“My grandfather on my mom's side started a veterinary school in Nairobi , Kenya . He and his family lived in Africa for a year. I grew up hearing many stories about that time period when my grandfather and his kids lived in Africa . I always had this dream of going and I wrote it down, saying 'This is what I want to do.' I believe it's pretty important to write down your goals. There seems to be power in doing that.“ The opportunity presented itself to Sage when he was in college via a university-sponsored trip in association with Africa . Working construction, he was able to save up enough money to make his dream trip.
“I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro , all the way up to the top I was praying quite a bit about making it. I kept saying to myself, 'If I can't climb to the top of Kilimanjaro, then I won't be able to make it in Nashville .’ I realized, of course, that they are huge, completely different challenges, but it definitely spurred me on.” As Sage climbed, he visualized himself at the peak of the mountain saying to himself over and over again, “'It’s January 11th, 7 am and I'm at the Uhuru Peak, (Uhuru means 'freedom' in Swahili.)” He says, “At that elevation, it's really, really hard to breathe. Not using oxygen, your lungs are burning and it's cold. I just kind of kept on putting one foot in front of the other. When I finally got to the peak on January 11th, I thought, 'I wonder what time it is?’ I'd taken off my two pairs of gloves and several coats so I could look at my watch. It was just an amazing feeling because when I peeked at my watch between all my layers of clothing, it was 7 am on the dot. I thought, ‘Whew, ok I guess I’ll make it in Nashville now.’”
To say Sage’s heritage is colorful might be a bit of an understatement, as evidenced by only one of the stories passed down, “My great-grandfather on my Dad's side was a horse thief. He was leaving the family quite a bit and at one point was gone for a fair amount of time and during that time period he was in Alcatraz . My grandfather, his son, was born on an Indian reservation in Idaho . Got to keep in mind that my great-grandfather was this short, stocky German guy. My grandfather was a tall, lean guy and had straight hair, not curly hair so there's a mystery about whether or not my great-grandfather was actually my great-grandfather. My grandfather was a Wyoming cowboy and he was out in the sun a lot so he was dark, but I didn't know if it was because of the sun or what. One morning, I was sitting at breakfast with my grandparents at Denny’s. My grandfather had a bit of a sense of humor, so I still don't know if he was joking or not. I tried to figure out a way to ask him about whether his Dad was his Dad, without accusing his mother of anything. I looked up at my Grandad and said, ‘Sometimes when I look at you, you look like an old Indian chief. Do we have any Native American in our family?' I asked real innocently. He leaned over and put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Well, Sage, I don't know if I have any Indian in me, but my mom might have had a little Indian in her'. My mouth basically dropped to the table. My grandmother laughed with embarrassment. I never really found out. He passed away several years ago, my grandmother wouldn't ever let him talk much about his past because she would say, ‘Your mother wouldn't have wanted you to be talking about it'. So I'm afraid some mysteries about my past I may never know one way or the other.”
Sage adds laughing, “Like everybody, we got a lot of great people in my family, and like every family, we have a few people with some screws loose.”
After college, Sage considered either moving to L.A. to pursue an acting career or moving to Nashville to follow his musical dreams. He chose moving to Nashville . He learned what he could about the music business from observing and reading all the books he could find on the subject. ”I've always just loved live performance. That's where I get my kicks; there is no bigger thrill for me.. Performing is just something I've always felt and was in my heart. I've been very blessed to have a lot of wonderful, kind people give me their time, their services, and so on. I've been very fortunate. I've just been paying my dues for quite some time.”
Sage’s blind faith led him to appreciate what life has had to teach him, “When I moved to Nashville I didn't know anybody, I didn't even know that Music Row existed. But, I knew this is what I wanted to do, and I knew that I would figure out a way to get to where I want to go. I came to town with a real open mind to learn and listened to everyone's opinion and tried to formulate my own thoughts from those people's opinions.”
“From both sides of my family, we believe in hard work and the benefits that result from hard work and persistence, not many things have come to me easily. I definitely believe there are a lot of talented people in Nashville, but if they don't understand that it’s imperative that you have a good work ethic and persistence and dedication to what you’re doing, then you're not going to get anywhere. I feel very fortunate to have been taught those lessons early on in my life. One thing I somehow learned, at some point in time, is that you don't necessarily have to know full out how you're going to get to where you're gonna go.”
While Sage plans to continue basking in the joy of performing, he is also continuing to learn his way around the industry and even bringing his own flavor and ideas. “The music industry is hurting right now and the old business model just isn't working too well, so we got to come up with something new. I believe that I have, so I’ve got a venture in that. I think the best is yet to come. People like to see people that are having a good time. Sometimes you'll see performers that may not want to be there. They must just enjoy some other aspect of being an artist, but for me, I think people can always tell that I'm enjoying myself. I just have a great time.”
| written by Debbie DuBois Miller
