I’ve had some kind words over the years… but one stands above the rest…
It came through a window…
Back in the late 90s… I was living in a little downstairs apartment outside Atlanta… just me… a guitar… and a lot going on in life…
Most nights I’d sit by that open window and play… sing… pour it all out…
What I didn’t know…
Was that someone was listening…
There was a girl in the neighborhood… and for about a month… she would come by at night… lean up against the outside of my building… just out of sight…
And listen…
She told me later… she’d wait, hoping I’d be there… that my songs helped her get through things she was dealing with…
That she would just stand there… breathing it in… and for a little while…
She could forget her life…
One night… she finally said hello…
And I’ll never forget all the things she said to me…
That my music gave her peace… even if just for a moment…
I’ve never had a better compliment than that…
Not applause… not praise…
Just knowing that something coming out of my heart… reached someone else’s…
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…”
We’re still digging into Tonic — and there is so much gold left to be found.. You know how it is… you’ve got to get to know someone before you marry them — believe you me 💯
So I’ve got two more sweet ones for you today…
🎶 “Take Me As I Am” Year released: 2o02 Album.. Head on Straight (Tonic’s third studio album) Album release date.. September 24.. 2o02
🎶 “Knock Down Walls” Year released.. 1999 Album.. Sugar (Tonic’s second studio album) Album release date.. November 9.. 1999
And just a cool little fact about me… Pretty much every song I’ve ever shared with yall on this blog — I also play and sing myself… me and my guitar 🎸
Hope you enjoy… I truly appreciate you…
This song has the F word in it.. just once.. at the 1:37 mark.. it’s not bad.. it’s quick.. 👇
👇the first 6 lines are some of the lyrics to Adele’s Hello… the last 3… my prayer …….↘↘↘~∞~· · ·→|→⇢→⇢→⇢→↗~’ …….☎→☎→☎→☎→☎~’ …….←→←→~⧗~↓♥↓’ …….~↘↘↘→∅→∅→∅’ …….↘🌍↘🌍↘~∞~→||→□’ …….~|~|~|→╱╲→†→╱╲’ …….↘↘↘→🜁→🜂→🜁→🜂’ …….≀≀≀→⚡→⚡→⚡’ …….↘→□→□→□→□→~’…..
When I was fourteen.. my best friend was killed in a dirt-bike accident.. I can’t begin to tell you what it did to me… Crushed is the only word I have right now.. and even that feels too small..
We were closer than brothers..
After the funeral.. I fell into my bedroom. That room became my world — my home inside my home.. I shut down.. Closed myself off.. No access allowed..
Everyone was worried about me..
It felt like I was on a camping trip in the wilderness alone.. And I stayed there for a whole year..
I needed something… but I didn’t know what..
I started borrowing CDs and cassette tapes from my uncle..
I found an old tape in a forgotten box in the attic — Bob Dylan’s Another Side of Bob Dylan… and I disappeared into it.
rock… country… blues… folk… old… new…
Hank Williams Jr… And the only Christian song I even knew back then.. Amazing Grace..
I didn’t just listen — I drank it.. And the more I drank.. the thirstier I got.. So I went swimming in it.. Something I still do..
Meanwhile.. God was walking the edges of me…
One night.. I awoke from a dream that wouldn’t let go… and there in the corner of my room was a silhouette.. shaped like a guitar..
my mother was so worried about me she didn’t know what else to do.. So she bought me an acoustic guitar.. And one night.. while I was sleeping… she placed it right where I would see it.. the moment I opened my eyes..
and so I took it
I played it… and I played it… and I played it…
until my fingers bled
until it started playing me..
I learned it — taught myself — until it learned me back..
Song after song.. Day after day.. night after night… Month after month.. From the fall of 1988 into the winter of 1989..
I played it…..
until it became my heartbeat..
And finally…
after a year in the wilderness…
I emerged from my room..
ready to face my giants…
…
of the 90’s…
…
…
…
First song i ever learned on guitar 👇
I had many songs embedded in this story.. but it was causing it to load super slow.. so I deleted most of them…
My Friend Joey’Me`
Psalm 34:18 (NKJV)
“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted.. and saves those who are crushed in spirit…”
One love…one blood💥 One life…you got to do what you should`-, One life…with each other💥 Sisters…brothers💥……..`~-¡`”,;:,’i>’ One life but we’re not the same💥 We get to carry each other…carry each other…,1′ One💥 …….:°→^’ One💥 1+1=1 …..,1’`
Heart of Loia `'.,°~ 