- Music has been a part of my life since the moment I was born.

I wouldn't be who I am without music.

My mother was a singer.

My father was a singer.

My grandfather was a singer.

(guitar plays smoothly) ♪ Ooooh hoooo ♪ Music is all a part of me.

It's all a part of us.

It's all a part of everybody.

There's no life without music.

I'm Greg Gutty, and this is my story.

♪ Sometimes the road ♪ ♪ Seems hard to bare.

♪ ♪ Sometimes the road, ♪ ♪ Seems hard to bare.

♪ I got my starb singing at five years old, up in the church.

And it grew from there to doing talent shows and singing at other different church conventions and stuff like that.

♪ I said, oh my Lord.

♪ As a youth, my aunts and family members would play a lot of old age, red Indian, different classic soul music.

♪ Some say that the world going crazy, yeah.

♪ Then it went from that to hip hop.

Most recently, I discovered the music of Bob Marley, and I believe that was the most influential music to me because certain things that he spoke about and his perspective on music, is how I was raised.

♪ Sometimes the road, ♪ ♪ Is hard to see.

♪ Prophet William Saunders Crowdy founded The Church of God and Saints of Christ in 1896.

And my family was one of the original members.

They call us colored people.

They call us black.

Negros.

♪ Oh my Lord.

♪ Prophet Crowdy taught us that we are Hebrew Israelites.

That's our nationality.

♪ Some say that the world gone crazy.

♪ And then with Bob Marley, he spoke about peace, love and unity, but, the deeper message that he had us for is Rastafarian, and the culture, and the children of Israel, and the people setting traditions from old times.

That's when I was able to connect my roots.

And I just want to carry on the same messages.

♪ I know it's ♪ ♪ Every day is well.

♪ It wasn't even like I was intentionally trying to do reggae music.

It just kind of happened that way.

Yeah.

♪ Oh Lord, yeah.

♪ (powerful upbeat music) I looked in a dictionary and I came across the name Gutty.

(indistinct) Standing strong through hard times, I was like, wow, that works.

That actually relates to me.

And it became an acronym.

Getting Up Through The Years.

From the bottom to the top.

♪ I said we're on the move.

♪ ♪ And we ain't got time to waste.

♪ When I really took my career serious, I'm going to every open mic there is.

Doing seven shows in one week, performing from here to New York, to Atlanta.

Everywhere.

I was selling CDs on the street.

So, that's how I got my name out there so much.

I was like, eventually I'm going to need a band to develop the sound that I'm looking for.

So, that's when I reached out to different musicians and started putting the pieces together.

And I named it The Port of Rain, which stands for, music surrounded by the spirit of the eye, the most high.

Then on stage is an experience.

You go into another person, it's almost like you're not yourself, The people's responses and people singing along to your songs.

It's a lot of excitement.

The music world is a powerful industry, and you definitely got to keep up, you know, it's very fast paced.

For every door that opens, you've had at least 10 or 20 that was slammed in your face.

But I love what I do.

I get to spread my music and the message to the people who really need it the most.

Just appreciate the opportunity that music gives me.

To be able to travel, go to different parts of the world and just meet so many different people and just learn and grow.

Hopefully my music can help someone maybe far and near.

♪ Hey na na na.

♪ Whether it's coming to shows just to dance and have fun, or sitting back and really vibing out to the concert of what I'm singing.

I appreciate everyone who listens and has supported my career so far.

The journey has just begun.

(guitar plays) (piano music) No matter how beautiful life may seem, you can't really ignore the harsh realities that a lot of us face on a day-to-day basis.

♪ It's just got me living with doubt.

♪ Watching the news, there's always another black man getting killed or police brutality.

♪ As I look outside my window.

♪ And that's really seem like the only way you can make the news, is by having something negative.

It's rough.

♪ So I read my bible.

♪ Me, myself, I've been through my own share of hardships from being incarcerated, and, having kids at an early age.

But even though things seem like, out of control, looking back on it, I wouldn't be who I am today without those moments in life.

Now it's like, me being a musician, I can share those stories and hopefully prevent someone else from going through certain things that I went through.

♪ Until it comes tumbling down.

♪ Because that's what music is, always therapy.

It was always a melody or a song or something that got me through my darkest moments.

♪ Until it comes tumbling down.

♪ It's kind of hard not to sing and write about it.

And a lot of times you get lost in the music because you don't really see a way out of the situations that you're in.

♪ Coz I'm weighed down, weighed down.

♪ At the same time, we have to be optimistic.

♪ Until it comes tumbling down, oh.

♪ It's all about finding the right way to channel that energy and use it towards something positive that can motivate you and inspire you to keep pushing through.

And music gives me that outlet to do that.

♪ Yeah-he-he-yeah.

♪ That's a beautiful thing.

♪ Comes tumbling down, down, down, down.

♪ (instrumental song ending) (upbeat music begins) Growing up in Portsmouth was bitter sweet.

Because, a lot of great talents come from here.

But at the same time, it's a very dark place too because it's a lot of underprivileged people just trying to survive every day.

♪ Say what you going to do?

♪ ♪ What you going to say?

♪ ♪ Where you going to go when your time's up?

♪ Although you see a lot of destruction around you, it still was a certain love that we all share.

We just try to uplift each other in our own way.

We look out for each other at the end of the day.

Our music will always have that spirit of Portsmouth in it.

Day by day.

Song by song.

Stage by stage.

City by city.

I'm just out here, trying to make the world a better place.

Just me and my guitar.

Fulfilling my purpose.

I feel like that's my reason for even being a musician, is to use my gifts to inspire people.

To do the right thing.

♪ What you going to do?

♪ ♪ What you going to say?

♪ ♪ Where you going to go when your time's up?

♪ That's what I'm going to keep doing.

That's what I've been doing since I was born.

That's what I see myself doing until I'm gone.

Music gave this all to me.

And I gave my all back to music.

Greg Gutty.

(upbeat music playing)