Sitting under a mantle with his family’s photographs looking down on him, Dave Crenshaw leans into his guitar as if it is second nature. His fingers move lightly across the strings, his head tilted upward as his lyrics fill the room.

Crenshaw, a Birmingham musician, is the first visually impaired person to perform in a play at the Birmingham Children’s Theatre.

Crenshaw has won two Grammys, has performed at sold out venues and toured with world renowned artists. In 2020, Crenshaw began losing his vision, which changed his relationship with the craft he has dedicated his entire life to. However, he has not missed a beat.

In February, Crenshaw performed in the Birmingham Children’s Theatre production, Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money, making him the first visually impaired actor in the theater’s 76-year history. Now, he said he is ready to explore what else the world of music and performance art takes him.

“Making music, motivating people, making people happy, telling my story, that’s what fulfills me. I want to just keep doing what I’m doing and taking it to a higher level,’ Crenshaw said. “I am hoping I can touch people through my music, art and humanitarian efforts.”

Born and raised in Birmingham, Crenshaw comes from a family of musicians and has spent his entire life creating music. His father, Edward E. Crenshaw Sr., was the Ramsay High School band director for 40 years and made sure his son appreciated all types of music.

Crenshaw, 43, picked up his first instrument, a cello, when he was 5 years old. He said there is no instrument he does not play.

Growing up, the musician would make music from whatever objects he could find, beating on classroom desks and playground trash cans.

To this day, Crenshaw travels to junkyards to see what new sounds he can create with the objects he finds.

“My thing is just taking sounds that we hear every day and incorporating that on stage and during performances. I’ve used stuff from park bench legs to drip pans from stoves, to screws that you see on 18-wheelers, and bottles and all types of crazy stuff. I like to incorporate new sounds that nobody would hear on a record. I think it’s just cool to do something different and innovative,” Crenshaw said.

When he was 9, Crenshaw played drums for the Sixth Ave. Baptist Church gospel band and at City Stages, formerly one of Birmingham’s largest music festivals.

He said his fondest memory was getting the opportunity to play with Miles Davis’ bandmates when he was only 10-years-old. He chuckled as he remembered the nickname they gave him: Little Drumski.

For years, Crenshaw took every opportunity to learn and grow. He attended jazz camps throughout the city and practiced under the guidance of other Birmingham musicians.

Crenshaw met PJ Morton, Maroon 5 keyboardist and Grammy-winning artist, in 2001 and began performing and making music with him.

In 2010, Crenshaw played percussion for R&B superstar Maxwell. They went on to win a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance in 2019 for a cover of “How Deep Is Your Love.” He won another Grammy in 2021, for his work on “Gospel According to PJ: From the Songbook of PJ Morton.”

After 10 years of playing together, Crenshaw went on tour with Maxwell in spring 2020.

However, that same year, he began losing his vision.

Upon being formally diagnosed with glaucoma, Crenshaw produced his first album, “Color and Sound,” an instrumental album with colors as song titles. He said he wanted each color to reflect the emotion the song evokes from his listeners.

Crenshaw’s love for music encouraged him to keep pursuing his passion after losing his vision.

“I use what happened to me to motivate and help other people. It’s a lot of people who are going through what I go through. I want to tell them to never give up. Keep going. Keep fighting,” Crenshaw said.

“My relationship with music definitely changed. I’ve always had a love for music. But it was me losing my sight that gave me more of a fine tooth comb approach to it. I see more details. I’ve always been a detailed musician, but now I can hear things that I couldn’t hear before. It took me to a different level as far as expression. It took me to a higher level, a more spiritual level through music,” Crenshaw said.

His newest album, “Heritage,” is an exploration into the timeline of music. The project took over two years to create. Crenshaw spent weeks researching the smallest of details, like how a microphone was positioned during the recordings of beloved classics.

“I’m putting myself in place of my family and ancestors. Each song from ‘Heritage’ is a song from each decade, starting from the ‘30s,” Crenshaw said. “Everything on the album sounds authentic, like it was recorded back in that time. So it’s pretty much just telling the story of the musicians in my family when they were performing.”

Before the album release, Crenshaw will perform with Grammy-nominated rapper Rick Ross, playing the drums, conducting and arranging in a show hosted by Destination Birmingham on April 21, 2024.

Despite his dedication to the craft, music is no longer his only passion.

In February, Crenshaw participated in the Birmingham Children’s Theatre’s “Mr. Chickees Funny Money,” a play about a blind musician, the first performance of its kind for the theater.

“I got a call from the theater, someone told them my name. I’ve been offered roles in movies before but I’ve never acted on stage. So I said, ‘why not?’ It was cool. It was kind of a learning process for me and for them because I found out that I’m the first vision impaired actor in that theater company’s history out of 76 years. It was such a cool experience,” Crenshaw said.

Despite his many accolades and achievements, Crenshaw said his favorite part about being a musician is making people happy and teaching the younger generation about the beauty of music.

From 2009-20, Crenshaw worked with the Alabama Blues Project, a program created to preserve the heritage of blues music through educational programs for youth.

Now, Crenshaw volunteers at the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind in Talladega where he helps students, ages 12-17, record an album and learn about the music industry.

“A lot of people don’t know a lot about the music history or that the people who shifted music and the industry have roots here in Alabama,” Crenshaw said. “I think it’s my job to show the world that there are a lot of talented people here. We have an industry here, a sound here that hasn’t been acknowledged or recognized like it should be. So I think that’s my job as a musician of Alabama to show that to the world.”