One of Those Times in a Life - Songs by the Campfire

As I began to write about The Brothers Four’s connection to Japan

and the Japanese people it all became more amazing. I realize that I have

gone to Japan to perform for 45 years and the group has been going for more

than 52 years. It is a connection that defies explanation and continues to

fill me with gratitude. We will be returning again in May and June doing

20 shows and releasing a new album.

One of Those Times in a Life is a continuing journey of Gratitude and Grace

as well as Memory and Discovery. It had been years since I thought about

and remembered a solo concert I did in the fall of 1987. It was only in remembering

it all those years later that it became clear how important it was to everything

that followed.

Not long ago I was talking with a friend and told her that One of Those Times

in a Life was sort of a Thank you and I’m sorry Tour. That is a

humorous way of saying that it is a Journey of Gratitude and Grace. It has

been a chance to get in touch with people some of whom I haven’t

talked with in years and to thank them for being in or having been in my

life. Where it was appropriate the reconnecting also gave or gives me a chance

to apologize for something I did or that happened.Yes, I am grateful for

a chance to express both regret and gratitude to those who have joined me

in this journey. 

There have been a few times in a lifetime where I have suffered a crisis of

faith. The summer of 1983 was one such time. In the year that followed I

found out that it was still worth loving even when it meant losing…an

important lesson. I continue to be grateful to those who were there when

I needed them most.

When I was in grade school I remember someone coming up and asking, “Did

you hear about the guy who swam across the ocean got half way across and

realized he couldn’t make it so he turned around and went back.”

Well, it’s too late to turn around now. With this Chronicle the

rest of One of Those Times in a Life becomes a journey home. Quite an adventure.

 

Of all the Chronicles this may have been the most challenging. That is part

of why it took so long to finish. I have also spent time in these last few

months doing Campfire Concerts. It’s been great to do more live

performances. The Mission Statement for all aspects of One of Those Times

in a Life remains unchanged: To inspire others to share their stories around

the campfires of their own lives.One of the goals of these Campfires is to

discover what is universal in my personal experiences.This Campfire is the

halfway point in the journey. The Chronicle will be published in two parts.

Part One is the end of a journey outward. Part Two is the beginning of the

journey home.

One of the bigger challenges of sharing a life and the stories that make up

that life is finding ways to tell my story and stories while trying not to

tell the stories or intrude on the privacy of people I love. For a hundred

years my family had a “secret” connection with illnesses

of the mind. Through the years people I love found many different ways of

dealing and living with that often unspoken relationship. For me there is

cleansing and healing that comes in spinning the threads of my relationship

with mind illnesses into yarns and weaving those yarns into a larger tapestry.

I do that forever mindful that is not true for everyone.

It is a gift to relive a significant moment that took place long ago and to

see it and feel it again with the perspective of time and space. It is challenging

to build a bridge of words across the years and try to connect who I was

then with who I am now.It would certainly have been “easier”

if my dad’s visit had not been the day I was going into the studio.

And yet…and yet…each experience is important and even

precious (defining that word differently in each case.) That together they

became part of some larger experience continues to resonate and shimmer and

shine brighter through the years. 

Mike McCoy and I have been friends and have sung together for nearly 50 years

now. Nine years ago he joined me in The Brothers Four. Between the fall of

1979 and 1987 my musical career (except for The Brothers Four) was tied to

McCoy. It is what I am calling the Fourth Stage in this amazing seven-stage

journey.One of the things that makes our relationship so vital is our best

shared experience might be the one we are about to have and the best performance

the next one. Our personal relationship is a special one…our professional

partnership the same. Together they are a most amazing adventure.

One of Those Times in a Life has been a chance for me to learn or become aware

of so many things. As I built the last campfire I learned (on a deeper more

profound level) that so much of my journey is finding my way home. Building

this campfire I realized how deep my gratitude is for the people and experiences

who have shared the journey and helped me along the way.