instruments, as well as more clips of Devin performing on stage.
Devin: There's so many cables involved with my particular setup. Because I use a MIDI controller keyboard, plugged into my computer, and then that has to be plugged into a USB hub, and an audio interface, and a this, and a that...Then I've gotta set up all the mics
At one of my recent gigs, one of my band members placed my keyboard on the stand, crooked, and it kept sliding off the front of the stand--this is like a big old keyboard, and it keeps sliding toward me, and I have to--in the middle of a song--keep shoving it backwards. You know, it's fun--I consider it a fun challenge to adapt to a new gigging environment.
Description: Clips from a charter bus, on a highway heading to upstate NY. Devin is sitting on the bus, by the window.
Devin: We are going to Bethel Woods Center, where the original Woodstock took place.
Description: Scenes from Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, including the Woodstock museum. Devin is standing in front of the stage that he will be performing on.
Devin: I'm most excited about hearing all the artists perform, and getting to join in the energy of all that. I feel empowered. I feel like, I'm in a spot now that I've never been before, and it's exciting, the developments that I'm gonna have in my music career from this very moment forward.
Description: Devin, on stage playing an instrumental version of Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind"
Devin: The song I chose to include on the EP is called "Money". It started back in 2021, when I found myself at a particularly low point in my financial situation. I actually was overdrafted a little bit--was kinda feeling a little bit of hunger pain, you know
Didn't have too much money on me, and I feel like it really could relate to a lot of the things that the world is going through right now. You know, there's so much inflation stuff going on right now, and people are having a lot of difficulty in this world
Description: Devin, playing keyboard and singing on stage in front of a large rusticated hearth.
Devin (Singing): Money, it's root of all evil. Money, it's the cause of all our pain. Money--something wrong in this whole world. Money--can't you see we're in a twirl.
Devin: Joining a label of musicians with disabilities is important, I think. Because, you know, I've seen a lot of people with disabilities kind of be relegated to a "inspiration poster", rather than, you know, an actual person with feelings, and with musical ability.
There's so many blind musicians, you know, some of whom are completely unsung musicians who are very great. I think we do have a bit to bring to the table, because we have a different auratory [auditory] method of hearing the music and joining with it. Because we don't use our vision for so much input, I feel like, me personally, I have more room for that musical expression
Devin (Singing): Money, money, money, money...Money, money--one last time! Money, money, money.
Thank you so much, Bethel Woods! Thank you so much DMF, we appreciate you all! All of us appreciate you--thank you so much!
Narrator: Visit danielsmusic.org/recordlabel to learn more, stream, or download today. Daniel's Music Foundation: Changing Lives Through Music Since 2006.