I did a song swap with Susan Gibson this last year. During the show, we shared with the audience a little bit about our process in writing songs. I said that my songs are usually written by hearing the words and the melody at the same time. Susan responded, “That’s a gift.”
I believe that we receive gifts every day. Some we recognize. Some we do not. Others come with a downside – being both “curses and blessings.” But they are still gifts.
As I look to 2011, I want to recognize my daily gifts – those “blessings”, if you will, that do not cause some earth shattering change in the world, but have a potential to enrich my soul and lead me on to a better place in my own development as a person.
And I want to recognize my ability to give as being more than the package that lights up my child’s face. Gifts are many times small exchanges between people that may not necessarily change the course of the person’s life, but add a light to that person’s soul. If I think of any dark day of my own, sometimes that light means more to me than any expensive gift I could ever receive.
In the spirit of giving that so typifies this holiday, I give you the only thing that I can – my music. I give you 2 songs that I now recognize were gifts to me. They’re acoustic demos (which means they’re stripped down to guitar and vocal). I hope to record them this year, but we will see what will happen.
One song, called “I Don’t Go There” was written after I returned from a trip to France this summer. I had been lacking in inspiration and motivation and a new friend inspired me to find joy again in songwriting. This song came from inside my soul. Wayne Turner is playing the guitar track on this acoustic demo and (in my opinion), made the song.
Download I Dont Go There.mp3 (10MB)
The second song is one that I wrote from a place of inspiration awhile ago. I was inspired to finish the song after the trip to France. I wrote this song when thinking of the ordeal we experienced during Hurricane Ike in 2008. When a Hurricane hits, you know that it is coming. Your lights go off in the middle of the night and you see the storm swirling around you – winds destroying homes and trees in your neighborhood – and you realize that there isn’t anything that you can do. You have to just let the storm happen. And once it has finished, you can then begin to pick up the pieces and get things back together. I thought how relationships can be like that – you’re in the middle of a storm and there’s nothing you can do. You have to just let it happen. Only when it’s over can you pick up the pieces and try to put it back together again. The song is called “After the Storm”. Wayne Turner is on guitar again and again does an amazing job.
Download After the Storm.mp3 (9MB)
Merry Christmas everybody.
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