Two week before Carol and I married, I was not able to travel to Tyler because of work responsibilities in El Dorado.  I got a call from her that Friday night.  She was at The Forge in Ben Wheeler -- one of our favorite acoustic venues in the area.  She said "Listen to this..." and held the phone up for me to listen to Heather Little and Drew Hall.  I was duly impressed.  When she got on the phone again, as we talked, I found out that Heather co-wrote one of my favorite Miranda Lambert cuts -- "Me and Charlie Talkin'".  I could hear it in the music I was listening to over the phone.

Needless to say, I have since visited her website and listened to some of her other pieces.  She is a young but very talented writer.  I hope to get a chance to talk to her and write a little more about her in the future.  For now, I am looking forward to hearing her in person tonight.  If you get a chance to hear her, she is well worth the listen.

Well, I'm finally getting settled in East Texas and starting to dust off the guitar and manuscript paper.  Carol Ann and I started collaborating on a new song today.  It is a pleasure to work with someone you have so much in common with when you are doing something creative.  I will be looking at a couple of other things -- a re-write of a co-write done with Las Cruces songwriter Gary Clute, and and a re-write of "Near".  Carol Ann, being a writer herself, knows very much the fact that "re-writing is my life".  So it goes!

Sorry for the lack of activity in recent history.  Last weekend I relocated to Tyler, Texas in preparation for my marriage to Carol Ann Hicks day after tomorrow.  We are down to the wire :  )  We got our marriage license with an hour to spare for the 72 hour minimum wait time.  The errands have been multiplying like jackrabbits.  Tonight, the first wave of family members comes from out of town and many, many to follow tomorrow.  It is an exciting time for us.

After the honeymoon and Christmas in New Mexico, I hope to get engaged in writing again.  Thanks for your prayers and well-wishes.

Carol Ann and I are officially engaged as of last Saturday and looking forward to the life God has for us ahead.   For a synopsis of our relationship you can look at Facebook.  I am attaching a little unfinished song I wrote for Carol Ann called "Near" which kinda looks into the future when we have begun our life together and have times we must be apart.  Press the Play arrow above to listen.  Here are the lyrics:

v1
You’re feelin’ lonely and
You can’t sleep
Have no lovin’ arms
Your soul to keep
Sad to know I’ll be
Gone for days
Wishin’... hopin’
I could’ve stayed...
Near

(Chorus)
Sometimes I'm dull
Between my ears
Forget about our
Better years
You smile and
Blow a kiss to me
Showin’ me the place
To be is...
Near

v2
You sound so sad and I
Want to say
I feel a hundred thousand
Miles away
Want you to know
You’re wanted still
And I can tell that
You’ll be thrilled
When I’m...
Near


There is a little musical interlude after the second chorus which is where the yet unwritten bridge goes... then leads back into the chorus and out.

Enjoy!

I have mentioned Bezalel and Oholiab before as examples of how artisans can be "agents" of God's kingdom in the use of their gifts and talents in a way that reflects their Maker and his character.

This week I read a very good article by R.J Rushdoony dealing with this very subject in the bi-monthly publication of the Chalcedon Foundation.  Here is a link to an online version of the article (reading it requires a free sign-up).  I highly recommend it.

http://chalcedon.edu/faith-for-all-of-life/the-spirit-filled-men-2/

I had the opportunity to go to the second meeting of the new North Louisiana NSAI regional meeting last night, hosted by Shayla Blake and attended by several other area wrtiters -- young, "old" and in-between.  It was an enjoyable time.  After doing some exercises to  get the songwriter "thinking cap" on we enjoyed reviewing some of each others' songs.  As planned, there will be a meeting the second Tuesday of each month. 

I got Galen Breen's demo of "Rubbin' Off On Me" this morning.  Hope you enjoy.

This has been a very busy few weeks.  I have been doing a lot of traveling... many trips to Texas and one to Kansas.  In the midst of it, my third eval for "That's Where We Belong" was very good and Lucky 13 had a few suggestions to tie it up.  I submitted the latest -- and possibly last -- version of it this week.  It has really shaped up and taken a different tone musically and lyrically than it started out with -- all to the better.

I've been working on a new love song -- "Near" -- this week.  I wrote the lyrics the last of April and am just now getting to the scoring of it.  That has been going well and I hope to have an initial version of it done this week.  I will (finally) have some new demo material posted soon.  Stay tuned!