My father acted and directed in local theater, sang in chorale groups, and wrote stories and poetry. . . I learned to read music as a kid by one-noting out the Steven Foster tunes my grandmother played on the piano, and looking in the book to see how they wrote it down. . . A girl named Kay got me started playing the guitar while we were at Oakland University. . . My 22nd birthday present was finding out people liked my singing, at the Cafe Godot in Putney, Vermont. . . I learned some blues licks and blues harp playing with Dink Mantle in the St. Louis gaslight district. . .
are
wonderful
gadgets
Hearing Hoyt Axton do 'Endless Road' on the dobro one night in L.A. in 1965 is why I have one. . . One of my best songs is a re-write (with her permission) of a song by Randy Phillips. And there are so many more. . .
So "names" like Dylan,
Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Hoyt Axton and more have had their effect, but
truth be told, it's been mostly "unknowns"-- family, friends and
acquaintances, up close and personal-- who have been the biggest influences
on what I do with music. I sure didn't get
here alone.
(The answer to "Please God, I'd rather do it myself," is,
"Are you sayin' you think you can drive that turnip truck you
fell off of?" )
Besides the people, there are less tangible influences, like where the songs come from. Ask any musician: the way we write the stuff is, we hear voices-- vocals and instrumentals. But if that's true-- if I'm listening-- then who's singing? Who's playing that melody in my head that's so pretty I'm going to learn to do it too? If that was me, I'd already know how to play it. . .
So I listen, and try to get the good stuff down, and rewrite it, and mess with the melodic lines and the chords and the picking-- but saying "I" wrote it is really just a conversational convenience. It doesn't begin to tell you the magic in how the music happens.
Dobro surgery-- it needed a voicelift.
Making music is called playing-- and it's absolutely true.
I'd rather hear an amateur play than a "pro" work any night of the week-- and I've worked enough nights that I'm glad you never heard to know the difference. That's not to say it should all be cheap-thrill "fun and games"; getting really intense about playing is what's really, really a pleasure. Practicing the handcraft can be work, yes; and writing and re-writing words sometimes too-- but in the end songs are my favorite sandbox, and the words and melodies and instruments my favorite toys.
