I’m still reflecting on what my pastor friend said Sunday about having fun studying the Bible — “You might say I HAVE to say that because I’m a pastor, but maybe I’m a pastor because the Bible is fun.”
There’s an oft-quoted saying that if you find a job doing what you love, you won’t work a day in your life. That’s mostly true. I did love making radio and newspapers back in the day, but even then there were days when the work felt like work, if you know what I mean, and I’m sure you do. Even a guy who has fun exploring the Bible is going to wake up some mornings and say, “Oh Lord, why do I have to be a pastor today?!”
And what do you do if what you have fun doing does not pay the bills? I had a lot of fun in the 1980s writing and recording my songs, but it never turned into something that would enhance my bank account — partially (strike that, your honor) mostly because I was unwilling to do the things persistently that singer-songwriters have to do to get their songs out to the world.
These days it’s a lot easier to distribute your music to the world from the comfort of your home, without the weeks on a tour bus or the other dues musicians have had to pay in past years. And so, perhaps, I might become the oldest guy ever to win the “Best New Artist” Grammy award. I would settle for a few dollars tossed into my guitar case while I play on a sunny street corner, or whatever the modern-day equivalent is. With a sweet blonde cheerleader nudging me on, maybe this time I get heard.
At the very least, I’m writing new songs and taking the old songs out from under the bushel basket after 40-odd years. It’s a start.
• Fifty-odd years ago, when I first started playing the guitar and writing songs, my best friend Ed gave me my first bit of constructive criticism “I notice you don’t play anything farther up the neck.” I have only occasionally explored past the third or fourth fret in all these years — that’s part of the reason I called my last album New Dog, Old Tricks.
I set my guitar aside for more than 10 years and have only been playing again for about two, and now I’m timidly starting to tinker in that zone where Ed tried to direct me those decades ago. I’m sure it will make my playing more interesting if I stick to it — and the “if I stick to it” is the story of my life. New habits are hard to make.
