new year revolution
i’m choosing change for ‘22. there’s so much we have power over- our outlook, our choice of friends, our pursuits, and, to some degree, our health. my life over the last decade has centered around geographic change with lots of travel and 9 (!) moves. i’ve tried to spread myself around as much as possible. i’ve “shown up” for work, friends and family. it’s been fun and exciting, and i don’t regret any of it. but i feel the winds of change now internally and externally, and rather than fight it, i’m listening to it. as usual, music led the way- predicting the future- and so it has again.
the winds of change filled the sails of our latest album, which should be complete in march of this year, the one year mark since we started. we add final tracks and continue mixing mid-january. fittingly, “gypsy rider” was one of the first tracks written for this new musical chapter and it defined the sound and character of the album which borrows from the great British neo-folk artists of the ‘60’s— john martyn, nick drake, john renbourn, pentangle, and fairport convention. in fact, we have fairport drummer dave mattacks on gypsy rider! as i’ve said here before, this is an all-acoustic album without a single electric guitar; a marked departure for us, and a refreshing one.
we’ve re-defined our gigs at vincent’s worcester as a lifetime residency, every second saturday of each month, here on the east coast. it is so fitting for vincent’s and the van gogh brothers to establish a lifetime partnership, which i jokingly refer to as “every second saturday of the month for the rest of our lives or 10 years, whichever comes first.” we start in again on february 12th for valentine’s weekend and we’ve become more excited, invested and relaxed with each successive show. the covid-driven starting and stopping has energized us, and given us a deep appreciation for our long history with vincent, our friends and fans in central massachusetts, and our streamlined band in which we’ve simplified and cleaned our sound since stevie’s relocation to florida last spring.
i’m simplifying my work life, concentrating on fewer projects and leaving more physical and psychic space for the most important things— love, music, family and health. this last piece may be the most important. i had an early-year proof-of-concept experience with the importance of psychic space when my intuition told me to stop using caffeine, which i then discovered to be the cause of an eyesight problem i’ve battled with for my entire adult life. leaving space is new for me— the ultimate do-er — impatient, restless and usually over-committed, and change is a scary prospect. but the universe has spoken, and the proof is in the pudding as they say in england. more space, less waste!
one new project is the resumption of an autobiography which i started in 2020. people have told me for years to write a book about my life, but it feels very egotistical, so i’ve avoided it. but lately, as i look at how music has led me to new experiences over the years and i see how those experiences form a great circle, regardless of their seemingly different directions, i feel i owe it to my love of music to write it all down. i’m working on it chronologically and i’m still in the ‘70’s, which was one of several lifetime peaks, and of course a formative time, but what’s really exciting is that the best is yet to come— another theme of my life and perhaps central to my belief system. hope is so important, and for me has been the difference between an exciting, adventure-filled life and what perhaps might have been something much less interesting and rewarding, which brings me to the end of this missive.
the revolution for me in ‘22 is a re-commitment to hope. our recent modern history has had so much political, environmental and psychic despair, and i, like many of you, have been demoralized by it all. i’ve decided it’s time to turn my attention back to hope, despite the challenges. this is not an act of denial, it is an act of affirmation for a consciousness with proven benefits— and one in short supply these days. one important and powerful thing i’ve learned in recent years is that i can choose what i think about- and how i think about things. i’m reminding myself of this in ‘22 with this renewed commitment. the picture above is how i see the road ahead— long, open and beautiful.
we hope to see you along this road in the weeks ahead and i hope that you can move into the new year with joy, grace and… hope.
love,
jc