Resilient Foundations for Business
1. OPEN WATER
2. I Hold On
3. Snow in Summer
4. I Ain’t Ready for a Fight
5. Hope Rides on the Horizon
1. Ride to Remember
2. Someone Paid the Piper
3. Breathing Again
4. Stupid
5. Two Left Feet
BONUS TRACK: Let it Rain – A message for today – in 70’s psychedelic
As a culture, we tend to honour the pursuit of the extraordinary. The paparazzi serve to supply us with images of the elite, and we all want to be known as knowing someone extraordinary – we even post signs about our local talent that made it to the big league – as if to suggest that we are extraordinary by association. This is curious (and highly subjective), but it can also rob us of contentment, peace and freedom to be.
I have disproportionately strong hands. They are tough hands, able to sustain injury and even bleed without me noticing. They have several scars on each and are rarely if ever manicured. Some of my friends like to joke that they can’t tell if they are looking at my hands or if I am “holding a bunch of bananas”. I get a kick out of taking my rings off and passing them on to others to try on – as they usually end up on thumbs or toes.
I have often said that it is an odd connection to have a musician’s heart with a concrete-worker’s hands.
So, maybe it is a miracle that I can play guitar at all – but I find the hand an amazing piece of design work. There are 29 joints, 27 bones, 123 named ligaments, no muscles – all of which are controlled by the forearms, and the mind. As I type this post I am aware that my mind is sending messages through neuro-electric impulse, in rapid fire sequence to select the various keys on the keyboard – and I can’t even begin to fathom how it works. A communication system extraordinaire!
But music requires more than the hand and mind to produce. It also requires Please Continue Reading …
If you have been following this blog, you will know about how I relinquished the title of my album, “Breathing Again”. If not, you can read about that here. I am satisfied with the new title, and I am delighted with the interaction that brought the new title, Open Water, forward; grace in action! One additional benefit to this happening was that my son introduced me to a new word: Pneuma.
I have known of pneumatics, as the word pertains to air-based systems, but I have never thought of the root word, or its definition: “the vital spirit, soul, or creative force of a person”. The word, and its meaning, have captured me; captures my experience of returning to music to write, produce and record this album in a profound way – even better than the title, Breathing Again. To say I am “breathing again” is to highlight the return to something I had done in the past (it did feel as though I held my breath for the past ten (10) years), and this is accurate – four previous albums, here comes a fifth — but this is incomplete.
The english language is full of interesting challenges to understanding the definitions and context of words and expressions — but never more than today it would seem. Its difficult to have a conversation about some topics today – things turn so volatile, so quickly. Two friends can be enjoying a chat over coffee, and then, BOOM. Someone asked a question, or inferred that they have an alternate opinion to others. Blood pressures start to rise, and defensiveness sets in – you start to feel like you have no appetite for the dialogue, but you are also aware that the subject is important and so you feel the need to stay engaged – no matter your perspective.
I have been strongly encouraged to change the title of the album “Breathing Again” to something else. It has been suggested that the expression may not be well received by some people following the passing of George Floyd. I had chosen this title to describe how it felt to come back to writing and performing music again after a difficult 10-year hiatus, and all of the encumbrances to peace that I had experienced over that time. The album is a musical expression of my resilience journey, and if the title causes people to draw inaccurate conclusions and miss the message, that would seem to be tragically self-defeating.
It is a good title, and I did not want to surrender it – but, I began to feel that I may be foolish to ignore the advice I received.
So, I decided to run a crowd-sourcing post for a new title to the album. Please Continue Reading …
Have you ever felt stupid? You feel like you have been doing the right thing, but it seems to stand in stark contrast with what others are doing — which leaves you left wondering if you’re actually doing the right thing…or if you’re just stupid. One of my best friends passed away ten years ago this September; his name was Ken Rutherford. Some of you knew him. If you knew Ken, you might have heard him say, “Sometimes I don’t know if I am faithful, or just stupid!” He stated this once to me over a coffee conversation (some twenty years ago) about life and faith, and the statement immediately resonated with me. I wrote a song for him…and I decided that the message never expires – and that it was time to update the song.
The 10th anniversary of my good friend’s passing is a milestone for me. His funeral was one of the last times I performed any music before enter my 10-year silence…and I am now emerging on the 10th anniversary of his passing. He was a good friend. I miss him.
Here is “Stupid” — it will be part of the Breathing Again album project — if you like it, please consider sharing.
Do you ever stop to think, “how did I get here?” I’m not talking about the big question of “here in life” – but rather the journey of daily, moment by moment left ands right turns that leads us to some present place in time and space. Have you ever wondered if “this is as good as it gets”, or if “things will ever change”, or if you will “recover” or “overcome”? These are moments in life when it can feel like you are holding your breath – they can be heavy enough that you feel like you can’t breathe…and when you can’t breathe, nothing else matters.
Breathing Again – is a musical narrative of my resilience journey.
When I first began to work on the music album Breathing Again, I had set a goal to create with grace – this was specifically to focus on overcoming my own fears of re-entering music. I could never have imagined where this trail would lead!
Image credit: Aleena Rahman (Fiverr Freeancer)
Twenty (20) artists from thirteen (13) countries to create 11 songs of original music; . Their common connection is to me, but in another way they are inextricably connected with all others as a truly collaborative project. I never dictated exactly what they were to do, I only gave suggestions and let the individual artist engage with their style – which means I have had to set aside some of the specific visualizations in deference to whatever was ultimately created. I believe that the end result was “net gain” – meaning: the album has become something better than I imagined.
Have you ever tried to create something with someone when they have dictated every aspect and left you no room for your own expression? Did you find it frustrating? Was it hard to breathe?
Grace enables creativity. I knew this before I started this project, and I am experiencing it Please Continue Reading …
It’s a bit surreal. It’s hard to comprehend all that has happened in such a short time frame. Over the past 10-year period, I have been musically silent. It was a painful season. I couldn’t write, play or sing – I didn’t even listen to others much. This decade-season stands in stark contrast with with 40+ pervious years of music love…but this current season has been a wilder one yet.
Highlights:
Just a few highlights – and all of these have me in awe, but none so much as Please Continue Reading …
“Within this multidimensional tapestry, enters the Gracenote. It is of seemingly muted significance; brief and delicate, yet intentional as ornamental addition; the extra in ordinary.”
When I wrote the paragraph above into the Gracenote card, I was reflecting on the brevity of life, and the insignificance of one being in relation to the whole of creation – it’s mind-boggling. Our lives are brief and delicate. We know this more as each day passes. When I am deeply reflective I can feel the trinket reality of my life — an ornamental addition — that’s all — and yet, that in and of itself is also extra-ordinary.
Most (all?) of whatever I achieve in this lifetime will not be recorded or remembered by anyone…but there is beauty in this: it gives room for others to play their part.
As I have been producing this Breathing Again album, I note the significance of giving room for others. At the end of one of the tracks, I was planning to sing a tag line of the title, but hearing the lead guitar, I decided to let him “own” that spot (it’s SO TASTY!). In other places, I would deliberately join with the harmony or the snap of the snare drum – and it added power. The takeaway here is Please Continue Reading …
It’s almost complete! Pre-order your limited production 12″ (10 songs) vinyl record now – proceeds ($30 from each sale) going to support the Saskatchewan Police Memorial Ride to Remember! One chance only for the Vinyl Record: Order here!
I’m not trying to pressure you 🙂 it’s just math: a fall release, and 8-10 weeks of vinyl press time will mean that there will only be a short time to secure an album with this pre-order – then it’s gone. The R2R fundraiser is directly connected to the vinyl album.
Here’s a sample of from the album – Song: Open Water
ALSO: Breathing Again contains a song dedicated to the men and women in blue: Ride to Remember – with the final vocal recording happening on Friday!
It’s my best effort to encourage!
Each pre-order album purchase entitles you to MP3 copies of each song on the record, plus one free bonus MP3: Let it Rain, featuring a background vocalist from Australia, a cellist (Serbia) and a Celtic (wooden) flute (UK)! Coming soon!
I originally wrote Let it Rain during a time when Saskatoon was experiencing a difficult season of racial tension. I thought it fitting to re-record it today, with some tasteful additions to my original production of guitar and vocal only – from my Irish roots! I hope you enjoy it, and that it brings hope today, as it has in the past.
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“’Resilience’ describes the importance of having a compelling vision and working together to serve customers and create a profitably growing company. Thank you, David, for telling the Ford story!” – Alan Mulally, President and CEO, Ford Motor Company