Everyday Yearnings

• The Balance
• Let’s Pretend
• Stare Into The Fire
• Leave It Alone
• The Dance (The Moon)
• November Rose
• Light
• Take Me Home
• Song of the Roses
• Listen To The Trees
• Loop-de-Loop
• Songs of Icarus
• On The Other Side

As I move through my 7th* decade, I’ve come to recognize how every moment of every day, even the small, common ones, maybe most especially the small, common ones, hold the seeds of longing for a deeper experience and connection with loved ones, community, the natural world, the ineffable. This longing can be the threshold to transformation, the doorway into a larger love. “Everyday Yearnings” begins to sketch an outline describing that longing and possibility of transformation, and my hope is that you recognize your own yearnings in these songs. Maybe we can envision together a world where we live in harmony with each other and the whole web of life.

*The liner notes on my physical CD refer to my 6th decade. What can I say, math is not my strong suit.

Thank you

Deepest gratitude to Stephen Martin and Joe Clapp for the studio alchemy that brought these songs to life. Thank you to Karen Sauer for her inspired keyboard “seasoning” on “Let’s Pretend” and “Leave It Alone”.

Most of these songs were born in the COVID pandemic; thank you to Peter Mulvey and his Patreon songwriting group for the inspiration and critique. Others came out of workshops at the Summer Acoustic Music Week and Winter Acoustic Music Weekend sponsored by WUMB, Public Radio at UMass Boston; thank you to Maura Kennedy, Lorraine Hammond, and Alastair Moock.

Special thanks to the global musical community and those folks who support it through creating and maintaining performance venues and open mics, both in-person and virtual; thank you to John Ferullo, Dan Tappan, Neal Braverman, Joe Isaacs, Stephen Martin and Kathe Donlan, Art Grossman, Jay Singing Spirit Cunningham, Nancy Beaudette, and Aaron Tornberg (and others) for keeping the lights on during a time of darkness. I am awestruck when I consider how musicians from across the country and around the world have found and come to hold up and love each other.

My musical journey has been inspired by too many to name here, some still here, some who have passed beyond. Of those no longer here, I dedicate this album to my father, Harry, and my sister, Diane, who left us during lockdown, and my mother, Rainy, who left so many years ago. Miraculously, a heart that’s broken can hold even more love.

And as for my life partner and dearest love, Debbie, there are no words to express what my heart holds, and my gratitude for the gift of all you are and what you choose to give to me.