Georgia on my mind…
Well, it’s been a long journey with a lot of unexpected delays, but my second album is almost ready to release. It will be called “Borderless Sky” and includes a mix of all original songs, from vintage jazz to a few tracks with a more folk or country twist. This album also includes one of my favorite songs of any I’ve written. It’s called “Back Country Blues”. The first line is: There’s a summer day in Georgia, I’ll wait for you there…
This song was one I wrote in my very first few months of songwriting. It was a crazy time, because it felt like a tap had been turned on in my mind, and suddenly there were lyrics and melodies tumbling out without warning. In that year I sometimes wrote a couple songs in a week.
Anyway, this particular song was unique because it started late at night. I’d been listing to some jug bands on Youtube late in the evening and thinking about how some music made it feel like summer, even when it was cold outside. It was February at the time. I soon curled up in bed and began drifting off to sleep. Then it happened.
There’s a summer day in Georgia, I’ll wait for you there…
I heard these words form in my mind, and with them the nub of an idea. Recognizing what was going on I knew I had to get out of bed and write it down. It would be gone by morning if I surrendered to sleep.
I jumped out of bed, grabbed my notebook and pen, and went out to the kitchen to turn on the stove light. There I stood, frantically scribbling at one a.m. I got the first two verses and the chorus on paper right then. Satisfied, I went back to bed.
The next morning I wrote the third verse and found a melody for the song.
Of course, I’ve never been to Georgia. That’s actually the point. Sometimes you can imagine a place– its sounds and smells, the feel of it– and it exists vividly in your imagination. It’s a place you can visit in dreams, by day or night. It’s the sort of place where other things that are impossible in your daily life might happen.
This song has remained one of my favorites, despite writing dozens more since then. For me, it still has a dreamy, lullaby quality that takes me away. I hope it has the same effect on you.
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