I went to a concert at the Quaker meeting here in Columbus. The musician/singer/songwriter who performed is named Tom Neilson. He sang many songs of resistance, Americanism, etc. He told stories and gave away prizes for correct answers to trivia questions. I won a peace necklace that I happily donned. The question I answered was about a horse named Bess. You can hear the story and song by clicking here.All of his songs had messages and meanings; many were downright funny. A couple of the songs hit a cord with me on a personal level. One of them was called Tamarack Tree. He told of a time that he and a friend climbed a mountain, got stuck in a storm and huddled under the cover of a Tamarack tree. They were there for 3 days in a snow storm, keeping each other warm. He spoke about leaning up against the tree, and the woman with him leaning against him. The picture he painted was one of safety and warmth. It served as a larger metaphor for me.
The other song is called Courage and Faith. I was compelled to purchase the CD for this one. I think God sends messages through people and circumstances and this was no exception. I think courage and faith are themes for me. Now to actually live and act in that knowledge!
He will be in Cleveland today. If you are interested, you can contact the concert organizer to find out more details:
Sun July 12, Ohio City house concert, for reservations and directions
216-375-6888, july12neilson@yahoo.com 8 pm, $10 donation
2 comments:
Those are the two songs that hit me the hardest, too! There were many other good ones, too.
I actually had a suggestion for changing one of the lines of a song... there was one place where he said something about being up against the Tamarack, and it would have had some internal rhyming to talk about his "back against the Tamarack"... can't remember the exact place of the song, but it would have worked real nice.
I didn't suggest it, as my history with suggesting such things to songwriters has not gone very well
:-)
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