So here we are at the middle of December 2025. Time to write my monthly blog post.
Just so happens that , since my goal in the coming year is to play my music for as many people as possible, I need to write a new profile for Instagram. I guess a profile is a profile, and it really doesn’t have to be for one thing only… might as well be my monthly post as well!…kill two birds etc. etc.
So I’m thinking about this profile idea, and it seems as if you’re trying to say what it is about you that’s different from all the other singer/songwriters out there. And in order to do that effectively, I will need to reveal a little about myself… something I am more comfortable doing in my songs than just straight up writing about it. But that is the chore.
As far back as I can remember, I’ve had this feeling that we’re living in a world that has lost its way. As a teenager, I began searching for a deeper reality, that , for some reason. I felt certain was there, underlying this confusion that is this world we live in. When I was about fifteen, deeply perplexed, I took a walk to think about this stuff, and I had an experience that changed my life. I write about this in my song, “A Million Miles Away”. I will quote.
A million miles away
A flash of light, so clear and fleeting
And what did it convey?
I couldn’t say, I just kept repeating
A million miles away
I was ecstatic! I tried to tell everyone about it, but only convinced them that I’d lost my mind. As I’ve thought about this over the years, I think something was telling me, in a way that was beyond words, that we are in very good hands. In any case, since then I have tried to learn about the source of this light, and have found that , beyond the ancient writings, people have continued to receive knowledge from this source and write about these things. And I have studied these writings and have tried to live accordingly.
So how has this influenced my songwriting? Well, for one thing, I’ve stopped trying to write songs. If a song presents itself to me, I try to write it down. For another, this sense that the world has lost its way seems to seep into all of my creations in some way. Also my conviction that we are about to take a leap that is not political, or cultural, or economic, but evolutionary. All of this stuff seeping into my songs can give them an edge.
Add to that the fact that I’m a rocknroller, and even if I’m playing solo on an acoustic guitar or mandolin, it’s still rocknroll. Not all of it, but most of it.
I’m not doing this to entertain. This world already has more than enough entertainment. I’m doing this because it’s the only way I can think of to communicate these things. I’m trying to connect with people.
My musical influences include, (but are not limited to), James Brown, Jimmy Reed, The Temptations, Jackie Wilson, John Cipollina, Moby Grape, Joan Armatrading, Howlin Wolf, The Band, Fiona Apple, Jack White, and Bob Dylan.
What inspired me to write songs was the music of Bob Dylan that I first heard when I was in my teens. Since then, I have been writing songs, forming bands, and working to get better at connecting with my listeners.
Thanks for reading,
R.