Still a Mystery
IN THE MID-1990s, songs began streaming in from nowhere. This was both unexpected and confounding as I had no idea why or what they were for. Although writing generally comes easy, I discovered in the ’60s that I have no ability to intentionally write a song. And I was fine with that. I can’t read music anyway.
Then they continued, one after another, writing themselves while I watched. And, from my vantage point, they were pretty good—some far more musically sophisticated than I was, me being mostly a three-chord folkie.
I recorded a few of them, starting with Slip Away—as a musical meditation for hospice patients. Not much of a market there. Then I recorded a CD—like I was going to hit the road as a middle-aged singer-songwriter with a mortgage. That also went nowhere. Then I discovered chaplaincy and set aside everything else to pursue that.
So here we are now. Along the way, I acquired a digital studio and learned how to record and mix music—specifically an album of harp compositions, also for hospice patients. Came out well but then that was that.
Twenty years later? May as well use that studio to make my own demos—recorded songs do reveal more dimensions than lyrics in a notebook!—and share them online.
Within my limitations, I’ve done my best to make the messages shine through. Maybe more gifted musicians will pick them up and take them to the next level? Who knows? For now, give a listen and see if they speak to you as they are.
MATTIE’S SONG: An Anthem for Kindness
MATTIE STEPANEK was a child prodigy poet and peace advocate. Born with a rare form of muscular dystrophy, Mattie lived most of his life wheelchair-bound and tethered to oxygen before dying in 2004, a month short of his 14th birthday.
Yet in his brief life he wrote six bestselling books of poetry, and deeply touched millions—including me—on videos, TV and radio, sharing the uplifting power of his “Heartsongs.”
Mattie’s Song is my tribute to this amazing child and his vision of peace, kindness, hope and joy in a world filled with chaos, cruelty, pain, sorrow and heartbreak.
For more information on his life, work, and vision, go to Mattie’s Peace Foundation or Mattie Matters.
CARRY ON: Being a Light in the Darkness
THE WORLD, it seems, is on fire. Social media fans the flames. Facts are no longer facts. Friends are turning on one another. America’s democratic institutions are crumbling under assault from within. Masked agents are randomly kidnapping innocent people of color off the streets, holding them in secret detention.
How does one find a spiritual center in the midst of this growing fever of rage, aggression and violence that has seemingly taken over the body politic?
I wasn’t sure myself when I started writing this song, staring into a seemingly infinite abyss of brazen hate and cruelty, until it appeared on the page—that we just carry on, do our best.
There are no guarantees of peaceful, pleasant, stable times. The world is what it is; spirituality is how we respond. With fear? With despair? Or with the courage of an open heart?
It’s up to us.
TIME MACHINE: A Demo Concept Album
NOW THAT I’ve aged out of any youthful delusions of fame and fortune, I’m putting these songs out to the world, mostly for free. Since I am still in the process of mixing and tweaking them, the finished songs will be released as completed, one at a time, from this site. If you’re interested in receiving them, please subscribe.
Meanwhile, here’s a link to a sampling of the songs thus far:
