Early one morning many years ago, I noticed through a huge street level window a woman sweeping the floor of a restaurant. What caught my attention as I passed by was the woman’s face. She was totally checked out staring off into space. This experience became the seeds of “As I Pass By.”

I am finally getting back to “releasing” my music after a “detour-of-life” that gobbled up my time for a couple of years. While I continued writing, listening, recording and regular songwriting circles, my time evaporated before I was able to share my new songs. “Releasing” songs for me is sharing on social media to the extent I chose to carve out time to do so. The only time I actually put the rest of my life on the back burner for a couple of months and focused on sharing my songs (2023), my experience wildly surpassed my expectations. I have 3 songs ready to go and another 6 awaiting studio time. I am ready for another round.  

I have been working a ton of hours helping organize the Sun Day event in Denver on September 21, 2025. Our event is part of a national mobilization across the country to transform the impact of the original Earth Day of 1970. Our hope is that this will “blaze into something larger and more beautiful” as Bill McKibben has said. Makes me remember an awesome version of Here Comes Sunshine” that Phil Lesh & Friends performed at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 2022.

I recently spent a LONG weekend with a Casa de Music songwriter workshop. This was my third CdM workshop in the past couple of years. What fun! The instructors are Eliza Gilkyson, John Gorka and Don Richmond. The attendees are an amazing group of songwriters from different perspectives and bring awesome experiences to the time together. The three days includes one-on-one time with the instructors and valuable learnings from all the songs we get to share.  My songs ALWAYS improve when I bring them to this experience.

One Sunday in 2024, I grabbed a cup of Joe and the local Sunday paper, Durango Herald. On the front page was a HUGE headline that read: “With no phone, wallet or car, he died in the wilderness.” I read further and learned the story of “Stew” Scheppegrell, who lived and died in a wilderness area that I have spent a lot of time hiking and camping in over the past 40 years. A song was born that day and here it is.

Years ago I experienced three encounters with people, all with a short period of time, who were clearly “hurting” yet each in their own way. I could feel their pain and all I could do at the time was make some notes about it and hope they would find their way. This song is about feeling empathy for others who have lost their way and sending them healing energy. Click on READ MORE to listen!