Welcome to "The Roadhouse Hymnals"

Where's It All Leading To? 

“Where’s it all leading to?” It’s the first line of the chorus in the song I released last month (I Wish I Knew). It was also my first stream of conscious thought when I woke up this morning. Minutes later I found myself in the shower singing the closing line of the bridge heading into the final verse of a song I’ll release in a few weeks titled “Better Man.” That line goes, “when you don’t know where you’re going, all roads lead you there.” Seems I have been writing songs to myself all this time and the…

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2024, the year I stop with my music 

You’re probably going to start seeing a deluge of proclamations across your social media feeds in the coming days and weeks. New year, new start. I think it’s natural for these cyclical reminders to motivate us to start doing things we either stopped, never got around to, or simply avoided doing all together. A new year can be a fresh start and it makes perfect sense to my mind to use the new calendar year as the genesis for any number of things I want to experience or accomplish in my life. My 2024 “to-do”…

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Music City Musings 

I’m wrapping up my final day on an exciting and incredibly humbling experience with my first Nashville recording session. I’m drinking coffee on a beautiful Fall Day outside a little diner on the outskirts of the city before I head over to the studio to meet up with my producer. I’m taking in the morning and reflecting on my week and thought I’d share the experience. I thought people might want a peek at what happens when you mix a world class recording studio employing professionals who play, write, and…

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The View 

To everything (turn, turn, turn) 

There is a season (turn, turn, turn) 

And a time to every purpose, under heaven 

A time to be born, a time to die 

A time to plant, a time to reap 

A time to kill, a time to heal 

A time to laugh, a time to weep 

To everything (turn, turn, turn) 

There is a season (turn, turn, turn) 

And a time to every purpose, under heaven

(Pete Seeger - "Turn, Turn, Turn")

King Solomon in all his infinite wisdom wrote down these words found in the book of Ecclesiastes nearly 3000 years…

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Getting Out of the Boat 

The two largest religions in the world today are Christianity and Islam, so I'm going to make an assumption a lot of folks reading this have a vague idea of who Jesus was/is regardless of your faith or the depth you pursue it. If you've at least heard of Jesus, you probably also have a vague awareness of the story about how he walked on water. If you don't know the story, no worries...I'll give you the super abridged version and I promise this isn't a sermon. 

Here's the story of Jesus walking on water in a…

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Scout 

I've been driving around all day occasionally glancing over at it in the front passenger seat to take in the the reminder of memories that made me smile and laugh. And of course the not so distant memory I've had rolling around in my head all day while I went out on my errands. It's been just under 24 hours, but the black leash with the bright red harness dulled over the years was worn by its owner for the last time yesterday. I took my dog Scout to the emergency clinic last night shortly after midnight…

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Well...did NOT see that coming 

I guess that title could be aptly applied to all of us as 2020 begins it’s fade in our rear-view mirror.   I can say without a doubt that this time last year (2 March 2020), a pandemic and its impact on the world and yes me personally did not even come close to making my list of a thousand concerns, plans, and things I would need to “prepare” for going into the new year.  Not. Even. Close.  But here we are.  Here I am. 

So as 2021 dawns with all its hope and promise of perhaps finally shedding the nightmare…

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Finding "Your Voice" 

I hadn’t been playing guitar too terribly long when I began to hear others talking about “finding their voice.” Huh? How do you find your voice...on a guitar? You just play it right? Put your fingers here, strum or pluck a few strings over there and if you’re lucky or have developed a modicum of talent, you should be able to produce something that resembles music. Right? Well, as it turns out there’s a little more to it. 

“Finding your voice” in music (according to my very quick search on the internet)…

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Playing Through the Changes 

In music we talk about “playing the changes.”  It simply means playing in a way that reflects the shifting harmony of the chord progression, choosing the right notes at the right time. feeling comfortable playing in any key, over any chords, in any area of the fretboard.

Usually when I make the decision to finally gather my thoughts, organize ideas, and commit to putting some words down for this blog, it’s because I have finally tuned in to the frequency the universe sends me. It’s faint at first, but when…

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Playing It Forward 

It's that time of year again, the holidays.  This means in all liklihood you're going to fall in one of two camps.  A.) You put up your tree the day after Thanksgiving, your Christmas shopping was pretty much done in October, and you wear tacky Christmas sweaters with reckless abandon.   Or, B.) you started stressing about gifts in September, you're likely wandering around the mall by yourself Christmas Eve and everyone in your life got a gift card.  I sadly tend to be in the latter group.  It's not as if I…

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