Musicians are driven. We will endure poverty, rejection, bad gigs, stuffy, smelly buses and vans, sketchy motel rooms, junk food, long stretches away from loved ones and long stretches with some people who we can't stand. There is a primal need to keep pressing on to the nebulous goal of the perfect gig. We always tell ourselves, "It's right around the corner!" The reality is, we don't have a destination. Yes, we have the rehearsals, the gigs, the promise of a new audience in a new city, but the true reason we endure is hidden in the deep recesses of our psyche.
Something about music reaches the mind, heart and emotion of a musician differently than the normal person. I can remember, even as a child, deep feelings of love, sadness, longing, etc., when I heard a song on the radio or stereo. Distant memories of "Happy Together" by the Turtles, "Yesterday" by the Beatles, and "When I Was Seventeen" by Frank Sinatra come to mind. I don't know exactly when I decided to play the guitar, but I knew that when I heard music I wanted to re-create the emotions I felt when I listened to it.
My ability to hear harmony and sing on pitch caught my mother's ear as a youngster. She had an incredible musical ability herself which she applied to singing harmony and playing the piano. I guess since the guitar was the preeminent expressive instrument of my generation, I opted for one of those. I got my first one around 1967, and after fiddling around a bit, I realized I took to the 6 strings like I took to singing harmony.
Something in music keeps driving me. All through middle school, high school, and college I kept playing. Even when my band mates fell away because of a girlfriend, a job, or because they were sick of it all, I decided to keep on. I'm 51 in a month and I'm still on course! So many folks like me end up here in Nashville. We all look like refugees, carrying our instrument on one shoulder and a sack full of broken dreams on the other. Most of us are way past discouragement, so we keep walking.
I love my profession. It has taken me through 31 years of joy, sorrow, world travel and new vistas. The most valuable gift that I have from my travels is my beautiful wife, who decided 25 years ago to join me on this crazy journey.
So, it's time for a road trip for me and Brenda. I was too busy doing Christmas rehearsals last December to properly celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary (I deeply regret that!). So we're gonna pack it up and take a trip to Cleveland, Ohio, home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where a new Beatles exhibit opens. We will also visit some of my old stomping grounds where I once lived in Columbus, and stay with some dear friends. Then we will go to Ft. Wayne, Indiana to visit Sweetwater Sound to see Alan Parsons give a lecture (yes, the Alan Parsons of Beatles, Pink Floyd and the Alan Parsons Project fame!).
I look forward to being with my bride and making this pilgrimage, of sorts. It's not to replace a spiritual trip to Jerusalem--but pretty close. My journey as a music guy won't end until my heart stops beating. Until then, I'm gonna be playing, singing, writing and listening--trying to create the same emotion that put me on this road in the first place.
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