Hello friends, how is everyone holding up out there?

I’m sure I am not alone when I say the last wee while has felt even more unsettled than it normally does, leaving us with more questions than answers. For me, it feels a bit like being in the middle of a spiritual battle for a deepening sense of what’s real. As a songwriter, I try to mine what I experience both in an external world as well as an interior world.  That can mean sometimes, when things go crazy outside, I also have to look at what's going on inside. A few years back, I wrote a song called “Runaway Train” and last week a friend messaged me after the US election and said it made her think of that song. It made me wonder if there is something in the lyrics and music for anybody on my newsletter list, so I decided to put up this live version of the song on youtube featuring the amazing Justin Abedin on electric guitar.

NEW RECORD
I think chasing down songs from the inside out is perhaps the reason why I still feel able to choose hope, even with all the struggle that comes with it. There’s a lyric in one of the songs on my upcoming record that says “You let me feel the saddest thought and find a message in a bottle full of hope” and I think that reflects the hope I still have even when I'm travelling through shadows. Some of that struggle has forced a slower process of finishing this new record and its preparation for release.  With the way the music industry has changed, if you want to survive as an artist, you really have to use your creativity to explore new roads of delivery of your work and that’s what is being prepared right now. It's a little scary and exciting but stay tuned to learn how you can be one of the first folks to hear it. In the meantime, thank you for your patience and staying with me on the journey.

MUSIC CARE CONFERENCE PERFORMANCE - November 23rd

Over the years I’ve spent some time playing music in care settings and I’m delighted to have been asked to make a short presentation at this year’s Music Care by Room 217 conference in Waterloo on November 23rd. Maybe there is something there for you if you are curious about the wellness implications of music in care. The conference is available virtually as well as in person and you can learn more here.

Thanks for listening. I’d be interested to know what’s been going on in your world and how you find your own hope.

David

Banner image of the inside of a Didgeridoo taken by Francois de Halleux