An entry from my aphorisms project on Facebook…
My Accidental Third-Act Solo “Career:” covid & injury force my hand–and voice
Singing solo in front of a band was mostly fine, but the idea of just my voice and guitar, well, I wasn’t so keen on that.
Making ROOTS AND BRANCHES: “Know You Rider”
“Know You Rider” is about as trad as you can get. It’s been done innumerable ways by a host of artists with varying lyrics. Its origins are shrouded in mystery. But it’s always been about “(I) know you rider, gonna miss me when I’m gone.” In high school I played the…
Making ROOTS AND BRANCHES: “Travelin’”
“Travelin’” is the instrumental that follows “Travelin’ Man” as an instrumental journey to follow in the footsteps of the its counterpart. In its incarnation as a featured song of the Montreal band Harlequin in the mid-1970s “Travelin’ Man” was always followed by this roughly five-minute instrumental. Now it’s part of…
Making ROOTS AND BRANCHES: “Travelin’ Man”
I wrote “Travelin’ Man” in the mid-1970’s for the band Harlequin, which I co-founded with violinist Joel Zifkin while we were students at McGill University. It became a mainstay in the band’s repertoire. “Travelin’ Man” segued into an unnamed instrumental written by Joel and me. The entire dual-song performance clocked…
Making ROOTS AND BRANCHES: “Lucky’s Cafe”
“Lucky’s Café” is a barroom lament about looking for love in all the wrong places.