Gary Fulkerson, "This Must Be Falling"

Dream it. Trust it. Chase it.

Big-time advertising executives can go their whole career without stumbling upon a slogan as concise and inspiring as that one.

Those six words represent the way Gary Fulkerson — local singer-songwriter and, as it happens, creative director at Bend’s DVA Advertising & Public Relations — describes what he has learned in his music-making career.

To be clear, that career stretches back just a half-dozen years or so, to when Fulkerson learned to play guitar and began writing songs. He took his first batch of tunes and turned them into an album called “Float & Scatter,” one of the better local releases of 2010.

And tonight, he’ll celebrate his sophomore effort, “This Must Be Falling,” with a show at Silver Moon Brewing & Taproom in Bend (see “If you go”).

Where “Float” was quiet, sparse and a bit downcast, “Falling” finds Fulkerson blossoming into his own as a songwriter and performer, with guidance from producer Jim Goodwin of Sisters.

“His passion for the songs made this album what it is,” Fulkerson said in an interview Monday. “He truly brought these songs to life.”

You can hear that life in the full-band arrangements, lush production and plainspoken sense of hope and clarity that permeate “Falling.”

It’s the kind of clarity you experience when you feel you’ve learned a great life lesson, and the kind of hope you want to convey to others who may still be learning.

“If you listen to (the album), you can sense the migration of me, personally,” Fulkerson said. “I hope it also represents the migration of everyone who listens to it and what they go through.

“That’s why I write, for God’s sake, because I’ve learned so much through this,” he continued. “And I feel that the themes are vital and universal, and so it’s important to share that.”

The songs on “Falling” are presented in the order they were written. As such, they tell a sort of linear story of Fulkerson’s artistic progression and personal journey: The first few songs — written two-plus years ago — find him grappling with his place in life and the place he’d like to be. The next five detail his understanding that life’s joy is not about looking for whatever’s next, but investing in what’s right in front of you.

It’s about being in the moment, in other words. It’s the journey, not the destination.

“Great Divide,” a slinky, slow-burning number with an expansive chorus, is about “finally getting fed up with being stuck and ripping open the blinds,” Fulkerson said. The next track, “Hope Above,” is the emotional center of the album as he sings:

“Roads paved, choices made. They lead me to the storm/ Pray for rain, wash it all away and get me there by morn.”

The last few songs on “Falling” — some written earlier this year — are all about sharing the album’s central message.

“There’s a purpose to me doing this. There’s a reason for this happening,” Fulkerson said. “So I respect that and write truthfully for that purpose, and it’s to inspire others to see what I’ve seen.”

And here is where Fulkerson, who also recently played the lead role in the musical comedy “Spamalot” at the Tower Theatre, shifts into what could be yet another life path: motivational speaker.

“All you have to do is dream it, trust it and then chase it. All three of those things have to happen,” he said. “You’re not going to get anywhere if you don’t picture that place you want to be and then … trust that you can do it. We’re the only thing that gets in our way.

“And then you have to chase it because you have to be an active participant. You can’t just sit there and expect the universe to plop it into your lap,” Fulkerson said. “If you just follow those three things, I swear you can achieve anything in this world and I’m living proof of it.”

— Reporter: 541-383-377, bsalmon@bendbulletin.com