I breathe in and out and there's 50 minutes gone. I put on a
record and start massaging my still groggy and already overworked
arms under hot water. I'll create a minute or two of music today, I
can hear it in my head, feel it on the tips of my fingers, and I
think I can sing some of it. I can, and what's more, there might be
words. I turn the water off, grab a bag of peas from the freezer,
and stop singing for a second to fully enjoy the soothing and
stimulating clash of hot and cold. With my arms and hands
sufficiently recovered, I stop the record and lustfully sweep my
mandolin up off the couch, throwing the strap over my head so I can
wander through the house tuning, playing, humming, tuning, thinking,
day-dreaming, playing, singing--ha! Got something. I've moved on
from the instrumental mumbling I exhaled before my little break to a
short melody, reminiscent of both the fiddle tunes and the Bach I
inhaled earlier. But I'm still unfocused, and this little thing is
too derivative--just progress. Hey, that phrase there, that's good!
Well, half of it, anyway. Victory! Something to work with,
something to build on. That's all I need.

Some acoustic records you should own:

"Tales From the Acoustic Planet" by Bela Fleck
"Take it Home" by Hot Rize
"Cold Blow and the Rainy Night" by Planxty
"Sunny Spells and Scattered Showers" by Solas
"Uncommon Ritual" by Edgar Meyer