As you have no doubt figured out, I’m not the most prolific contributor to the blogosphere. Seeing as how it’s been months since my last post, I think this fact should be fairly obvious. The guitar modifications I talked about last time have long since been completed (with great results, by the way), but so what. That’s just “stuff”. Who really cares?

No, this time I want to share with you this wonderful picture drawn by a young artist named Cora. She and her sister Hattie happened to be on one of the many (unintentional) air flights we took while trying to get back home from Cleveland after Christmas. In the midst of what became a long, drawn-out, holiday travel debacle, we found ourselves on the tarmac for an extended period of time, waiting to take off. So, what else could I do but pull out my guitar to help pass the time? I tried to be as unobtrusive as possible so as not to be a nuisance, but at times the volume would increase and occasionally Carol and Brant would join in for some soul-satisfying three-part harmony.

Along the way we met Cora, Hattie, and her parents. All of us stuck in the same boat, trying to get out of Cleveland and back to the “real” world – in this case via Jackson (Mississippi) and Houston. They, on their way to Phoenix; and us, on our way back to Dallas. It was only later, after I played a few rounds of peek-a-boo with Hattie (the younger), that Cora slipped Brant this picture.

As I looked at the drawing, I was so touched I could hardly speak. It was as if God himself thumped me on the head and said, “Hey stupid! Don’t you see? THIS is what it’s all about!” I was reminded that every moment, whether we are in the comfortable surroundings of home or whether we are feeling the frustration of trying to “get” from one place to another, is a chance to touch and be touched by real people who aren’t simply part of the scenery, but whose lives MATTER. People who are precious in God’s sight and whose dreams are every bit as important (if not MORE so) than our own.

As I write this, I am reminded of Philippians 2:3, which says, “do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves”.

Perhaps, to Cora, this is just one of many such creations she has produced out of the simple joy she gets from the act of drawing. But, to me, this was one of those defining moments where I was jolted out of my cynical, self-absorbed world and, like a computer, rebooted. Maybe we will never cross paths again (or perhaps we may), but either way I will never forget Cora and her family.

Well, here she is. My trusty Mexican Strat that is about to become my “project guitar”. After thinking about this for quite some time, I’ve decided to try my hand at some much-needed modifications.

The first changes will deal with what I hope will be some solid tuning improvements. This includes a set of locking tuners, a graphite nut, and removal of the string tree. At the same time, I will be departing from the stock fender bridge by installing an L. R. Baggs X-Bridge, to add some variation to the tonal palette.

Phase II, Lord willing, will involve replacing the bridge pickup with a dual humbucker. I haven’t decided for sure what it’s going to be, so at this point I’m open to suggestions!

Okay, you may consider this to be a bit of shameless self-promotion. Well…uh…you may be right. But guess what? One of my latest tunes, “God’s Own Heart“, is the featured “song of the month” for June at the Christian Songwriters Network web site.

So, I just want to send a big “thank you” to the folks over there for giving it a listen. And, for those of you who don’t know, CSN is a huge community of Christian songwriters with some great folks who encourage, critique, provide a network of support for those who are into Jesus Christ and, specifically, the Christian songwriting scene…

No, that’s not me in the picture. In fact, it’s my ol’ high school buddy Mark Murtha. You’ve heard me go on about what a great guitarist he is, but that’s only part of the story. He’s also an awesome songwriter and recording musician. Don’t ask me why he’s not sharing his tunes on the web, but he should be. Perhaps we should start a grass-roots campaign to convince him to!

Anyway, last month I blogged about a project we’ve been working on together, Somebody Like You. Well, after a bit of long-distance tracking, I was finally able to get him to replace some of my sloppy guitar work with the REAL DEAL. Man, oh man, what a world of difference it made. Check it out:

At the same time, I did some additional remixing to fix some things that were bothering me and also added a few more sonic “spices”. Not the least of which is MORE COWBELL! Unfortunately, it may not be prominent enough to please Bruce D…

Visit the song page for download options and more info.

Recently, I pulled a song out of the drawer that had been sitting there, unfinished, for quite some time. I’m not sure how to categorize this one - for a songwriter, it can be difficult to label one’s own work. Quite often, people hear things in a tune that I don’t notice.

But anyway, I felt inspired to work on it again, and the result is what you should hear if you hit the play button below. It has sort of a retro kind of sound to it - not the edgy, modern sound that everyone is used to these days. I think I did the guitar track when I was going through a bit of a mellow Larry Carlton phase - not that I’m comparing myself to him by any stretch of the imagination!

This is also one of those songs that seemed to take on a life of its own while I was recording it; it’s as if I had very little choice in arranging it any other way. It’s an example of simply writing a song without the goal of coming up with a “hit” or targeting it to any specific audience.

So, I hope you enjoy! I’d be interested in hearing your impressions…

Visit the song page for download options and more info.