I picked up my guitar on the morning of Jan. 1 and glanced out the front window of my house, which faces east. The sunrise was a brilliant red, calling to mind the old aphorism about red skies and sailors.
I grabbed my pencil and wrote, “Crimson sky on New Year’s morn, Old sailors take it as a warning; Crimson sky on New Year’s night, Sailors ready for delight.”
That seemed like a good start, so I lifted the guitar again. I decided to try starting the song with a more exotic chord than your plain vanilla C or D or G, so I droned out an Asus2, which has a strange, lovely sound made by pressing just two strings side by side (four strings on the 12-string guitar).
I called out the lyrics I’d just written, and my mind seemed to say the moment called for a rather standard transition to G and then D.
Somewhat to my surprise, the words that I sang next sprang from the Old Testament book of Joshua.
“As for me and my house, we’re gonna serve the Lord.”
A short time later, I had a composition of eight verses that have not changed much since then, my first new song of the new year. And the adventure was on.
I had ended the old year by crafting a medley of songs about peace and love that I dubbed “Peace Trilogy,” reminiscent of Mickey Newbury’s “American Trilogy,” and a romantic song for Mary titled “What You Mean To Me.” “Me And My House” continued that musical momentum, but I couldn’t have foreseen what the next six weeks would bring.
Between then and now, 11 more songs emerged — 10 newly minted and one ancient cover — and now I have enough material for an approximately 40-minute album. Wednesday night I fiddled with ideas for the album cover, and a natural title came to me: “Crimson Sky On New Year’s Morn,” my first lyrics of the new year.
They are songs of peace and songs of love, folk songs and rock songs, serious songs and silly songs. I have eight completed recordings that may or may not require further tweaks, and I have six songs yet to be turned into what I hear in my head.
As I said a few days ago, I expect to be ready to share these recordings in the spring. At this pace it may be the very first day of spring. In any case I have the structure of a 14-song album and now a title and a cover.
On New Year’s Eve I made a list of 9-15 creative projects I thought I’d like to produce in 2026. “A collection of new songs” was the 15th idea on the list. I could not have suspected it would be the first project I’m likely to finish. It’s going to be an interesting year.
