For those of you who know my background through time, you’ll remember me for that period which we were present together in.  My teens were my peers with which I went to school with from grade 1 through 12.  We started together, we finished together.  We created a lot of memories together.  Those years set the tone for how I viewed life.

In my twenties I was in construction, the military and back to construction, insurance sales and then DuPont spinning in Leland, NC.  There was a whole new crowd.  Mostly those with whom I worked with.  There were few outside of that since swing shift didn’t present a normal life outside of work.  I had quite a few friends at work, but when I went home I had little time to do much else.

Once I became a solid Christian in my late twenties, a whole new cadre of friends came about.  From my Baptist upbringing to the tongue-talking crowd I found life really can change for me.  I am writing this as a microcosm of what I could say, but the thread of music plays throughout my entire life and the types of music changed with me as well.

I played drums with my friend, Dwight, who I grew up with, and my brother Danny.  We had a few antics.  The Lemon Tree Inn a couple of times. . .and that’s all I got to say about that.  Top forty and beach music was what we liked.  I was always listening to music.  All types of music.  Country, Pop, Rock, R&B, Blues, Motown, Jazz.  You name it I probably have it in my collection.  I have nearly sixteen thousand songs on my computer.

I got waylaid on drumming for a few years, but when I started going to church in Richlands I learned the Pentecostal hoedown.  If you’re Pentecostal, you’ll understand what I’m saying.  From that I progressed over the next 25 years until God told me to move out of the way for new talent with His callings.  During all that time I played with many different musicians.  There were a lot of good musicians and some just learning that turned into pretty good musicians.  There were not many of less talent.  The highlight of music was to play with Wayne Cochran.  He passed away in the fall of 2017.  He was known for CC Ryder fame and became a pastor in Miami.  I’ve also been in the heart of Blue Grass talent in Spartanburg, SC in the 80’s.  I do remember Sharon White was there.  She is the wife of Ricky Scaggs.

Only one kid who thought he was going to be a drummer, but I ended up buying his set of Ludwigs when he finally gave it up for lack of desire and rhythm.

I laid it all down till the last couple of years when I find myself wanting to try learning the saxophone.  Granted I’ve been slack at it, I still have not lost the desire to learn.  I will push on more so at some point.

What started this writing was from someone posting on Facebook a song by the Eagles.  It’s called Wasted Time – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0SvsinEUfY

It brought back many of the songs I remember WHEN they became hits.  If you came from my time, stop a moment and let that sink in.  The Beatles first song of five on Ed Sullivan was All of My Loving.  I was up watching this moment live on TV that first time.  I watched them evolve into the hippie free love group.  I have still got several of their albums now, but my first was Yellow Submarine.  The onslaught of British groups after that were numerous.

The Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the Who and the Yardbirds were just a smattering of them.  Oh it is a large list.  One other I liked was The Dave Clark Five.

About the age of sixteen I heard the darker side of rock starting to come to light.  The Doors album of the same name was my first of this group.  This was revolutionary.  They were a west coast band.  Ironically, I had been to Paris only a month or so before Jim Morrison was found dead in the same city.  I was stationed in Germany during 71 and 72.

But, oh the music for me didn’t start then.  The Hollys, Fats Domino, The Beach Boys, Elvis, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lewis, The Drifters and the list is extensive to include Motown.  There is no way I can list all the artists of the days of my youth.  I learned how to play the drums to Roy Orbison’s music like that of Pretty Woman, Only the Lonely and You Got It.  One of his quotes makes me think about my wife Libby.

“Pretty woman, I don’t believe you, you’re not the truth. No one could look as good as you, mercy.”

The 70’s brought me Billy Preston, Aerosmith, ELO, Pink Floyd, The Allman Brothers, Lynrd Skynrd (which actually started in the 60’s), CCR.  Awe the list is too much to type.  You tell me your favorite.  I’m sure they are on my list.  I’ve not even scratched the surface.

By the 80’s my musical tastes had transformed to Christian music with Petra being the first Christian Rock group.  Then Stryper, The Resurrection Band.  The most influential of the early years was Keith Green.  Right on up to today’s Christian music has bloomed into a whole new level with some of my favorites being Big Daddy Weave, Rend Collective, Third Day and For King and Country just to start.

My life is in God, but without music, life is very bland. A lot of time when I’m in meditation it is usually in song.  It’s a very important part of my life.  When I hear music I automatically grab the beat and I’m on it.  It is what drives me.

Music can take you through the whole range of emotions in life.  If you’re down, music can lift you up.  It can make you cry to hear the lyrics and the melody combined into not just a song, but an experience.  Where words are simple language, you will music pulls those words together into one rhythmic experience.

Rhythm is what took me to music.  The sound of the drums that gathers the order of the other instruments into a lock step to carry the message riding on it.  Sped up or slowed down can change the attitude of the music.

I view music from this vantage with a 3 D view much like looking at a 3 D stick box drawing.  Are you looking at the top or are you looking at the bottom.  I see music much the same way.  It has depth.  Music is to me what numbers are to a mathematician.  Numbers are endless and music is much the same to me with the endless combination of notes, tones and lyrics.

I don’t know how much sense this makes to you, but to me it is way to short on the subject.  For all the musicians and bands I’ve mentioned it only represents probably ten percent of the bands I know and have listened to.  Think about how music has influenced you over the years of your life.