Potentialities

When in the course of human events, we make decisions, we find that some decisions are trivial; other decisions reset the course of life from that time forward. About a week ago, I happened to be in a very old home in the Boston area. While walking through the basement there, I came upon an old piece of furniture. After brushing away the dust, I discovered a very old record.

This record was produced by Columbia Records, a division of CBS, Columbia Broadcasting Company. It's probably older than me; I was born in 1951. Now with appreciation for my Wikipedia subscription, I uncover the facts about this old record: Doris Day and Buddy Clark recorded the song on November 21, 1947, three and a half years before I was born. The song was written by Joan Whitney and Alex Kramer. George Siravo conducted the CBS Orchestra. It was the #16 pop song of 1948. The flip side, "Confess" was also a hit on radio charts. 29 years later, my friend Tom produced my record album, "Songs of Rowland Something for Everyone". We recorded it "with a little help from me friends" in Nashville. The record was not something I had expected. It was an unexpected delight when Tom made it happen. 

My only promotion of the record was while sitting on the back of my pickup truck in Asheville, singing, playing, and selling a record or two here and there. Years later, however, I was sending boxes of these records to listeners in Florida, Finland, Slavakia, Korea and God only knows where. . . Back in biblical times, Jesus had told the parable of the sowers, as later told in three gospel books of the New Testament. This principle of sowing and reaping is what circulated my music to other places around this world.  1978, I turned to Jesus. By His grace and miraculous power, I was able to organize two very different groups of musicians - jazz and folk - in Asheville, North Carolina, to record another LP record, "Revelation 5:9" 

I am naming this blog "Potentialities" because I am commenting on two different paths that the songwriter/musician can follow in this life. In some cases - probably most cases, the musician has to choose between pursuing a career in music, or concentrating on family life. Back in the day, Doris Day was a star, along with Buddy Clark. They lived the life of professional entertainers, musical creators. As for me and my house - that is to say - Pat, Micah, Kim and Katie - we developed a healthy, prosperous, Christian life on a hillside in the Blue Ridge mountains. My music was set aside for higher purposes.  This kitchen table photo includes Revelation 5:9, the record, its unfolded cover, which had been printed by the Groves Printing Company where I was an employeee. . . and a wooden bowl crafted by Mike, my brother-in-law, and the lamp crafted by my wife, Pat. . . with a snowy scene outside our kitchen window.

You might say that I took, as Robert Frost had written back in the day . . ."the road not taken." It was the path not taken by professional entertainers like Doris Day and Buddy Clark. So I was no chart-climbing musical star. But hey. . . as the Traveling Wilburys had sung, back in the day. .. "It's All Right." because our happy home and family was the result of a life well lived, by the grace of God. Thus we see that fruits of our artistic labor can be rewarded in two different ways. . . domestic bliss, and/or artistic creativity. I am sure that many showbiz stars do have very good family life; it's not like you have to choose one or the other. It's all good. Life is grand. Make the best of it! Glass half-Full