After two dedicated decades of writing and recording music, I have decided it’s time to take a walk down memory lane. And what better way to recall the moments than to perform every. single. song. live, in front of the Elegant Folk who fueled the fire all these years?
So I’ve created the Soldier for the Muse Concert Series—a monthly show where I’m inviting you, the Elegant Folk, to be a part of the recording sessions.
4/9: Rhetoric Tuesday (2002–2004)
5/14: Orange Chrome Sky (2006)
6/11: Bittersweet Parade (2010)
7/9: Long Before the Wheel (2010) + Lovely Little Victory (2014)
8/13: Some Days I’m a Lion (2012)
9/10: Another Gleam (2013)
10/8: New Northbound (2017)
11/12: New Songs! (2018)
I’ve been writing and performing music for so long now, I’ve fallen into the pattern of playing only the crowd favorites. I often forget about the b-sides that occupied my head and my heart for longer than the rest. So I vowed to give each creation its due: a concert series of ALL the songs from all the years.
Then I started to think about the name of this series, and I couldn’t help but recall the long road and the sacrifices and the disappointments … and how it has still never felt like a job, but rather a calling. A service. A duty.
It has only ever been an honor to serve. And that sentiment led me to my lyric from Fight ’til Dying Day—a sentiment that all at once sums up the bittersweet experience, and my unwavering dedication to this thing that, I feel, chose me long ago.
As long as there has been a song, I’ve felt it in my bones;
It was a gift from my dear mother and her father who passed on—
We’re a long line of Music Makers and of Soldiers for the Muse.