Question and Answer

Hey Pat!!

First of all, thank you!! Your music has accompanied me on a great many inner and outer adventures (meditations and actions). New Chatauqua especially. I think it is a tad odd that a drummer of 30 years (me) finds an all guitar disc to be his most valued single piece of music!! NC has touched me in so many ways, helped me make my way through Gradual School in Environmental Engineering (there is nothing better to have on while studying at 4:00 am). It has remained as th "Disc Most Likely to be given as a Gift".

What were you trying to express with that CD? (as in, am I cerebral enough to understand your message)? Also, when you listen to something like NC now, do you think about what changes you would make ot better define that picture?

Again...THANKS!!!

hi scott,

i am really happy you like that one so much. it was done at the end of an extended stay in europe - i think i had been there for more than 6 months of the year that year on tour and stayed over at the end to do that record. in a way, when i am away from home for that long, especially out of the states, it kind of allows me to see the states with a kind of perspective that i often lose while i am here. i remember that i really wanted to do a record that kind of addressed that feeling - and especially the specific vibe of how i remembered growing up out there in lee's summit and the feeling of it. that was the first record that i introduced the "strumming" thing which conjures up that americana vibe which appears to have been quite influential over the years. yes, i would certainly have done a few things different in retrospect - not only on that record, but all of them. but for better or worse - it is the way it is. and a letter like yours proves that it is good that things come out the way they do sometimes - it seems like you really like it and that in itself makes the whole thing worthwhile.

thanks for writing in,

best from pat