If was unemployed for the most of the eighties. I did have several temp-jobs and for a while I had a volunteers job full time, but they didn't need my skills as a teacher. To be honest, I mostly looked for other jobs than jobs in education. I've had some hard times back then, but I've learned a lot.
Nick Jaina from Portland, Oregon (again!) could say the same, because if you read his biografy, you'll see that he had a lot of jobs. Probably because he couldn't live from his work as a musician. Only in 2005 he decided to turn to music full time. This year Hush Records will be releasing three (!) albums by Nick Jaina. Early March they will release his latest product "Wool", in the spring followed by the re-release of "The 7 Stations", originally from 2006 and in the autumn a bandalbum by Nick and his band will be released.
If you listen to the first two songs of "Wool" (below), you won't immediately hear that Nick Jaina has a folk background. THis album contains mainly ballads and lullabies with simple lyrics. Nick sings and plays a piano which used to belong to Elliott Smith. The songs on "The 7 Stations" will take the listeners from one strange place to the other. The songs were recorded on several locations and with several musicians and instruments. The songs on this album clearly have their roots in folk music, like you can hear on the last two examples below.
>mp3: Maryanne
>mp3: Power
>mp3: Maybe Cocaine
>mp3: Seems to Calm the Baby