Why write?
I’ve been writing since I was a 12 year-old (over 30 years)…mostly lyrics to melodies in my head. When I was in college, I took maybe a years worth of guitar lessons from Barry Robbins, a graduate of the Atlanta School of Music. Then, I moved to Atlanta, got married, had children, and eventually ended up in a mix of commission-only jobs in 2011.
“Vagabond’s Rose” is just a name I thought sounded cool and I imagined the “Vagabond” wandering from town to town wearing a faded red rose on his ragged tweed jacket’s lapel all the while looking for contentment or peace or something that he can’t quite define…God, maybe?
A sculpture in iron (I guess) of Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones when I visited the Hard Rock Cafe in Honolulu circa 1991.
Until I get some of them recorded, I decided to share a few of the lyric sheets on Scribd.com just to try and get feedback. It’s been humbling… more folks than I expected actually follow me on there based on lyrics with no melodies or music at all. A “thank you” to each one of you.
I’ve also created a Zazzle store with some print-on-demand items related to my lyrics.
I just read an article related to the state of mind the author is in when he writes as being between “a mystic and madness.” This pretty much sums it up.
I put the finger on Angus! Brian Johnson and Angus Young photo above at “Guest Services” at Philips Arena. Rock On!
Tired of the junk on the radio? 138 Southern Rock masterpieces from the 70′s and 80′s on Spotify
I do love music and one of those genres is Southern Rock. Being from a small Georgia town, the local radio stations out of Statesboro (FM100), Metter (G105!), and Savannah (I95, The Rock of Savannah) all played some rock in addition to the regular Top 40 fare. I95 played rock exclusively as you can guess from the name. My tuner stayed on them more than any other.
One of my buddies, Steve Jones, would pilfer his brother Kelvin’s albums. Most of these were the usual southern bands and a few solo artists like Jimmy Buffett. Steve’s favorite song by Buffett was “Why Don’t We Get Drunk and Screw,” which, I guess, was probably his opening line on the women he chose to pursue.
Being introduced to The Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd was like getting high. The tunes just hit me hard. Who was “Melissa” and how did Greg Allman write that beautifully? How did Ronnie Van Zant come up with “Freebird”? I could relate to both of these. Even though I was in middle school, I had already had my heart broken and I damn sure wanted to be free…whatever that meant to a little kid who thought going to Jekyll Island was a long arse trip.
Anyway, I wanted to share what I believe some of today’s kids miss from the music of my youth. This is my take on the best bands from God’s Country. I’ve made a list on Spotify’s streaming music service. It’s free to join and listed to the tunes.
Click here to go to the Spotify link…it’s free to listen to…and it’s legal…and it’s CLEAR!
Some fun links about Southern Rock:
Thomas Cleveland Lane 10 Best Southern Rock Bands
Vince Martin’s Top Ten Songs by Lynyrd Skynyrd - no “Needle and Damage Done”!!
Top Ten Overlooked Southern Rock Songs
Ten Bands That Define Southern Rock - REM?
Ultimate Classic Rock’s Top Ten Southern Songs: probably the best site on here
Brandon P. Keith’s essay about “Southern Rock music as a cultural form.”
Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ONLY #95 on RollingStone.com’s list of the 100 Greatest Artists
VH1′s Behind The Music has a show on Lynyrd Skynyrd (sorry, I can’t embed it on here).
