excuse me for interrupting my semi-regularly scheduled programming of menswear and music hodgepodge, but i wanted to share this commencement speech from nashville songwriter tom douglas.  tom’s written a number of hits, but my favorite song of his is “the house that built me” (recorded by miranda lambert and went #1 on the billboard country chart).  he had an interesting path to songwriting success as you will hear in his speech.

i grew up in nashville and always wanted to be a songwriter.  i’m now a banker, so you can probably see why this speech hits home for me.  i love my job, but i still dream about playing music full time.  i’m not going to give anything away, but i hope it gives you a little motivation to pursue what you love to do.  and if you don’t have time to listen to the whole thing, be sure to listen long enough to hear tom tell the graduates what 3 things to remember as they go off into the world.  ok, fine, i’ll tell you.  he says you must remember: 1) where you’re from 2) who you are and 3) whose you are.  #wisdom