In anticipation of The Avett Brothers concert on October 25th, I’ve been posting a series connecting some of their lyrics to words of some of my favorite authors.
“Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think…”
– Janie, from Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
“…what they had discovered in those years was not the love people whisper about over candles, but the kind they need when their baby girl is coughing at three 0’clock in the morning.” -from Ava’s Man by Rick Bragg
Katherine Paterson is another one of my favorite children’s authors. Many of you may be familiar with her book, Bridge to Terabithia, which has been made into a movie. Twice. Two others that are also wonderful are The Great Gilly Hopkins (also a movie) and Jip, His Story.
“…among children who grow up together in a family there run depths of feeling that will permeate their souls for both good and ill as long as they live.” – The Invisible Child- On Reading and Writing Books for Children by Katherine Paterson
One of the first TAB songs I ever heard was Murder in the City. It’s still one of my favorites.
Don’t know which I love most: No Hard Feelings or Through My Prayers. Post #15was about Mom. This one’s for Mom, too.
“Now all my thoughts about them start with knowing they are gone.” from Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry
The pages of the calendar kept turning away I have some better words now, but it’s too late to say them to you…
And yes I know you loved me I could see it in your eyes And it was in your struggle and it was in your mind And it was in the smile you gave me when I was a kid…
In anticipation of The Avett Brothers concert on October 25th, I am writing a series of blog posts connecting some of their lyrics to words of some of my favorite authors.
“After she died, things seemed to go out of focus for awhile, and I felt strange to myself.”-from Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry
Every night after and every day since
I found myself crying when the memory hits
Sometimes it knocks me down, sometimes I can just put it away
-Through My Prayers
I could have penned all these words exactly after Mom died in 2018, and still today. I would have never thought to say “I felt strange to myself” but that is a perfect way of putting it. Sometimes still, the memories knock me down and I imagine they always will.
In anticipation of The Avett Brothers concert on October 25th, I have been writing a series of blog posts connecting some of their lyrics to words of some of my favorite authors.
My Lady and the Mountain – The Avett Brothers – (photo Summer, 2019)
If you want to help the parks, the most important thing you can do is simply go to them – and take someone with you. – Lassoing the Sun – Mark Woods
Mark Woods is a columnist for the Times-Union in Jacksonville, Florida. His book, Lassoing the Sun, began as a book on the National Parks but turned into something more. I highly recommend it. My online book club read it a few years ago and Mark graciously joined us in our online book chat. I think he would like The Avett Brothers.
I brought you to the river to watch the fish swim by and lay around that grassy bank and breathe in that blue sky – The Avett Brothers – (Photo June, 2012)
“You can drive a man into devilry by contempt. If you want to melt him into goodness, try love.” – Alexander Maclaren
Note: Maclaren was born in 1826 in Glasgow, Scotland. He received his BA from the University of London before he was 20, then began his ministry at Portland Chapel, Southampton, England. After 12 years he went to Union Chapel in Manchester where he remained until 1903. His words have been a great help and comfort to me for the past year.
In anticipation of The Avett Brothers concert on October 25th, I have been writing a series of blog posts connecting some of their lyrics to words of some of my favorite authors. Back in August and September many educators all across the US were going back to school with the goal of connecting with their students. As a former full-time teacher and current substitute teacher this idea rings so very true. Just last week I was in a fifth grade classroom and inevitably a few students felt they needed to guide me in the ways of their teacher’s discipline plan. They felt I needed to put some of their classmates names on a list. I refrained. I know they were only trying to be good and wanted to be sure I knew it. I made so many mistakes in my classroom discipline back in the day. Just as in parenting. So, I now approach subbing just like I do grandparenting. I “Say Love”.
If the days aren’t easy and the nights are rough When they ask you what you’re thinking of Say love, say for me love Say love, say for me love…
And yes we live in desperate times…
Say love, say for me love… – Living of Love
I love how the audience sings along in this video. Can’t wait for the 25th!
In anticipation of The Avett Brothers concert on October 25th, I am writing a series of blog posts connecting some of their lyrics to words of some of my favorite authors.
It seemed so unfair: that time should render both sadness and happiness into a source of pain. – from A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
He’d smile at them across that distance, and the smile was sad and hard, and it meant estrangement, even when he was with them. – from Home by Marilynne Robinson
I never know quite how to describe the music of the Avetts. True Sadness seems an odd album title, but actually it’s pretty perfect. It was the first TAB album we purchased. I didn’t know it had been nominated for Best Americana Album. It’s also referred to as folk and alternative country. It’s all that and more. It’s hope.
‘Cause I still wake up shaken by dreams
And I hate to say it but the way it seems
Is that no one is fine
Take the time to peel a few layers and you will find
I am enchanted by the idea of love creeping over a person. I remember when I went off to college, I planned to be a career woman and not even think of marriage until I was at least 25. The following summer I met a boy. When we went out we talked and talked and pretty soon I realized I was turning all the others down (not that there were many, but still…) By the time I was 25 I’d been married for five years and had two children. And 40 years later, we’re not exactly twirling on the floor but we are still talking. And we are both huge fans of The Avett Brothers. Can’t wait for the 25th!
In anticipation of The Avett Brothers concert on October 25th, I am attempting a series of blog posts connecting some of their lyrics to words of some of my favorite authors.
I didn’t discover Eudora Welty until around 2015. There is a lot that can be learned from her writing, especially One Writer’s Beginnings. She talks about how we change as we move through life, bumping up against others.
“Each of us is moving, changing, with respect to others. As we discover, we remember, remembering, we discover and most intensely do we experience this when our separate journeys converge.”
Sometimes it’s life that changes around us and the special people in our lives help us to stay grounded. I hear this in Swept Away.
Not In This Soup Alone 