I am feeling my musical edges being stretched these days. It makes me think about why I am connected to the kinds of music that I am.
I have always felt that I was attracted to good music, good songs, but there were some places that I didn't feel as comfortable. I have been thinking about that this morning, in this darkness before the dawn, before the silhouettes of the trees become seen.
I remember sitting at the phonograph with the songs of Cole Porter, filling in the "Music Minus One" vocals. I enjoyed "Popular Music", and "Rock and Roll", as a kid, and later. I still do, but I would have to say that that world of people, did not attract me as much as the music. When I found the world of "Folk Music", I felt a homecoming that I have not felt anywhere else . . even though much of the music was unfamiliar to me. I longed to play with the same kind of abandon . . . and connection . . . that I saw in the Old Time String Band folks and I picked up the fiddle and banjo. I gathered every Jimmy Rogers song recorded . . . and listened to them and learned to yodel . . . sort of. I sang acapella harmonies with the Gospel folks. There was something in the humanity of the music and the playing. it seemed so connected to the world I lived in. Well, . . wait a minute! . . The feeling of playing the music helped me feel connected. . . I think what really brought me into the fold was the quality of the people I was exposed to. It was a collection of real characters with real character. They showed me, indirectly, the importance of Integrity. The way I am thinking of "Integrity" here, is that their lives seemed to fit together, seamlessly. One piece made sense with the others. I was used to being around people whose lives were fragmented, as was mine. I was looking for a way to live that made sense to me. They showed me a number of alternatives. The invitation was not to "be like them" but to to find my own version on what my life of integrity would look like. I think that is what my connection to Pete Seeger always was. . and . . . in a more abstract way, Woody Guthrie. Woody was someone who existed for me on paper and in recordings, but how he actually lived his life, or even what his life actually was, was not as concrete. Pete, on the other hand, was an air-breathing person who had to navigate the same world at the same time and helped me to see things that I was not aware of. His choices not only helped me to see what was possible, but what was necessary, in terms of responding to the realities of this world we live in. Pete helped me to see how arbitrary musical labels are. I am finding, more and more, that there is only "Good Music" . . . and whatever isn't.These days, when I have difficulty finding my musical home, I have to look to the people. Who are they? What do they believe in? How does it feel to be around them? I am coming to understand that there is no destination for this journey . . . that it will always be changing. . . . and that each step determines where I am going.
I know songs that transport me . . that take me somewhere, and there are songs that assist my going even deeper into where I am. The incredible . . . soaring feeling . . . I can get when I have it working. It feels like catching a wave. I don't know where the energy comes from, but I feel it' s presence. I have been singing like that lately. I remember what it is . . . what I do . . . and what I am here for. I have not been doing enough of it. I know that, for my life to be of one piece, that piece must be there. It feeds the others!