Since “settling down” in Phoenix in early 2019, I have taken the plunge into Facebook, partly out of curiosity and partly from a business perspective. It has become quite the eye-opener for me as I reconnect with SO many folks with whom I worked SO closely in the music business from ca. 1965-on.
In the decade that followed, I became good friends with literally hundreds of people who had some connection or other with our band, Stockade. One of these people, that I “reconnected with” (after some 4 decades!), is John Walsh. John and all of his siblings were always great supporters of our band and, like me, he loved music and the guitar, and was the proud owner of a beautiful Gibson Les Paul to boot. But something I didn’t know about John, way back then, was that he was a budding poet, and throughout the years has been writing pages upon pages upon pages of poetry.
Fast forward to 2019, I began catching glimpses of these works and thinking, “Wow! This is really good stuff!” Since then, I have been reading John’s poems, and really enjoying the messages and images that spring forth from them.
One day, he sent me a poem entitled “The Gorge.” Reading it brought images of my own past connections with the Hudson Valley, and the role that the Hudson River and its tributaries played in formulating my OWN life. As I told John, this poem “sung itself to life” as I was reading it!
I asked him if I could set it to music, and he gave me the green light to do so. What you will hear is a demo I made on my little “Zoom” machine. It’s a little “rough around the edges”, but I think it gets the message across. I intend to use the song (probably changing the key to better suit my voice) on an up and coming solo album of mine to be released later this year.
Connecting with old friends is always a great thing, but even better when they come with unintentional gifts such as this song. We hope you enjoy it!
