Greetings! It’s been a while since my last newsletter. It may appear that I’ve been on a long vacation, but the truth is I’ve been busier than ever, involved in projects mainly with young people and mostly not open to the general public. I've been in Florida working with several of the Parkland school shooting survivors. With the help of the students, 12 songwriters led by Peter Yarrow and I wrote 13 songs which has been released on a recording in early November. The record is called "Wake Up America." All proceeds will go to the foundations formed by the students and their parents to help fund their efforts in trying to bring some sane reform to the gun laws in our nation and hopefully end some of the senseless violence we hear about every day. Here is a link to a story about it and links to hear the recording on all streaming sites. https://www.tapinto.net/towns/parkland/sections/arts-and-entertainment/articles/wake-up-america-album-released-by-the-parkland-project.
I also spent some time writing songs for an organization called Better Angels. They are trying to bring people together at a time when the divide in our country is worse than ever. They believe that many of us are tired of the division and if we got to know each other as people, we might find we’re not as far apart as the media and social media makes us feel. I’m all for supporting their efforts in trying to bring people closer together. Check out their work at https://www.better-angels.org.
I will be taking off the rest of 2019 to have a much needed hip replacement and spend time with family and friends. I have lots of things planned for 2020 including trips to Nashville TN, Portland and Bend OR, Chicago IL, NY, NJ, TX and Fl. I’m adding more dates everyday. I will be sending out updates about those performances as well as local SF bay area shows soon.
Meanwhile, here is some info on my 16th annual Songcrafting Seminar in Nashville on Jan 24th - 26th, 2020 with special guests Allen Shamblin, Tom Douglas and Amy Speace. If you are a songwriter, I can’t think of a better way to spend the last weekend in January. For more info click on the register icon. Take care and I hope our paths cross again soon. Happy holidays!
