Unlikely Couplings

CMT has a series called Crossroads.

They pair artists together you might not envision performing together, almost always with exquisite results. They perform each other's songs together.

I saw Zack Brown and Jimmy Buffet and was thrilled. Together they were mucho excellento; I was also turned on to Zack Brown in a big way.

Last night Carol and I watched Mumford & Sons performing with Emmy Lou Harris.

My God what a beautiful, soul enriching, spirit enlightening show.

In between songs there are little mini, sit down conversations with the performers. I love that because whenever the soul of an artist is exposed in other than the medium in which they excel, you are getting a little closer to the essence of the creative spirit.

And the soul of sensitive and expressive people is exactly where you want to be as a human being.

It's the sweet spot, baby.

Although I was a little disappointed with the two Mumford boys (Marcus and????) who sat down with Emmy Lou. They cut her off in conversation a couple of times, when they should have been groveling at her feet.

However, Emmy Lou took the high road. She is an elegant lady, a woman who gives off an air of supreme confidence. She is quietly intimidating.

She let the boys ramble, then she made her points.

And her points carried weight.

Just like when they performed. Emmy Lou was not loud, she just added a sweetness, an ethereal nature, to the songs and lifted them closer to God in so doing.

And she did it effortlessly.

Together they performed "The Boxer." Simon & Garfunkle. The Mumfords and Emmy Lou did an exquisite job.

I don't know what it is about this song but I do know it goes right to my gut. I love thousands of songs. LOVE. THOUSANDS.

That is not an exaggeration. Music is everything to me. At my autopsy, the inventory will go like this: Swollen liver, bloated heart, damaged lungs, acid embattled stomach and..............whoa, what the hell is this? Oh, here it is - music. Yeah we got some music here. LOTS of it.

There is a short (relatively) list of songs that just knock me down. "When A Man Loves A Woman" is one.

"The Boxer" is another.

I listened intently, looking for something I can take into the new year.

I am truly a desperate man. I am on my knees at the end of 2013, in pain, exhausted, trapped in a job that is literally killing me. 2011, 2012, and 2013 were all intense years.

I need to bring something to the table in 2014. I need it like I have never needed anything else in my life.

"I have squandered my resistance for a pocket full of mumbles, such are promises." Mumbles, false promises I have made to myself over the years.

I need the truth. My own truth. Not anybody else's.

"All lies in jest, 'till a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."

My weakness. I hear what I want to hear and that has done me no good.

I have disregarded the truth. The raw truth.

"In the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade, and he carries the reminders of every glove that layed him down, or cut him 'till he cried out in his anger and his shame, "I am leaving, I am leaving", but the fighter still remains."

I am that fighter who still remains. Fighting the same battle, the same battles.

It is time to leave.

I have reams of words spinning around my head. Thoughts and impressions I have collected over the last few months regarding my 60th birthday and 2014.

Inevitably, I will attempt to lay them out here. I don't know if I will be able to connect them all. I don't know if I can make sense of it all.

But you know I will try.

You better mix a drink on that day. You will be in for a long read.