This is an old-fashioned country song, but it’s based on something that I suppose many of us experience. It’s kind of like looking at an old photo, digital I’m sure, from when you and your love were new at the game. Do you think about your mindset then and all that’s happened since? There is some…

This song is not about one particular person. Rather, it tries to capture the indomitable but quixotic spirit of some people I’ve met, particularly in northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin. I wouldn’t call folks like this misfits. But they do congregate away from urban centers, at least in my experience, and have a strong need…

I’ve read a number of times now that when you pin people down on “what were the good times”, or “what was the golden age” that politicians like to invoke, it inevitably comes back to when they were children. In fact, according to a Washington Post article, you can even pin down certain feelings rather…

Here’s an instrumental with a bit of an underlying Latin vibe. At least that’s how I hear it.  The song was an instrumental right from the start. I thought the guitar parts were all the singing that was needed. As usual, I am playing all of the instruments. I was out of my comfort zone…

In the past, I have tried to avoid being overly political in my music and in these notes. Of course, I have not always succeeded at that because I am someone who cares about these things.

This is a blues song, as the title might suggest. It’s got a lot of guitar parts and it was a bit of a puzzle to put together. It’s an instrumental because I basically could not come up with any lyrics that seemed to fit the music, and the music is so energetic that I…

I suppose there are a lot of songs on this kind of topic. It deals with the whole thing of generations passing by, kids growing up and becoming parents, parents becoming grandparents, and so forth. So it’s another sentimental song. I think country would be the natural fit for something like this, and that is…

In style, I would say this song is hard blues. I think I made that term up, but it doesn’t seem that unusual, so probably someone else has used it. Probably many people. Anyway, this is a song with a lot of guitar but no real guitar solo, which is unusual for me, especially with…

Many of my songs have serious topics, like misunderstood relationships, loss, and environmental disaster. But sometimes I like to do one that’s on the lighter side. I had this kind of country, two step tune bouncing around in my head and decided to turn it into a song. So it seemed perfectly logical to make…

This is a quiet acoustic instrumental. Interestingly, when I originally conceived it, it included banjo, piano, and accordion. But as I began to listen to it, I dropped those instruments, one by one. The Apple River is mostly a placid, medium size river, one that I’m very fond of. And it did not seem to need…