NEWS JOURNAL

I've been meaning to write something personal on this 'musings' page for so long. Now there's so much to say that I might ramble... It's beautiful here in Asheville -- finally warm and the trees are all different shades of green. Every time we travel I am reminded of why I live here. I'm spoiled by the good food and the nature and how comfortable I feel in Asheville. We went to New Orleans a couple weeks ago, during the jazz fest, to play a show in town. I was excited to go, which sounds strange now, because most of the time I felt like a tourist looking in at all the destruction. So many people are working hard down there to restore life, order and joy to the city. But you can still really feel the chaos. As we drove in on Rt. 10, the neighborhoods were deserted. Some places looked like the hurricane hit last week. I know that many people have and are doing a lot of work down there, but obviously more should have been done by now. People shouldn't have only their own two hands to work with... Something is not right, but I'm sure you already know that. Saturday night we got to perform, which was a huge relief. To just be able to sing and play and connect with my heart -- to Danielle and our audience and the city. I guess I hadn't really known how to relate to what is happening down there until the moment of sharing music. We wrote a song last year as we began recording the album, which I have grown to love more and more. It's called 'Riverlady,' and as we were writing it (which was in the spring), Danielle and I were both feeling this kind of swanky, deep, hot and humid, bayou New Orleans vibe in the song. The lyrics flowed pretty intuitively and the song formed almost instantly -- as if it really did already exist and we were just being let in on it. To capture that swanky feel of the song we recorded it with stand-up bass and some great 'junk' percussion. Then in September, very soon after Katrina came through the gulf states, we released our album and listened again to the full cd. As I heard the last line of the song, which Danielle and I repeat several times -- 'this river is sinking into the deep, deep water' -- I felt a fire flow up through my body. 'Riverlady' belongs to everyone affected by Hurricane Katrina, and as we sang it in New Orleans I felt that I was finally hearing each line with its real meaning. I think that moment really is why I went to New Orleans. I had wanted to connect to this tragedy -- offer something of myself, but I hadn't known how, because I have never lived through that kind of devastation. I'm really grateful for the music and for these precious opportunities it gives me over and over to be Real with myself and with other people (including you).

Thanks for reading...

Love,
Cregan