The Future Looks Bright

Everywhere I look, I notice two different things. Over here are people who are wringing their hands, usually obsessed with their news feeds, and convinced that the world as it is - especially here right now in the US of A - is only getting worse by the day. And it’s not that they’re “wrong,” per se, and I can see the mountain of evidence supporting their claim.

But the other thing I see (and feel much more of, myself) is the polar opposite: an unbridled sense of optimism and joy at how people, typically in the face of immense challenge, get crystal clear on the type of world we want to be inhabiting. If you’re paying attention, I know you see some of this evidence too. People coming out into the streets to support neighbors they’ve never met. People joining hands and singing songs and crying for people they never met. And people connecting with one another, feeling the sense of “we are all in this together” like never before. Not even during Covid.

It’s funny how it works, but it’s predictable as the sunrise: Getting a gigantic taste of something you deeply despise can immediately show you, in sharper image than ever before, what it is that you do prefer. Seeing someone’s pain makes me want to be helpful. Feeling poor makes me want more money. We all have these instincts. These same beautiful, primitive instincts to care for members of our tribe. And while it can appear that we are more siloed, more tribal then ever, we also know in our primitive senses that our true tribe is the entire human race.

We see someone smiling and laughing, and something deep within us can’t help but react with a similar vibe - we smile, we momentarily feel good feelings like that person we’re watching. We can’t help it. It’s only moments later when we may color the experience with our biases, or what we think about a person of that race, or gender, or age, or the way they laughed, or all those judgmental places we humans also share.

The events in Minneapolis and beyond have created a movement that was already in motion before, but is gaining huge momentum right now. And it’s not simply a movement towards the right or left politically speaking. It’s a movement towards each other. Towards realizing that powering over someone is less sustainable than powering with them.

Humanity is leaping forward. We are evolving into our next stage of consciousness, and into our hearts. It’s lovely to see, even though the process of becoming is so excruciating.

So hang in there with me, friends. Keep loving, keep singing, keep your hearts open to others. I took the opportunity to invite my neighbors on each side over for lunch the other day, and it was one of the best and smartest things I’ve done in awhile.

Community is everything. We are in this together. And that’s a beautiful thing.

Group 7 and the Denver Scene

If you’re on TikTok or anywhere near it these days, you’ve probably seen posts related to “Group 7.” It seems to have sprung up out of nowhere, and the only coherent factors defining the group are things like “people who support each other, and who love nature, water, sand, etc.” So, Group 7 has become a group of people who want to support each other, period. That’s what makes them a group.

I mention this because my new friend Tyler Wright and I met for coffee today. He too is a singer-songwriter in the Denver area, and we talked at length about the vibe of a community that comes together to help each other. In Nashville, Tyler shared, groups of aspiring songwriters collaborate all the time. If one of them posts something, the others boost it on their own pages. If someone has a show, they rally to attend. When it’s time for recording, they play on each other’s albums, and are engaged in various levels of co-writing.

This, my friends, happens to be the single best recipe for success - creating a community of supporters. Every independent musician I know has fallen prey to “shouting into the void,” as it were, on social media. “Hey, listen to my new single!” “Come to my show this Friday!” “I have new t-shirts available!” But you know as well as I do how quickly we all tend to scroll past posts like that. But all it takes is one, two, three friends sharing a post or boosting your latest blog to get a little traction. And traction builds momentum. And momentum makes the world go ‘round.

So while Tyler and I do our level best to bring the Denver music community together on an ongoing basis, I’m hopeful too that you will decide to join this movement. You certainly don’t have to live in Denver to become a supporter of the Denver music scene. We all know it takes a village, no matter the goal you’re working towards. But you know that saying about rising tides raising all boats? Let’s do this! Let’s become the tide that brings us all together, promoting all of our value, celebrating our diversity and stepping into a kinder, more connected world.

I’m moving that direction, and I dearly hope you’ll join me.

I've Found My Calling

For so many years I found myself trying to decide: Was I a singer-songwriter who had this day job as a therapist? Was I a therapist who would always aspire to be a singer-songwriter? Did I talk about my therapy life when I was on stage sharing my music? Or should I pretend that I’m a full-time musician, practicing that “act as if it is so” philosophy I’m so fond of espousing? I will confess that I received an inordinate amount of advice of these topics over the years, and it took my a long time to sort through it all, to eventually hear my own true voice beneath all the noise. But guess what, friends?! I’m thrilled to announce that I have found it. And by “it” I mean, I have found the thing I’m here on the planet to do.

And of course, it’s not just one “thing.” I will continue to write songs, and see therapy clients. I don't have to choose between them. And when I’m on stage, I totally reference my other career path. In part, because it’s a major player in who I am. But in part because my therapy life dramatically informs my songwriting.

The big “THING” that I finally figured out (and this will not be a newsflash to any of you following along at home) is that I’m really about HELPING PEOPLE FEEL BETTER. I do this daily in my therapy world, and it’s what I aspire to do with my music as well.

So while a few of the songs from my new album grew directly from my role as a school counselor (“Be One First” and “Stop, Walk & Talk”) the others are more universally accessible, speaking to that inner child in all of us. Music is such an easy way to feel good, and I’ve written a handful of songs that make it even easier. I hope you’ll give a listen, and if you like what you hear, I hope you’ll help change the world by spreading the word, sharing these songs, and getting us all singing songs that make us feel good.

Another Perfect Day isn’t just my latest album. It’s the culmination in my years of “research into humans.” It’s my answer to what I think we’re all looking for. And it’s my attempt to get us all singing fun songs, together. It’s ridiculously simple to start feeling better, and I’m very invested in helping us all move that direction.

Tour Time

Like so many of us early in our careers, I had my own misgivings about how it was all going to work out. Here I was, on the path becoming a therapist who specializes in music therapy, Gestalt therapy, and outdoor experiential therapy with kids and teens. And I loved it! But I was also writing songs, playing in a bluegrass band, and giving birth to all sorts of rockstar dreams. I was living near the amazing mountains of Breckenridge, at the same time when my heroes like John Mayer and Gregory Alan Isakov were gaining traction and blowing up. Man, I wanted to be on that path too! But I was committed to the path I was on. Married, fathering a young daughter, and scrambling to see enough clients to pay our mounting bills. But music…music never left, and those dreams only grew, even if in the background.

Years later, as I continued to pursue both paths, I remember the rush of adrenaline I felt when I first tapped into the thought, “Sure, I’m knee-deep in parenting now, but when Avery is older, like in college, I could go on tour…” And just the pure, unadulterated thought of that brought about so much joy. You mean, I could do both?! I could have it all? Just maybe not all at the same time? Ok, then. I’m in!

And sure enough, as my daughter has completed her first year college, I am finally, blissfully, on the doorstep of my first-ever tour. First ever! And I’m in my 50’s. That’s crazy cool to me, and really exciting. Sure, it’s only six shows over eight days. Not a World Tour by any stretch. But it’s MY tour, and it’s one that’s actually here and now happening. And I’m over the moon.

Some of my shows happen in venues, some are house concerts, one is a corporate gig that required me to carry liability insurance. Because, you know, we acoustic singer-songwriters can get pretty damned unruly. Look out for peace and love!

So as I make my packing list, plan my lodging, spread the word to try and see as many friendly faces as possible on this “Bend in the Middle” tour, I am overjoyed. This is something I’ve always dreamed of. And while I still relish the thought of being invited on the bus with Gregory or John or Noah or Hozier, I’m also content to follow my own path, the one that continues to unfold gloriously before me. And I keep an eye out for those little glimmers from my deeper self, the ones that know where this path is heading. For those glimmers are interwoven with my deepest desires, and it’s like catching the sparks from your roaring fire of dreams. They keep you alive. And if we collect them long enough, and continue to coax them into being, they become a full conflagration before our very eyes. Then everyone else can see it too. But in the meantime, I’ll stay content with loving where I am, and being thrilled about what’s coming.

Tour time, baby! Just like I knew it would be.

Be One First

Well, well well! Three amazing dreams came true, all in the last week. First, I finished the album of children’s songs that I’ve been so diligently working on ever since I wrapped up the Bend in the Middle album. Second, I can now officially say that I, as an artist, have been covered. That’s right, someone else performed a song of mine, in public!. And third, it wasn’t just any “someone else,” but my dream-band of singers: the entire group of kids in the first and second grades at Horizons K-8 in Boulder! I’ve never been more proud.

As you may recall, Horizons is the school where I worked as a counselor for 11 years, retiring last year to pursue music more full-time. I stayed in contact with the choir director, who is the loveliest human around. She helped me put together the kids choir of seven wonderful singers who make an appearance on four of the album’s 10 tracks. In that process, she really connected with my song, “Be One First,” and taught it to the school choir to perform at the spring concert. And perform, they did! Belting out my song with such vigor that, while I was able to record it, was also a tall task given the tears I was simultaneously blinking away. A true dream come true, for sure. And one school this year, let’s see how many we can get singing these songs by next year!

The album, Another Perfect Day is done, and the first single, “Be One First” comes out this Friday, May 9th. As it sounds, it’s a song that I wrote specifically to reinforce a friendship lesson for the little ones: that in order to HAVE a friend, you have to BE ONE first. The song is fun, catchy, and features a great mandolin by Greg Schochet, plus the wonderful kids’ choir.

Kyle Donovan once again produced the album, and we had a very playful, fun, time making it. There are two songs that are very clearly for kids, reinforcing both a friendship lesson and conflict-resolution strategy. But the other eight tracks are general enough for all-ages to connect with, and catchy enough to get stuck in both your head and heart.

As you might guess, writing for kids has given me a whole new avenue to explore my “relentless optimism” as it’s been called. And the positive messages of love, inclusion, and the joys of feeling good are sure to resonate with listeners across the ages. That was my intention, anyway: To get us all singing about feeling good, loving ourselves and each other, and remembering that we are here to have a very fun time.

First track comes out this Friday, May 9th, followed by another single June 13th, another July 25th, and the full album hits the streets September 5th. Thanks as always for being part of the ride. This is getting really fun.

• JD