In the music business, there are a lot of first times. For Sound Traveler, I remember the first time we played in public, the first time we played out of town, and the first time we played at a folk festival in Florida. For many events there is a second time, a third time, and so on. But that first time is always unique. Questions arise. Will the people like what we’re doing? What kind of songs will be perfect for the venue? How can we perform in such a way that we will be asked back? How can we maximize the joy that we experience in presenting what we have to offer? Questions, questions, questions – and the answers only come in time. This Friday night we will have our third engagement on The Indian River Queen. We have [...]

The wizard left his humble shelter just after dusk. Soon after, a light breeze swooped through, jostling his straggly hair. A few hundred yards from his house, the wizard sat down in a secluded spot and on a solitary tree stump. He began to think. He thought about his life, his family, his home. He thought about the world, the worlds beyond, and the whispers of love that always seemed to be buzzing in his ears. And he began to softly sing, the notes dissipating in the night air…. I don’t know where the songs come from. Oh, I can tell the story of how each one came to live with me. I can share the event that made me open to each one. But where they actually come from, I don’t know. Of songs that I have written, I [...]

Putting a CD together is a labor of love – it’s something we love to do, but it’s hard work also. There are times when the process progresses smoothly and without incident. One sound combines with another in synchronized fashion until an idea becomes a melodic and rhythmical creation, something that brings a smile to our faces. At other times it can be a mind-numbing procedure as we play the same song over and over, struggling to produce the clarity, balance, and expressiveness of sound that exists in our mind. When we hear the same song repeatedly, it’s sometimes hard to retain the objectivity necessary to make good musical decisions. But we stick with it, believing that we are producing something of worth. Then it’s done. The last note is entered, the last picture is included on the cover, and [...]

The playing and performance of music is a mysterious practice. Sometimes it is as simple as breathing, sometimes it is as passionate as torrid lovemaking, and sometimes it is as mystical as angels in flight. This summer I learned that Lawrence Wiseman, a legend in Avery County North Carolina, had given up breath in this life and had moved on to the next. A few years ago I wrote a story about one of his later performances. I’d like to publish it here, out of respect to Lawrence and his family, and in a sense of wonder about the gift that music confers upon some special individuals like Lawrence: The Ancient Fiddler In his eighties, he isn’t too steady on his feet. His eyes seem more vacant than even the last time I saw him. But he is there, standing [...]

Yesterday was a great day here in Cape Canaveral. The sun came up, the air was breathable, there was good food to be had, and most of us were free to make choices to do the things we wanted to do. When I turned on TV, however, things seemed different. I saw death and destruction in Afghanistan, I saw people starving in Somalia, I saw pictures of stock market prices plunging through the floor, and I saw a somber American president struggling to say something – anything – to make us all feel better. As most of you know, I am a child of the sixties. I remember marches on Washington, protests in the streets, young people preaching love and brotherhood. On one hand it seemed like anarchy; on the other, it seemed like life! Instead of everyone watching people [...]

A philosopher once said, “Am I a man who dreams he is a butterfly, or a butterfly who dreams he is a man?” When I am in the mountains of western North Carolina, a place where I lived for more than thirty years, it feels like I am home and that I could never live anywhere else. Many people call me by name and ask me how I’m doing. My personal relationships there have grown over time and cross generations. When I return to the incredible Space Coast of Florida, again I feel at home and that I could never feel as at ease anywhere else. Not as many people know me from as far back, but I have good friends here. And I have a wonderful home and a loving wife. When I am in either place I feel [...]