Happy Fall Y’all!

Aww…Mondays

Happy Fall Y’all!

The theme this week at Monday’s Music Moves Me is Autumn. I don’t know that my music will feature Autumn as the main topic so I am going to post a few images that I captured recently. The peak fall colors here in Northwest Arkansas typically arrive in late October or early November. The best colors can last from one to three weeks, then the wind blows and all the leaves fall off the trees and winter begins. We had a l-o-n-g summer and I was still mowing the lawn the first week in October. In one week we went from a high temperature of 85 degrees to a low of 33. The next night we experienced the first light freeze of the year and that stopped the growing season for the lawn while setting the stage for the commencement of autumn color. A few trees began to make the transition, so I grabbed the camera and headed out to capture a few images.

Okay, that’s enough fall photos for now. Stop back by on Wordless Wednesday and I may have a few more.

The crisp, short days, the final blaze of color, and the thought of a warm fire in the fall put me in a mellow mood. A little over a year ago our oldest grand daughter intorduced her dinosaur of a grand father to John Mayer. ‘Nuf said.

I’m going to close this set out with an inspirational song by a Christian artist that reminds me of John Mayher. Jason Gray’s music has a lot of Mayher influence. I have met Jason and he is a great young man with a message of hope. This is a song of praise for the life that we have been given by our creator and we should not waste it. We are reminded that we are not promised tomorrow, therefore, we are indeed living on borrowed time. Scripture tells us that before we were placed in our mother’s womb, God knew everything about us (Jeremiah 1:5). The Good Book also states that it is appointed to man to die once and then face judgment (Hebrews 9:27). We do not enter heaven based on our works. Our place in eternity is determined by what we do with Jesus Christ. Have a blessed week.

Game On!

Aww Mondays

Wake Me Up When There’s Food

Monday’s Music Moves Me

Last week the theme at 4M was a trip or journey. In our fair city there was a gathering of cycle trail enthusiasts. I didn’t capture any images of the actual races but I did manage a few photos around the vendor area. Trail cycling has become a big deal on our town and several races are held here each year. There are miles and miles of trails that range from paved to off-road for people to use. In fact one can ride from the town square in Fayetteville, AR to the town square in Bentonville, AR, a distance of over 20 miles without getting on a city street. One thing I have noticed about competitive cycling is that the bikes and the wardrobes are very colorful.

Well that was fun, but I’m pretty sure my bike riding days are limited to the stationary variety for now. For music I will continue a bit of the travel theme and maybe feature a few lesser known artists from the past. The 90’s female country music scene was dominated by Reba McIntire, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride, and Shania Twain, but there were other good female vocalists around,  just not A-list performers. One of my favorites was Terri Clark. Terri proved that cowgirls could wear hats too and all you needed to start a new life was “A Little Gasoline”.

Mary Chapin Carpenter was a songwriter turned performer. While she was primarily country you can hear a little folk rock in her music. She would be quite comfortable in the company of a Gordon Lightfoot, James Taylor, or Jim Croce. We all have good days and bad days or as Mary describes it, some days you’re the windshield and some days you’re the bug.

Perhaps one of the most under rated singer songwriters of the day was/and is Sara Evans. For me, her sound is an almost perfect blend of country and rock ‘n roll.

The 90’s saw a resurgence of the classic country sound. After the “Outlaw” sound of the 70’s country music thrived. But the sound was still a long way from it’s roots and a group of new performers sought to change that situation, and change it they did. Garth Brooks, Vince Gill, and Alan Jackson brought back the roots of country to their songs. On the ladies side nobody did it better than Patti Loveless. She took a classic country song and preformed it in a classic style, proving that classic still has it’s place in country music.

I would like to hear a little more of the classic sound in today’s country music. Maybe it’s time for another new round of artists to remind us that a great country song just needs three chords and a story.

High End Ride

Aww Monday

MOM! Mom! mom!…

Monday’s Music Moves Me

The theme this week at 4M is in honor of Columbus Day and the journey to discover America. So, the music is to be about a journey or trip, physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. I suppose my journey will include a bit of each. Life itself is a journey and it is filled with physical, mental, emotional and spiritual trips and certainly a few surprises along the way.

As a teenager and into our early twenties our physical condition is usually at it’s peak but our mental and emotional conditions haven’t matured enough to handle much of the journey that is ahead of us. For me personally, it is the spiritual journey that has given me the most joy, peace and satisfaction. I accepted Christ as my Savior at the age of 9 and like the rest of the journeys mentioned here I have matured over the years. Things that I now understand about God and His word were not even on my radar as a younger man. How my relationship with Christ impacts the other aspects of my life were not a part of my understanding as a youth. At nine years old, I only knew one thing, I was in need of a Savior and Jesus Christ was that Savior. It is impossible to understand everything about Christ prior to salvation and some things about the Son of God will not be revealed to us until we meet Him face to face. One thing that has always helped me in this understanding of God is music. The hymns of the church and gospel music speak to me in ways that often shed light on and give additional understanding to Scripture. This is especially true as we grow older and this physical body begins to break down and we encounter aches, pains and diseases that we once thought were only for old people, not noticing that we have become one of those senior citizens in this world. I may not know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future and I have reached that point in life that I can understand what the apostle Paul meant when he said, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)

Paul found his joy, purpose in life, and complete fulfillment in knowing Christ. Since the believer will spend eternity in heaven, even leaving this world through the process of death is an upgrade because Scripture teaches us that there will be no tears, no suffering, no dying, no pain in that place prepared us (Revelation 21:4). For the believer there is Victory in Jesus and it all begins with repentance.

Salvation is open to whosoever believes in the name of Christ. Scripture tells us that it is not God’s desire that any should perish but that all would be saved. The sad news is that many will reject the call of God and walk away from eternal life.

Christians are not immune to the problems of this world because we live in this world and it is a world that fell from grace when Adam and Eve disobeyed the Creator and decided that Satan in the image of a serpent was right and that God would not punish them for their decision. They were wrong. So we must live in a world of pain and sorrow, sickness, and natural disaster. Again the Bible tells us that God causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust, so life happens to all of us and bad things happen to good people. The question is, where do we place our hope? I have placed mine In Christ Alone. My prayer is in the lyrics, “In Christ alone I place my trust, And find my glory in the power of the cross, In every victory let it be said of me, My source of strength, my source of hope, is Christ Alone.”

When life does deal us a difficult situation I have come to realize that things may not always turn out the way we wish. We may pray for the physical healing of a loved one or that a broken marriage will be restored and things just don’t work out to our satisfaction. Again, my prayer is in the lyrics, “I know You’re able, And I know You can, Save through the fire, With Your mighty hand, But even if You don’t, My hope is You alone”

I rest in the assurance that one day I will close my eyes for the last time and step into eternity. My Savior will have finished preparing my place in His kingdom and He will call my name…and when He does, “I will rise”. Have a blessed week.

Aww Mondays

 

Monday’s Music Moves Me

This week is a freebie week at 4M so I am going to spin a few tunes from the Country. Recently PBS television broadcast the Ken Burns series “Country Music” that traced the history of the genre from it’s beginnings to the early part of this century. While country music had its roots in folk and gospel, the genre has incorporated bluegrass, rock, pop, soul, and jazz into it’s sound over the years. The PBS series was a master piece and if you have any interest in the genre it is a must see. Just for the record, the genre didn’t officially get it’s name until 1949 when “Western” was dropped from Country & Western, leaving us with country music. From time to time a new trend in music will bleed into the country sound. Fortunately, when that sound threatens to dominate and change the industry, a group of artists rise up, get back to the roots, and remind all of us just what country is all about. Personally, I think it may be time for that phenomenon to happen again. the sound has become too pop and too predictable. The current sound seems to be dominated by the beat, the sound, and the party anthem. At one time it was said that a great country song began with three chords and a story. Here are a few stories.

Many experts in country music will tell you that the greatest male vocalist in the history of the genre is George Jones. Others might argue that George Strait holds that position and a few will tell you that sold out stadiums validate Garth Brooks as the best ever. George Jones’ biggest hit was He Stopped Loving Her Today. It is not a break-up song, but a fond farewell from a husband’s passing. When you know the story, it brings a whole new appreciation for the song.

The 90’s saw a resurgence of the classic sound of country and one of the leaders was Alan Jackson. There were no rhinestone suits, no chorus of back up singers, just Alan, three chords and a story.

My favorite female vocalist from the 90’s is Trisha Yearwood. There were several great ladies of country in the 90’s, Martina McBride, and Shania Twain to name a couple, but I thought Trisha could sing the phone book into a top ten tune. Yes, there is a heavy blues influence in this song, but it showcases what I consider the best female vocalist since Linda Ronstadt.

A country set from me wouldn’t be complete without a Dwight Yoakam song. Dwight and Buck Owens brought the “Bakersfield Sound” to country music. There was a little rock n roll, a little hillbilly and a lot of country in the sound. Dwight is one of my favorite artists. What does a break-up bring to your life…Heartaches by the Number. Have a blessed week.

Okmulgee, Oklahoma 2012

Aww Mondays

Momma’s Favorite

Monday’s Music Moves Me

For her finale of September, our hostess, Mary at Jingle, Jangle, Jungle, has instructed us of select tunes from the year we were in first grade. Hmm…I wasn’t listening to music in the first grade. I was playing baseball, football, cowboys & indians, and all the stuff an eight or nine year old boy finds entertaining, so I was unaware of the revolution in music that was taking place. Yes, I was in the first grade at the dawn of rock ‘n roll.

The 1953-54 school year saw a new musical genre take hold and take over the hearts and minds of teenagers across the country. The crooners and big band vocalists of the 30’s and 40’s were being replaced on the Billboard charts with a younger set of entertainers that appealed to what history would call “The Baby Boomers”. Born in 1946, I am a first wave Boomer. Since I wasn’t into music as a first grader, I had to do a little research to see what were some of the top songs and artists of the day. Ready or not, here we go.

In 1953 only two or three rock ‘n roll songs made the top thirty chart and one could hear a heavy blues influence that would eventually become the basis of the MoTown sound. One group to crack the top 30 in 1953 was The Drifters and the song, “Money Honey”.

Generally credited with the first rock ‘n roll hit single, “Rock Around The Clock” Bill Haley & The Coments as well as others actually covered songs from the blues genre recorded by black artists that could not get air play on many radio stations. While this song did not make the top 30 in 1953, it did make the top 100.

When you think of Rock ‘n Roll you think of The King, Elvis Presley and one tune pops into your head…Hound Dog. Elvis released Hound Dog in 1955 but it was written in 1952 and released as a blues number by Big Mama Thornton in 1953 and was her biggest hit. Honestly, I think I prefer Big Mama.

In 1954 Elvis released another “cover tune” from the country/blues/hillbilly songbook and it became one of his early hits…”That’s All Right”.

It’s time to wrap this set up and like many bands in the late fifties and early sixties, the closing number of their final set of the night it’s time to say, “Good Night Sweetheart”. Have a blessed week.