I’ll be LOOKING FOR AMERICA again this coming February as I embark on my first official tour since the onset of the Pandemic. It is titled the “Time to Heal” Tour.
People Are Struggling
- Struggling to find hope in a world that seems untethered from any moral compass. Struggling to justify optimism in a world that seems to be careening toward disaster. I have struggled quite a bit myself in the past four years. It’s a big reason why I have given so few concerts. But in recent months, I have lifted my head high enough to remember why I have chosen this path I have chosen.
Good News Needs to be Reported
Horror stories dominate the media. Stories about events and conditions that should not be ignored or sugarcoated. But there’s good news, too. And it needs to be reported lest we forget there is hope and go on perpetuating negativity.
The good news I have to share is that, according to my humble observations, we have the tools to reshape ourselves and our world and set things back on a path toward sanity. We have within us the power to foster peace. To me, peace is more than the absence of war. It is a consequence of harmony. And we have the power within us to foster harmony.
We Have Made a Difference Before and We can do so Again
The more I travel, the more I listen to stories from people of all backgrounds and beliefs, the more I see how much we have changed this world in so many positive ways.
I remember decades ago my sister being sent home from 4th-grade public school because she wore a “jumper” instead of a dress. I witnessed a black man getting harassed by police in front of my house because he dared to hold hands with a white girl in public. And I watched two boys in my 5th grade class getting pushed around because they let their hair grow long enough to cover their ears. While there is further to go, and new social challenges, these injustices would be unspeakable in America today.
Brave Agents of Change
Brave people of that era stood up for racial integration, women’s equal rights, ethnic diversity, and other social virtues. The best of these change-makers preached and practiced tolerance and forgiveness. Leaders like Martin Luther King stood as beacons of moral clarity – and are still models for today’s world.
My travels have also shown me that we have a lot in common and that we want pretty much the same things. Plenty of change agents are still among us advocating tolerance and forgiveness. But, most are drowned out by louder voices that preach IN-tolerance and retribution.
A Time to Bring Allies Together
The “Time to Heal” tour will be a chance to echo the positive voices, to create afternoons and evenings of safe space where good-hearted people who really care and who work to make a positive difference in the world today can gather together, meet new allies, compare notes, see the strength of our numbers, and share our stories of hope.
I will travel to Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. The tour will include a one-week residency at the Stenson Kennedy Center in Jacksonville, where this past August, on the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, a white supremacist gunned down four Black people. There, we will put on a “Time to Heal” concert and we are currently looking to set up in-class visits and other events.
Gathering Stories
Along the way, I will visit, eat with, stay with, listen to, and sing with all kinds of people. Their stories will filter into my songwriting as they have in the past. Our common values will be reflected in the old and new songs we sing. And I will keep as vigilant an eye and ear as possible to how I can further hone the message.
One song we will sing along the way will be one of my new songs “The Compass.” The first verse came to me in a dream. The rest of the song came from conversations I have had while “on duty” as a folk musician. Here is the third verse:
I’ve heard it said the road to freedom
Is a long and winding way
And that we need a proper compass
So we don’t all run astray
What does it matter where we find it
From within or from above
We will know the tool is worthy
If the needle always points to love
The needle always points to love
I am still looking to fill some dates between Feb 1 and Feb 25.
Until next time, …
Keep the Flame Alive!