I experienced one of my most prolific songwriting stretches. I was in my mid-30’s, enjoying a confluence of skill, passion, and discipline. (Such is common for people at that age. The New-Agers, mystics, and other knowers-of-things call it “Saturn-Returning.”) …The only unusual thing about these songs is that there are 31 of them in the same package.
Read MoreBringing Pollyanna and Cassandra together has not been easy. This is not a match made in Heaven. Limited time, limited resources, limited equipment, and unlimited naiveté. But true love is stubborn.
Read More“Pollyanna,” the derogatory nickname for a person who is optimistic so far beyond realism, that such optimism ceases to be a virtue. “Cassandra,” the Trojan prophetess of doom. I take to be some sort of archetype for a personality that is peculiarly intelligent, sensitive, but self-fulfillingly tragic.
Read MoreMost fields of endeavor are populated by “mediocre men.” They don’t “run things” so much as “maintain things” with gate-keeping, rites of initiation, rigid themes of expectation, micro-hazings and harassments that reserve places in the hierarchy for other mediocre men.
Read MoreUpon given her a solo section, he said, “Now’s the time you show your stuff. And you know you got a lot of stuff to show!” …Her solo was far from a sizzling show of “her stuff.” She played like she wanted to disappear. After rehearsal, she left before everyone else. And a moment ensued that I will never forget. The bass player said, “Man, you can’t talk to her like that! That’s sexual harrassment.”
Read MoreThe pandemic created the most universally, mutually supportive environment for independent artists than I have experience in my 35 years of doing it…. One gig is worth a week of rehearsals.
Read More“That Bonnie Raitt song,” said my friend back in the late 80’s, “is so beautiful. But that old man who sings it with her kinda ruins it.”
Read MoreI’ve written only three “important” songs. What I mean is, in thirty years of songwriting, only three of my precious creative brainchildren might make a person stop and think about something they weren’t already thinking about. …If I can get away with delivering a line like “the burden gets lighter, and the love grows brighter,” it means that my skills are honed.
Read MoreThe day after Thanksgiving, I released “A Song About This.” It’s the best song I’ve written in years, and I intend to not make a single dime off of it for myself. In the ongoing effort of equality and justice, all BandCamp and digital-streaming proceeds go to the Eugene, Oregon local chapter of the NAACP.)
Read More…”Hobo-Rock” anthem. Closing salvo at the spiritual fatigue and exhaustion from ever-digging deep and ever-fighting the good fight. You might say it’s a paradoxical surrender by simply raising the flag and declaring victory for no apparent reason.
Read MoreI’m not known for optimistic love songs -- an average of one per decade. So why now, when the country is burning with pain and division?
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