An exciting development lately has been how much playing music has been in my life lately.
I just helped two music production students last week by backing them up on acoustic lead guitar/vocals/dobro slide guitar, with music faculty Tim Haertel on stand-up bass. We played for IU Southeast’s Founder’s Day Luncheon. It was a fun gig, as the young students wanted to play classics like Jackson Browne’s “Running on Empty,” John Denver’s “Country Roads (Take Me Home),” Tom Petty’s “Learning to Fly,” and Jackson Browne/Eagle’s “Take it Easy.” I also got to do a vocal solo on the Stones’ “Dead Flowers.” Those songs are almost all ones I used to play in bars, and were fun to resurrect for a new generation of pickers.
Also been rehearsing with roots/Americana/Bluegrass pickers – sometimes with Music and English faculty (Bourbon Sidecars) sometimes with dulcimer/guitar/vocalist Molly McCormick and stand-up bass player David Rodgers (Molly’s Mutts), and now and then at the jam on Sundays at Lettersong Gallery.
Here is my new publicity photo.
I’m sure this dive into music is inspiring my poetry and other writing!
