I am writing this on the first day of march, ever hopeful on the path we meet at the doorstep. Winter has seemed briefly disruptive, but almost welcome for its being delayed by the shivers and contortions of a planet bristling at the rate of man-made change.

Spring will come. Nature does what it knows how to do. life moves forward, driven by the ancient urge to realize itself. Music comes in tandem with this struggle, for heart and mind to sing of what we are and where we are going. In tough times, we need the song, the dance where we find ourselves. Even as our leaders have fallen off the path, we need not. history is a pendulum that swings one way and then the next in the increments of moons, lives, blood, and spirit. Dan Berrigan once told me: It’s okay to dance in the dark.

We do what we know with good intent until it becomes something better. By the strength of his arm, the sower sows. Life always contains the seeds of its own rebirth. The singer sings. Even in the smallness of what I do in the cacophony of the world, I hope there is love, some profundity, recognition, and joy in sharing our human identity.

So the music continues.

In late March, early April, I hope to start laying down tracks for the new CD, tentatively titled DAKOTA. Time and money have proved elusive. Songs have not. having accumulated a copious backlog of songs – and financial considerations aside – it is more a matter of what to leave off the record!

So I have spent hours looking at song lists, keys, tempos, themes, and lyrics in an attempt to compile a list of particular groupings of songs that might go well together musically and thematically. I’m just about there.

DAKOTA will include some of the songs that have been part of the live show for some time – Hello New Mexico, Coyote Night, Julianna, We Was Just Boys. It will also explore a bit of the American experience, writ large and small, to muse on our roots and discover our branches. A bit southwest, a bit of the Georgia prison and the forgotten magic of the plains, thunderstorms in the Catskills, babies crying while coyotes howl, the Smokey Mountain dedication to the land, and a race with the devil imploring all of us to be in love with our lives.

Alex and Wayne and perhaps some others will be joining me on some of the songs. I look forward to their contributions and inspiration. I also look forward to getting back into Media Music Studio and working with Jamie Brown and Michael Gibbons.

peace in our time,
until further on,
tom