Songwriting has usually come in spurts for me. Well. most things have come in spurts for me. Since I can only really be one thing at a time, there are times that I throw myself into being a songwriter, an actor, a poet, a novelist, a non-fiction author, etc.
While being able to play many roles has given me stability in just being comfortable with who I am, it has been a rather tumultuous career so far, and now that I’m just focusing on music, for the time being, I’m remembering some of my earlier stages as a songwriter.
Other than “Mystery”, which was written with Matt Corbin while travelling in Alaska, the first phase of my songwriting was while I was traveling to write The Rucksack Letters. This particular song was written while I was living in a tent in Guerneville, California and working at the Korbel winery.
This particular version of the song was, to my knowledge, the first song to ever be produced using time dollars. Toward the end of my year without money, we started the Common Wealth Time Bank and produced this song, featuring the incredible Sara Stovall on violin. It was also included on the fourth Noise Ordinance local music album, and I used it in my Panhandling for Peace project.
