My name is Drew Davis, and I am a musician leading an unconventional lifestyle.  I quit my job in October to pursue what I love full-time, and I have been going non-stop every since. I have been essentially living out of my Toyota Corolla, driving all over the country to perform and share my music. Since making this decision, I have quickly realized that if you put all of your energy into what you really love, you can make things happen that you never even dreamed of -- but, you can't do any of this without support. I wouldn't be in the position I am today, a full-time musician who can sustain herself, without the help of everyone who has come out to a show, put money in the tip jar, bought CDs, opened up their homes, even people who have simply written me a heartfelt message about how my music has impacted them (that's the best kind of fuel for the road). It's not always a comfortable thing to ask for help, especially financially, but I am stepping out of my comfort zone to continue to do what I love in hopes that your investments will help take me to the next level. So now, I am creating this indiegogo campaign to ask for a tremendous amount of help as I prepare for a two-month European tour and the release of my third full-length album.  

Your generous donations will help fund:

CD and Merch 

The majority of my material has really only been available online. As a now touring artist, this really hurts me in being able to sustain myself. For my upcoming album, I want to be able to master and print professional copies for distribution that I can ship to all of you supporters and be able to take to Germany with me and future trips on the road. I have also been making a TON of new merch to serve as incentives for your donations, which comes at a cost to me, as well. Your donations will help me make back the cost of pressing the new album and making new merch items for this campaign. 

The European Tour 

A company called Songs & Whispers has booked me for a month-long tour in Germany this September. I am so excited to take my music overseas, that I have decided to extend the journey into August, where I will be playing shows only in Munich for two and a half weeks and neighboring countries for the rest of the time. Everything is taken care of as far as booking the venues and the promotion of the shows goes, but, similar to many of my shows in the US, I will be relying 100% on tips and merch sales from the audiences to cover my expenses.

Touring the US has taught me that this can range anywhere from about $200 a show to $1.36 (that's a real amount I made after a two-hour show in Santa Ana, CA). Getting to Europe is going to be expensive, and I need your help making sure I can have my bases covered and focus on what my main goal should be - giving my best performance and sharing my music, not worrying about how many CDs I'll be selling to make ends meet.  My flight over there will cost around $1600, the flat I'm staying in for the month of September costs around $700, the keyboard I am renting while I'm out there is costing around $500, and I will also need to rent a car and purchase train tickets to get me from show to show. With $5,800, I will not even be breaking even for the cost of making the merch and my basic costs for living out in Europe for two months. If I don't reach my goal, the money you contribute will still be going towards all of these expenses to help me make this happen as much as possible. 

I am launching this campaign not only to get help to continue doing what I love for a living, but also to hopefully inspire other people to pursue their passions as well. If you can be brave enough to go for what you really want, I think it is entirely possible. These last few months on the road have completely validated that belief. Life is too short to not be doing what you really love, and once you hone in on what that really is, you need to take a leap of faith and go for it. BUT, you can't do it without help. This applies to any endeavor. Small businesses rely on the help and support of their local communities, new restaurants rely on people coming through the door to try their food and spread the (hopefully good) word, non-profits rely 100 percent on funding from other people to help make their vision of a better world a reality. Life as a musician is no different. Even Beyonce relies on the support of her fans to buy her new albums, sell out her shows, share her videos, etc., etc. I am no Beyonce, but our needs aren't very different. By supporting what I'm attempting to do, hopefully you will be inspired to take a chance on yourself, too. 

If you are unable to contribute, you can still help me tremendously:

• Help me get the word out and make some noise about my campaign! Get on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and blow up your feeds! Email your contacts who support independent music. Helping me spread the word is just as valuable as a donation. 
• Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Soundcloud. By following what I do, you're not only motivating me to continue doing it, but also helping me build a bigger online fan base, which is invaluable to an independent artist like myself.