..For this week’s Hidden Gems from the B-Side, I’m digging into the catalog of Flyleaf — a Christian rock band that brought raw emotion.. powerful spiritual themes into the rock world in the mid-2000s. Led by the incredible voice of Lacey Sturm, one of my favorite singers, their music never shied away from pain, redemption, and the search for truth.
The band came out of Texas — the same region that gave us rock legends like Pantera and ZZ Top — proving that powerful music can rise from the same soil in very different ways.
🎶 Circle Album: Memento Mori Year: 2009
🎶 Again Album: Memento Mori Year: 2009
Both songs come from their 2nd studio album…
As a bonus, I’m also adding a video of Lacey’s testimony, where she shares the powerful story of how Christ transformed her life.
Hope y’all enjoy… 🎸
👇 💯
2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Last night.. I dreamed I stood alone in a wild, untamed land — a place so alive it felt almost unreal. The trees burned with impossible colors, and the sunlight shot through everything in thick, glowing rays, like you could reach out and grab the light itself.
As I turned in slow circles, trying to drink it all in, a voice from nowhere said,
“Look! Here they come.”
And then I saw them.
They were ghosts — unmistakably ghosts — the spirits of Native American people, sliding out from the deep woods and rising up from the ground itself. Semi-transparent, otherworldly, they moved in long, silent lines, hundreds of them drifting past… some straight through me…
They didn’t look at me… didn’t react…
they just kept moving… wrapped in a silence I didn’t dare disturb.
It felt exactly like if you were sitting alone on your couch and suddenly the walls opened and your whole house filled with transparent figures.
When the last one passed through… the voice spoke again
“Now go, and paint what you saw.”
And I woke up — shaken and moved — knowing those words weren’t going to leave me alone.
…
I’m a dreamer… all my life…
many powerful ones…
but this one hits different…
This 👆 is a super cool video.. just found it
Me
Also.. I don’t paint or draw
when it comes to my dreams.. I have discernment.. I know when they are from above.. I know when they are bad.. I’m also able to tell when they are just my mind.. or meaningless random stuff.. and also over time I usually get the interpretation for many of them.. that comes from above as well…
Psalm 16:7 (KJV)
“I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel… my reins also instruct me in the night seasons…”
BarlowGirl 🎶 Song for the Broken 🎶 Sing Me a Love Song…
This week I’m digging into two deeper cuts from BarlowGirl — “Song for the Broken” from How Can We Be Silent (2007) and “Sing Me a Love Song” from Love & War (2009), their fifth and final studio album.. also nominated for a Dove Award for album of the year…
These ladies have so many deep cuts.. as a musician.. I really enjoy and appreciate them.. I listen much.. it’s good stuff..
I also added a bonus interview vid… I hope you enjoy and have a blessed Sunday…
Bonus interview 👇
Lauren.. Alyssa.. Becca..
🔥 Acts 4:12 (KJV)
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
Happy Friday, folks! Got two good ones for you today… 🎸
The Blues Man came out in 1980 on Habits Old and New. it’s one of those lived-in songs.
A little cool info about this one… I’ve told yall before — I play all of Hank’s songs. over the years… this one was probably my most requested. I had an ex-girlfriend once… every time I picked up my guitar, she’d ask for it.. and it wasn’t just her.. friends… people hanging around… same thing. “Play The Blues Man.” just something about it…
Then go back a year to 1979 and Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound… to O.D.’d in Denver… so I got S.I.’d in Denver once.. but never overdosed there… thank God…
Hope yall enjoy these… 🎶🔥
*** Got my info wrong.. Waylon Jennings did not write The Blues Man according to sources.. it was written by Hank Jr… i was for sure it was Hank.. but then saw something online about Waylon and went with it before confirming ***
I was in chorus all through grade school… into high school…
learned how to sight read sheet music for vocals early on…
I started playing the guitar when I was 14… as a way to let go of deep loss…
it was a life saver…
later.. I picked up the bass…
shortly after that.. the piano…
might as well throw the harmonica in the mix…
I decided music was the way for me…
As a solo artist I played nightclubs and bars… concerts and music festivals…
I was part of a group of worldwide musicians known as ThePond…
we did online performances and in-person music festivals…
Then later…
I stopped all the secular stuff… went full-on Christian music…
I was a worship leader in church… also at different men’s ministries…
I had a traveling music ministry…
where I would go minister at hospitals and nursing homes and drug rehabs… mental health facilities…
I was also in a Christian band… KingsGuard.
I stayed so busy with it…
I got overwhelmed…
I started losing the fire… the desire to play…
About 3 years ago…
I decided I was done with it…
I got rid of my guitars… gave them away…
I can’t fake it…
I was burned out…
About 6 months ago…
I started feeling a spark inside… that fire again…
I realized that it’s who I am…
it’s part of me…
always will be…
Guess I just had to do life without it.
Live for a while.
…
Last night…
I started searching Amazon for my next guitar…
narrowed it down to two choices…
was planning on buying one of them…
This morning.. my uncle called me…
he’s a great musician and singer…
he’s sick… many health problems…
two weeks ago.. they found out he has a rare cancer…
He has two guitars…
he’s giving me one…
The other is his baby…
he wants me to hold it for him…
if his health gets better… he will get it back…
If not… he wants me to have it…
So here I am…
that old fire starting to flicker again…
guitars coming back into my life…
not in a cardboard box from Amazon…
but out of the hands of my uncle…
a man who’s carried songs through his own pain…
It feels like God is putting a guitar back in my hands through him…
a reminder that this calling never really left…
and this time…
I don’t have to run it down…
I just have to receive it…
and honor it.
…
…
found this hidden gem of me playing back stage.. with my fellow musicians from ThePond… this was PONDFEST 2o08… at Chimney Rock.. North Carolina… Lake Lure area… same place the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed… the people in the video are from all over the world… we are just messing around here.. practicing… learning new songs.. I had been drinking vodka all day… ugg I don’t drink like that anymore 😁👇 that’s me on the left
Message Received Loud N’ Clear… played today for the first time In a fat minute.
🎸 Psalm 40:3 “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God…”
🎸 Matthew Sweet — Hidden Gems Two deep cuts worth the spotlight.. “Evangeline” and “Not When I Need It.” “Evangeline” comes from Girlfriend (1991), Sweet’s breakout power-pop classic. It wasn’t a single, but it became a fan favorite for its hooks and guitar fire—and it was inspired by the comic-book character Evangeline, blending sci-fi imagery with aching pop romance.
A few years later, 100% Fun (1995) kept the melodic magic rolling. “Not When I Need It” is one of those perfect deep cuts—bright, punchy, and emotionally honest. Together, these tracks show Sweet’s sweet spot: killer hooks with real heart.
Discovering Matthew Sweet in the early ’90s was a blast for me—cranking his CDs, guitar in hand, playing along in my room. Hope you enjoy this little trip back 🎸
Also, I love the guitar riffs in “Evangeline”… many of his songs have it like that.
Heart of Loia `'.,°~ 